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[sangreal]

Back when Mojang was first acquired, it was mentioned that over half the staff there was working on games that weren't Minecraft.

However, in an interview today with someone who was leaving the studio, they said this:


Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-07-27-daniel-kaplan-leaves-mojang-for-coffee-stain

The implication there seems to be that they're not doing anything that's not Minecraft?

When did they ever say they were going to continue with those projects? In their deal announcement they said:

What’s happening to the other Mojang projects, like Scrolls?
We don’t know yet. We’ll share any news as soon as we do.

That info about half the employees being non-minecraft seems to come from a later book by a former employee and the context was that Microsoft referred to the company as 'Minecraft' -- making it clear they were not interested in the projects those other employees were working on

 

[Instro]

Soooooo.....Mojang were pumping out new IP's before Microsoft bought them? Cause I remember them milking Minecraft before they were bought up.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say. You're literally in a thread pointing to the fact that they were working on other IPs at one point. Regardless, my point was that it was an obvious business reality. MS didn't buy them because they wanted them for new IP, they bought them for Minecraft, and spent a lot of money to do it. It's obvious that the foreseeable future for this studio is porting Minecraft and working on spinoff/additional content until MS is satisfied. So yes MS is going to milk it heavily.

 

[MUnited83]

Microsoft is painfully single-minded

They literally name developers for the franchise they will be required to make. All their devs have been converted to milking one dying franchise each

No other options for creative devs except to not have the job at all. Very different from Sony where very few of their studios haven’t tried doing something else

343 devs have to make Halo
Coalition has to make Gears
Turn10 has to make Forza
Mojang has to make Minecraft
Lionhead has to make Fabl- oh

I mean, you can just ignore that Minecraft has sold more by tiself than the other franchises you mentioned combined

 

[WaterAstro]

I mean, you can just ignore that Minecraft has sold more by tiself than the other franchises you mentioned combined

Doesn't matter. Once Mojang devs burn out of making Minecraft, they will quit and move on to creative ventures, and once that happens, it's not Mojang anymore, and Microsoft will have created another husk of a company that they bought for billions.

 

[Futaleufu]

Minecraft was lightning in a bottle, and even then it took a long time to make it the game that it is today. I don't know why people expected Notch to be the next Miyamoto or Molyneux.

 

[Yearsoflurking]

Doesn't matter. Once Mojang devs burn out of making Minecraft, they will quit and move on to creative ventures, and once that happens, it's not Mojang anymore, and Microsoft will have created another husk of a company that they bought for billions.

They bought mojang for the IP not the employees.

 

[LQX]

If true not surprised at all. Only Microsoft would create another Bungie situation where most if not all of the talent leaves to make another monster IP because they were sick of making the same shit.

 

[EvB]

Minecraft was lightning in a bottle, and even then it took a long time to make it the game that it is today. I don't know why people expected Notch to be the next Miyamoto or Molyneux.

Indeed. Couldn’t have phrased it better

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Doesn't matter. Once Mojang devs burn out of making Minecraft, they will quit and move on to creative ventures, and once that happens, it's not Mojang anymore, and Microsoft will have created another husk of a company that they bought for billions.

You get more people who like Minecraft. Mojang is a Minecraft company. That game will forever be updated or a sequel gets announced. That train doesn't stop.

 

[theWB27]

If true not surprised at all. Only Microsoft would create another Bungie situation where most if not all of the talent leaves to make another monster IP because they were sick of making the same shit.

So they catch shit for letting a dev go instead of locking them in and hilariously that dev goes and locks themselves into another IP? Riiiiight.

 

[Berordn]

Mojang is good at maintaining Minecraft and bringing in the money. You don't want to fuck that up.

Sure, but you also don't want the talent to bail on you because they're burned out from having a singular focus. I'm sure Microsoft really only bought Mojang for the IP, but you're going to want a team that can keep the fans happy rather than just check the boxes.

 

[Keinning]

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say. You're literally in a thread pointing to the fact that they were working on other IPs at one point

Care to point out where you saw that? We all know that at some point Notch wanted to make a few games (and all of them failed and never got too far) but microsoft had nothing to do with that. The interview with this dude says nothing about them working in other IPs and having to drop them as well, just that it was their plan doing so and not Microsoft's so he left.

 

[theWB27]

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say. You're literally in a thread pointing to the fact that they were working on other IPs at one point. Regardless, my point was that it was an obvious business reality. MS didn't buy them because they wanted them for new IP, they bought them for Minecraft, and spent a lot of money to do it. It's obvious that the foreseeable future for this studio is porting Minecraft and working on spinoff/additional content until MS is satisfied. So yes MS is going to milk it heavily.

It's obvious..before Microsoft bought them...that that was their direction regardless. What I'm trying to say is Microsoft didn't alter their trajectory...they were already a Minecraft factory.

It's a pretty fluid situation here. They couldn't get new IP's started before Microsoft and they can't do it after and their cow is Minecraft in both situations.

