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[GarciaHotspur]

I Will never understand Microsoft, never.

Please Dear Microsoft, please, you have to stop to pay to prevent people to play games, please dear Microsoft let's create new first parties studio.

 

[Coreda]

I can see why MS would buy Mojang with their Minecraft IP.

This post on Hacker News mentioned Mojang doesn't actually own the Minecraft IP, but rather licenses it from Notch who owns it exclusively. The company itself makes less than he does.

 

[Vestax]

I Will never understand Microsoft, never.

Please Dear Microsoft, please, you have to stop to pay to prevent people to play games, please dear Microsoft let's create new first parties studio.

Developing takes time, and there's really no guarantee of success. Microsoft has tons of money, and they much rather go for something tried and proven, instead of gambling with developing. I mean Steve Ballmer alone is worth 20 billions. Twenty-fucking-billions.

Sony, on the other hand, they don't have the money at its disposal. So they are forced to a corner to develop talent. Luckily, they've done a fantastic job at it.

It's sort of the typical case of David (Sony) versus Goliath (Microsoft).

 

[SMattera]

That is not how it works. It is valued at that but the stocks are not necessarily available in the open market. You need to negotiate with the stockholders to give up their stock.

I'm well aware. That's why I said "you'd have to pay a premium."

Probably $2.5-3 billion rather than the $1.8 billion it's currently valued at.

I think buying Minecraft is a great move -- Mario for the next generation. Just wanted to put it in perspective.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

Crazy. Would only make sense if they plan on making a Minecraft 2, which would then likely be exclusive on Xbox and PC.

If it meant a complete new build from the ground up, with a 'proper' team and Azure/teh cloud support then I would be all for it.

 

[wapplew]

Wait a minute, 2 billions?
MS could do a $200 price cut on Xbone for 10 millions unit or $100 price cut for 20 millions unit with that money.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

 

[thekiddfran]

It doesn't matter. Notch is a one hit wonder and minecraft is on literally everty platform imaginable.

 

[Mung]

Ha! That guy brings back horrible memories.

 

[fanboi]

This post on Hacker News mentioned Mojang doesn't actually own the Minecraft IP, but rather licenses it from Notch who owns it exclusively. The company itself makes less than he does.

Was just about to make this comment.

Mojang is owned by http://mobil.allabolag.se/viewcompany.php?orgnbr=5567597686 (Notch Development) who get license fees from Mojang.

So as far as I can see, they won't get the Minecraft IP

 

[Dr.Acula]

If they make Minecraft 2 like Dota2, or CS:GO, where it's an engine upgrade but not massively different I think that's enough.

Was just about to make this comment.

Mojang is owned by http://mobil.allabolag.se/viewcompany.php?orgnbr=5567597686 (Notch Development) who get license fees from Mojang.

So as far as I can see, they won't get the Minecraft IP

Holy shit?

"Hey, we bought Donkey Kong" all over again.

 

[Braag]

Microsoft should learn to create a first party studio instead of just throw money around and hope to get first party studios and games.

 

[Warablo]

It would be amazing if Microsoft had the passion to make exclusive games for their platform. So much money, plus they could take more risks than Sony.

Now Minecraft: Pokémon Edition will never happen.

Spoiler

It was never happening, but it would make truckloads of money

HOLY SHIT, THIS!!!

 

[AniHawk]

It doesn't matter. Notch is a one hit wonder and minecraft is on literally everty platform imaginable.

i never do this but

 

[Chemo]

This is so stupid and such a typical Microsoft move that it has to be true. What a dumb fucking idea.

 

[Lynn616]

I Will never understand Microsoft, never.

Please Dear Microsoft, please, you have to stop to pay to prevent people to play games, please dear Microsoft let's create new first parties studio.

What would they be preventing people to play?

 

[shacklesmcgee]

Was just about to make this comment.

Mojang is owned by http://mobil.allabolag.se/viewcompany.php?orgnbr=5567597686 (Notch Development) who get license fees from Mojang.

So as far as I can see, they won't get the Minecraft IP

So they wouldn't own Minecraft, but be partners I guess? Why buy Mojang if you aren't getting the golden goose as well?

