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Microsoft announces purchase of Minecraft creator Mojang

LIke I said in the other thread, it will be interesting to see how long Mojang lasts before MS runs them into the ground as they did Rare, FASA and Ensemble. Good luck to everyone who sticks around.
 
Well it was obvious they were not going to pull support for the current game cross platform, but that doesn't mean it will change with future editions or spin offs, which personally, I expect in some form.

Without exclusives, and without the founders, what exactly is the point of this deal? Minecraft is huge yes, but it's profits don't come close to being worth $2.5 BILLION.

It's insane the prices of acquisitions and stock market listings and so on in technology and games these days, everything, development costs are insane, surely some bubble is going to pop in a few years.

I'm more interested to see what the founders do now without Minecraft looming over them.
 
Interesting that this is revealed by the Xbox site...I thought this was a Microsoft thing and far bigger than just Xbox...I would have assumed the CEO would have revealed this, not Spencer....
 
Watching the phil spencer video, it dawned on me.

Microsoft didnt buy a game today.

They bought a gaming operating system.

They arent going to treat it as a exclusive title for Xbox. Its a seperate pillar of Microsoft that will outlast the Xbox and Playstation hardware divisions.
 
2.5 Billion.

You could have likely bought every other small indie studio in existence for that amount. Instead you purchase the creator of Scrolls and cancelled space project?

Whatever the next big hit is, it aint coming from them.
 
Microsoft's track record for first-party developers speaks for itself. Buying the company with one major IP without any of the founders seems more like they're buying a husk to me.

I'm happy for Notch and for a break that has him set for life, but I have to say I'm a bit sad for those that appreciate Minecraft.
 
Even with the popularity of MC, the amount they paid still feels utterly obscene to me... most especially if MC is still going to be available on almost every platform going.

How on Earth are they going to make that back in any reasonable amount of time?
 
I still don't understand the reasoning for this deal from Microsoft side. Unless it's about tax evasion or something.

In which case I don't think Sweden is the place to go for lower taxes.
 
Pillville said:
You must not be around too many kids 5 - 15 years old. Minecraft is HUGE.
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I wonder if it's a US thing though... I have several nephews/nieces in that age bracket and I never heard them mention Minecraft (granted I don't speak to them that often).
But the way the situation has been described to me, yeah controlling a major popular IP among youngsters has a lot of potential. When they're old enough to choose their first phone, it can help to sell them one attached to the Minecraft IP.
 
Alienous said:
2.5 Billion.

You could have likely bought every other small indie studio in existence for that amount. Instead you purchase the creator of Scrolls and cancelled space project?

Whatever the next big hit is, it aint coming from them.
Click to expand...

They didn't purchase even that. Notch is leaving. His top staff is leaving.

Microsoft paid 2.5 billion for a single IP.
 
Dabanton said:
Well Nuts and Bolts was better than the old BK games so that love and care was there.
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tumblr_mao2jrI9Gi1qii6tmo1_500.gif
 
I'm still of the opinion that Notch made out better that MS did with this deal, but good on them to allow the other versions to live.
 
woolley said:
None of those guys have worked on Minecraft for a couple of years now.
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Yeah making a game and maintaining a 'game as a service' are two very different things. The second is far less creative and for more of a 'job' than the first. Minecraft transitioned to a 'service' a long time ago.

I hope MS drops the price on the thing. 30 bucks man.
 
He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance. Over the past few years he’s made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang.
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This whole thing is nonsense, but this is the cherry. Notch couldn't... what? Delegate anything? The "pressure" of being really fucking rich and could do anything he wanted is now alleviated by being even more fucking rich, but now also a gigantic hypocrite that will find it hard for his words and intentions to ever gain traction like they did?
 
Well, guess we'll see how MS screws up Mojang eventually. I'd love to be wrong, so prove me wrong MS. Let them dev on many platforms, that's where the money is.
 
FHIZ said:
Well, considering Minecraft is out on every platform already, except WiiU, I'm confused as to what they're going to actually do with it, other than just sit back and watch the money be printed.
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Turn it into a cloud service where users can spin up shared, hosted worlds for a fee
 
I really hope this works out for Microsoft. $2,500,000,000 is a lot of money!

Trying not to think about the hundred odd games that could have been spent on creating :(

Neuromancer said:
LIke I said in the other thread, it will be interesting to see how long Mojang lasts before MS runs them into the ground as they did Rare, FASA and Ensemble. Good luck to everyone who sticks around.
Click to expand...

Looks like most will jump ship with Notch et al.
 
Yes, they will make everybody feel good about the news by saying all platforms will stay. Then in a year or two when Minecraft 2 comes out, expect it to be an Xbox/Windows 8/ Windows Mobile exclusive.
 
Maybe Microsoft will release the Halo, GoW, etc Xbox skin packs on the PlayStation and advertise on the PS platform that way. Genius.
 
Gahahaha what a waste of money. Minecraft more valuable than Twitch? What a joke.

Mojang will just be another studio that won't make good games anymore. Their one shot wonder has come and gone.
 
Hopefully we'll seen Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions in the near future.

Also this quote:
At Microsoft, we believe in the power of content to unite people. Minecraft adds diversity to our game portfolio and helps us reach new gamers across multiple platforms. Gaming is the top activity across devices and we see great potential to continue to grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise. That is why we plan to continue to make Minecraft available across platforms – including iOS, Android and PlayStation, in addition to Xbox and PC.
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Makes me wonder if MS would put resources into a WiiU or 3DS version. To me, if feels like MS its set on keeping Minecraft an open/accesable platform for creativity
 
Holographix said:
Those guys were the creative minds that made Minecraft what it is today -- without them it would have been nothing.
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Balderdash. Minecraft wasn't popular due to some stroke of genius by the creators or their game design. There's nothing inherently unique about it if you compare it to similar games in the genre. Minecraft like games have come and gone. Minecraft was just in the right place, at the right time, to penetrate both the core market and then the mainstream.
 
Notch, the original creator of Minecraft and Jeb, who's been working on it since beta, and I believe has lead development, since the full release, are both leaving. It's clear they really want the Minecraft IP, or else they wouldn't buy, if with the people behind it leaving.
 
Veritigo_X said:
What does this line mean? After mentioning it's staying on all platforms.
Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.
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Click to expand...

Optimistic interpretation: Covering their backs in case Sony just out-and-out block future Minecraft releases on Playstation.

Pessimistic interpretation: Putting content into the game such that Sony would have to choose between either permitting content that might be perceived as promoting Xbox or instead blocking the game on their systems.

Cynical interpretation: Of course, to the end user, both those look identical. Possibly allowing Microsoft to deliver a bit of a catch-22 to Sony else Sony might look like the bad guys.
 
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