 

[Krayz]

Nobody said updating to SUPER DUPER 4K GRAPHICS! Was gonna be easy.

 

[PensOwl]

Single IP studios are awful, but development in Minecraft is so slow this is probably the one time I'd say just work on that instead of something else. Minecraft has so much untapped potential left and it seems it's so barely starting to be realized that I wouldn't be exactly estatic with Mojang working on something else.

 

[tearsofash]

I mean the stuff that wasn't minecraft that I downloaded back in the day wasn't very good or too playable yet anyway.

 

[gamz]

I mean duh!

Of course they aren't working anything not MC related.

 

[nubbe]

Microsoft handledning of IP's is like having an inbreeding breeding program

 

[WaterAstro]

They bought mojang for the IP not the employees.

Exactly why Microsoft is terrible with their studios, and so many other third party studios.

Sony lets their studios take creative risks.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Exactly why Microsoft is terrible with their studios, and so many other third party studios.

Sony lets their studios take creative risks.

I'd rather side with the money Minecraft is raking in than halt further updates for a risky new IP that could take years.

 

[Keinning]

Exactly why Microsoft is terrible with their studios, and so many other third party studios.

Sony lets their studios take creative risks.

Yeah i'm sure Sony would buy Mojang and say "great run guys minecraft was fun now you're all free to do whatever you like"

 

[SprachBrooks]

So, if they allowed half the staff to work on non-Minecraft projects, does that mean they didn't need them working on Minecraft itself? Which begs the other question of what happens to these other staff?

 

[theWB27]

Exactly why Microsoft is terrible with their studios, and so many other third party studios.

Sony lets their studios take creative risks.

Name an IP that rakes in cash like Minecraft for Sony.

 

[jooey]

Name an IP that rakes in cash like Minecraft for Sony.

obviously it's Knack

 

[Nirolak]

When did they ever say they were going to continue with those projects? In their deal announcement they said:



That info about half the employees being non-minecraft seems to come from a later book by a former employee and the context was that Microsoft referred to the company as 'Minecraft' -- making it clear they were not interested in the projects those other employees were working on

Their job postings implied they had other projects going post acquisition: https://mojang.workable.com/j/23EDE1E369

Senior Game Developer
Stockholm, Stockholm County, Sweden · Extensibility
DESCRIPTION

Mojang AB is a games studio based in Stockholm, Sweden.

We were founded in 2009 by Markus ”Notch" Persson. He's also the creator of our best-selling game to date: Minecraft. Since then, we've released our second game, the card-collecting tactical battler Scrolls, and dabbled in publishing with Oxeye Game Studio's awesome side-scrolling robo-blaster Cobalt. We're developing more games too. You might hear more about those in the near future.

In 2014, Mojang was bought by Microsoft. The acquisition hasn't changed much about our company - we still release and support our games on multiple platforms, including iOS, PlayStation and more, as well as Windows and Xbox.

We're currently extending our team to design, develop and maintain extensibility features for Minecraft, adding the possibility to extend our C++ codebase to enable similar possibilities as Minecraft: Java Edition mods.

The team has ownership of the extensibility systems and their design. We're looking for someone who wants to grow with it and participate in shaping its future. Considering you're thinking of applying for a position here, you're probably a friendly, talented person. Good luck with your application!

 

[gamz]

Exactly why Microsoft is terrible with their studios, and so many other third party studios.

Sony lets their studios take creative risks.

Different situation. No other game is like MC. It's a platform that keeps evolving.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

So are you telling me that Microsoft kills the motivations of every studio they acquire by forcing them to work on one single IP for the rest of their lives

 

[xabbott]

Most people reacting didn't seem to bother reading the article. He left after MS bought Mojang and then came back. He wanted to see how things worked with a large company.

He was approached by Coffee Stain six months ago in regards to it's indie publishing plans. Plans that him and Notch were interested in before Minecraft took off. As Minecraft grew it ended up consuming all internal resources. Something he was sad about but understood.

Reading this, Microsoft bought a company that already realized Minecraft was all it was going to be doing for some time.

I suspect this is why people were ready to sell/leave in the first place.

 

[theWB27]

obviously it's Knack

Checkmate.

 

[c0de]

So are you telling me that Microsoft kills the motivations of every studio they acquire by forcing them to work on one single IP for the rest of their lives

Yes. Turn 10 is going to be closed soon, nobody wants to make Forza anymore. Will be revealed at Gamescom.

 

[Rymuth]

Yeah i'm sure Sony would buy Mojang and say "great run guys minecraft was fun now you're all free to do whatever you like"

No one said they'd drop Minecraft, but they'd absolutely let them develop stuff on the side. See Santa Monica, naughty Dog

 

[Futaleufu]

Exactly why Microsoft is terrible with their studios, and so many other third party studios.

Sony lets their studios take creative risks.