 

[Steroyd]

I think it remains to be seen if the tomb raider deal is as "bad" as some think it is. On the subject of Phil Spencer, this may very well not be an xbox driven move. It will certainly benefit xbox in some fashion if true, yes, but this clearly goes well beyond just the Xbox division. This, if it ends up true, was a major move from the very top of Microsoft, and it means they have plans that extend beyond just simply Xbox alone. This is about windows phones, surface tablets, the xbox one, but perhaps most crucially, the windows operating system itself. Consider this possibility for a moment.

What if every single copy of the next version of windows, and every version of windows from here on out, came with a full copy of Minecraft by default? You'd essentially have a situation where Minecraft is as synonymous with the Windows operating system as internet explorer. Remember the place that solitaire on windows occupied for years? That could now very well be Minecraft.

Tomb Raider going exclusive to a brand it was least popular with isn't a positive thing as far as sales go, this patterns been done many times with JRPG's early in Xbox 360's life to negative affect to the devs, but I digress.

I don't see the point of shipping Minecraft with every windows, there's no positive to that, it's not like people are more likely to buy a Windows OS when it's the defacto OS when you buy a computer, not to mention everyone already has Minecraft, I'm not seeing what Minecraft 2 can accomplish when the first one can literally be played for forever.

 

[wrowa]

If they pay 2 billion USD I'm sure that they'll also make sure to get the Minecraft rights from Notch.

 

[fanboi]

So they wouldn't own Minecraft, but be partners I guess? Why buy Mojang if you aren't getting the golden goose as well?

That's why I think this is just a rumour and no real substance.

They could sell the ip to Mojang before selling Mojang to MS though.

 

[Kaako]

I think that IF this deal goes through, MS will successfully kill the Minecraft IP regardless of how many iterations they put out because they are MS. They have a pretty good track record at killing acquired IPs/studios.

 

[aly]

Was just about to make this comment.

Mojang is owned by http://mobil.allabolag.se/viewcompany.php?orgnbr=5567597686 (Notch Development) who get license fees from Mojang.

So as far as I can see, they won't get the Minecraft IP

Well then. I did'nt know this.

 

[Ecotic]

I've never understood the Minecraft phenomenon, but I was just happy to see it become such a big new thing for the industry's sake. I'll be unhappy if Microsoft is going to dampen enthusiasm behind the game by making it exclusive to its platforms. From what I know of it, Minecraft seems so popular in part because of its open nature, it's everywhere so anyone can participate in it.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

There's no way MS would buy Mojang for 2 bil if Minecraft was not included in the deal in some way. It's the only way that kind of money makes sense.

Still, the whole thing seems rather unlikely to me.

 

[FleetFeet]

Was just about to make this comment.

Mojang is owned by http://mobil.allabolag.se/viewcompany.php?orgnbr=5567597686 (Notch Development) who get license fees from Mojang.

So as far as I can see, they won't get the Minecraft IP

That's very interesting, had no clue it broke down like that... but you'd have to imagine MS knows this and Notch Enterprises LTD is included in the deal with Mojang.

 

[Daffy Duck]

Did I back the wrong horse buying Minecraft on PS4?

 

[jem0208]

Was just about to make this comment.

Mojang is owned by http://mobil.allabolag.se/viewcompany.php?orgnbr=5567597686 (Notch Development) who get license fees from Mojang.

So as far as I can see, they won't get the Minecraft IP

Well considering we know very little about this deal they may be buying the Minecraft IP as well.

 

[AzumiChan]

If true then great news.

 

[MrCookiepants]

$2 billion could fund the development of 100 Uncharted 2's.

 

[hipbabboom]

If this is true then this will be the greatest Rope-a-dope move since the Louisiana Purchase.

 

[Nozem]

With that money you could fund 2000 new indiegames with a million each. Jesus.

 

[fanboi]

With that money you could fund 2000 new indiegames with a million each. Jesus.

You could also give 30% of the worlds population a dollar.

 

[EGM1966]

i think rumor should be in the title as the ' s dont do it loud enough

They'll finally get minecraft on the windows store.

Curious. Put me in the "does not compute" camp. Don't see the play here or payoff for MS really : as in I don't see this working out long term to their favour.