Creative risks, as long as they are making a 3rd person OTS shooter.

 

[daman824]

No one said they'd drop Minecraft, but they'd absolutely let them develop stuff on the side. See Santa Monica, naughty Dog

Neither of those studios have made something as big as minecraft.

And updating minecraft is a full time job. With how big the game has gotten you don't just "make stuff on the side".

 

[Cranster]

343 devs have to make Halo
Coalition has to make Gears

343 Industries was created from the beginning to manage the Halo IP. The Coalition chose to work on Gears.

 

[Duxxy3]

I don't think Microsoft sees their xbox software development teams any different from their other software development teams.

If you're working on the Windows team... guess what? You're going to keep working on Windows. On the office team? You're working on Office. On the Minecraft team? You're working on Minecraft.

If developers want to work on something else, there are tons of other places for a developer.

 

[Keinning]

No one said they'd drop Minecraft, but they'd absolutely let them develop stuff on the side. See Santa Monica, naughty Dog

yeah good luck supporting minecraft in every platform known to man while half of your team works on Cube Dating Simulator

and i'm pretty sure sony have other studios to do that. if they bought mojang, it sure wouldn't be to move them away from minecraft

 

[Matt]

MS is pretty committed to the "one studio = one IP" deal.

But in Mojang's case it's hard to blame them.

 

[Berordn]

yeah good luck supporting minecraft in every platform known to man while half of your team works on Cube Dating Simulator

Pretty sure 4J Studios is the team responsible for porting to everything, though? Mojang mostly seems to focus on game design and development of the Java version.

 

[Okami Haundo]

Interesting scenario! As big as Minecraft is, I can't say I'd blame Microsoft for wanting Mojang to focus fully on Minecraft and nothing else. It does highlight their known issue of playing things too safe when it comes to popular IP though.

I wish that they'd be willing to go without another Gears/Halo/Forza installment in favor of letting those devs try something new, but I think that's another topic. With all the platforms that you can play Minecraft on, I don't see that team splitting off to other projects anytime soon. As others have noted, Microsoft didn't buy Mojang to work on games that aren't Minecraft.

 

[Rolf NB]

They bought mojang for the IP not the employees.

Is that a valid approach? Halo? Fable? Is there such a thing as skilled labor, vision holders, key staff?

 

[blakep267]

Is that a valid approach? Halo? Fable? Is there such a thing as skilled labor, vision holders, key staff?

Minecraft isn't like those games though. It's a platform that gets updates and new features. It's not a game that needs intriguing story or great art design. You give players tools and let them implement them.

 

[DISSESHOWEDO]

Good guy Phil in full effect, right?
This is sad to see and hopefully it is not like that. Mojang do have a creative collective which I am sure can bring new and exciting IP's if allowed.

 

[DOWN]

Minecraft isn't like those games though. It's a platform that gets updates and new features. It's not a game that needs intriguing story or great art design. You give players tools and let them implement them.

But there are demonstrably people that envisioned and created Minecraft creatively that work there or have left, who have desire to use those same creative visions on other pitches. Minecraft is not a business service software. It most definitely sits in the game development world which takes creative members to build, who need to feel heard when the game goes into indefinite maintenance updates and they have ideas for something else. If you appreciate what they envisioned with Minecraft, you’d be wise to let those minds explore other passions that could be successes just as they managed to do with Minecraft.

 

[meerak]

It makes sense.

Not saying it doesn't suck for those people, but, Mojang was clearly purchased for its IP.

 

[FinaruDensetsu]

They are smart to have the already small team focus on the proven, cashcow hit. Bad business to have them work on something else when they're not likely to create another Minecraft. They can hire others to work on new stuff if they want.

 

[BleedOrange]

Doesn't matter. Once Mojang devs burn out of making Minecraft, they will quit and move on to creative ventures, and once that happens, it's not Mojang anymore, and Microsoft will have created another husk of a company that they bought for billions.

You know, at some point everyone who works at every game dev company on the planet will have died, and been replaced with other people.

I guess every game dev will be a husk then huh?

 

[Neuromancer]

Well this is MS. Their modus operendi is having their studios exist to crank out the same game like 343i, Coalition and Turn 10. Personally I would argue putting all your eggs into the same baskets year after year is a risky strategy but what do I know.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Neither of those studios have made something as big as minecraft.

And updating minecraft is a full time job. With how big the game has gotten you don't just "make stuff on the side".

well that's a question of staff count, innit?

 

[Z3M0G]

They didn't buy Mojang and their suite of projects... they bought Minecraft and the team that works on it.

 

[amdb00mer]

It says nothing about a game in production being canceled, just that one person wanted to make something else and then left.

But i'm sure this thread will go well

My thoughts exactly. I'm not reading anything that says "MS canceled my dream project, so I'm bailing to make something else".
Until I read something that clearly states otherwise this is all speculative.
Has MS done it before? Yes. Have they done it here? Nothing factually supports that at the moment.