Interested to see how it plays out though.

 

[Two Words]

Could you imagine if No Man's Sky takes over as the new MineCraft after this $2 billion deal?

 

[Mr Reasonable]

I bet Microsoft are going to pay up for Mojang (assuming this rumour is correct) without checking it's assets and who owns the Minecraft. IP. I think that's likely.

Could you imagine if No Man's Sky takes over as the new MineCraft after this $2 billion deal?

Not for a second.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Minecraft was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of game. Are they honestly expecting lightning to strike twice? Mojang has been delivering jack shit since they made Minecraft.

This looks like Microsoft grasping at straws.

 

[Ecotic]

Nintendo's only worth $13 billion. Microsoft payed $300 million for Rare and didn't get 1/10th out of them what Nintendo did by merely being a minority shareholder. If $2 billion is true that's overpaying drastically for 1 IP, imo.

 

[Two Words]

Not for a second.

Why? It's not like people saw Minecraft and knew it would be this huge. No reason why No Man'sSky can't have a chance to hit it big.

 

[aspiegamer]

Holy shit?

"Hey, we bought Donkey Kong" all over again.

Oh hell.
That would make this exponentially more embarrassing than it already could be. Sad thing is last time how many people actually believed it--The people at Microsoft spending the money, at least.

$2B for the rights to "From the makers of Minecraft..." on a PR release? Surely they'd get the IP in this. They can't be THAT dumb.

 

[gofreak]

I guess as a financial investment this might make sense - minecraft may continue to yield good money in the coming years - but strategically it seems a bit odd. Minecraft is already out there, everywhere. Mojang's future output is difficult to predict.

I guess if it was not happening before, though, a 'minecraft 2' would be a certainty after this. Would it be quite as successful tied to win/Xbox though?

From notch's point of view, he is already very rich, but an acquisition like this could allow him to 'look after' his employees and make them filthy rich too, which may hold appeal for him.

Will be interesting to watch his twitter this morning!

 

[aly]

I bet Microsoft are going to pay up for Mojang (assuming this rumour is correct) without checking it's assets and who owns the Minecraft. IP. I think that's likely.


Not for a second.

No way. How would anyone miss that. I'm sure they would get the ip too.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Why? It's not like people saw Minecraft and knew it would be this huge. No reason why No Man'sSky can't have a chance to hit it big.

For instance, Minecraft launched on a platform with a around 1.1 billion devices capable running it. Of course this doesn't matter much, but Minecraft had much going for it that No Man's Sky doesn't.

 

[-SD-]

So, that's it then. No deal... and that is a good thing.

 

[ymmv]

Minecraft was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of game. Are they honestly expecting lightning to strike twice? Mojang has been delivering jack shit since they made Minecraft.

This looks like Microsoft grasping at straws.

Yep. In my book Mojang is a one hit wonder like Angry Birds. I haven't seen any sign that Notch has in it to create other IPs (or even sequels) that will be as popular as Minecraft. At least had a string of successes with different IPs over a span of years. The only thing Mojang has done was publishing the same megasuccesful games on many different platforms.

$2B for Minecraft is a complete waste of money - but maybe I don't understand modern business aquisitions. $2B for Instagram was crazy too.

 

[alstein]

Notch isn't broke- he's funded at least two other games heavily that I know of (Scrolls and Age of Wonders 3)

I think he just realizes there are things more important than money when you have enough money- it's not his scoreboard.

 

[FleetFeet]

So, that's it then. No deal... and that is a good thing.

That's from March of this year. So if this does go through, he's had a massive change of heart.

 

[Krilekk]

So, that's it then. No deal... and that is a good thing.

Might wanna check when those tweets were made.

 

[Farks!]

Misread the title as "Mojang to be bought by Minecraft". Lolz.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Actually, i'd kind of like it if Notch took the cash.

Leave Microsoft with a overrated and non-delivering development studio and a giant hole in their pocket, while Notch goes and starts his new projects with a huge influx of cash.

 

[-SD-]

That's from March of this year. So if this does go through, he's had a massive change of heart.

Yeah, my bad. Just noticed it myself.

Note to self: Do not make posts while still half a sleep.