Didn't Mojang have hundreds of millions annually already? What's two billion gonna do that that couldn't?
Edit: Damnit now that phrase is coming back to me.
WSJ: ''Mojang to be bought by Microsoft'
- Thread starter Thomper
- Start date
Didn't Mojang have hundreds of millions annually already? What's two billion gonna do that that couldn't?
Edit: Damnit now that phrase is coming back to me.
MrCookiepants
Member
Exactly. The 30 million who bought Wii Fit (which is a metric fuckton more impressive than any Minecraft statistic, considering the price and the fact that it was only released on 1 platform) didn't care about Wii Fit U.
travisbickle
Member
If it wasn't for MS Minecraft probably wouldn't have been made.
CaptainSlow
Member
The one thing that I hope comes out of this is that console versions of the game (with the very least the 360/XB1 versions, but I would expect all versions too) to getting larger updates faster. 4J has been way to slow and I was disappointed when the PS4/XB1 versions were announced and released and they were the same as the PS3/360 ones. With so much money spent, I'd like to see more parity across all platforms.
Killroyskbg
Member
But don't they already have that money? I mean what are their operating costs with 50+ mil games sold and a studio their size. Do they need marketing when every person out there that play games know what Minecraft is. They are literally rolling in money and have not produced anything of value beside Minecraft.
Neuromancer
Member
Exactly. Retroactively, this means MS is responsible for all of Minecraft's success. This is part of their continuing campaign to win gamers' hearts and minds.
MomoPufflet
Member
Well I'm going to be pissed if the Vita version doesn't come out because of this.
StudioTan
Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
I have no idea if MS is going to make their 2B back if this goes through, all I do know is that my 10 year old watches Minecraft videos on YouTube for hours on end when he's not actually playing it. He's either watching that or DS Pokemon videos.
Even more important is now MS can do bundles of their own. Either as part of this years holiday pack (for 360 if not XB1) or even better as an alternative to a Hexic style freebie down the line. And later sell the sequel to the new userbase that never tried it before.
maniac-kun
Member
They will be forced to do Minecraft 2 under Microsoft. With hd graphics.
foolishoptimist
Member
They're obviously threatened by the impending Vita version.
PintSizedSlasher
Member
A shitload of microtransactions incoming?
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
lol
like anyone in Sony is going to endorse shelling out 2 billion dollars for Minecraft with the shape that company is in right now. They'd have to be legit insane. And you think Microsoft can't simply outbid them? They have tons of money. Having tons of money and trying to buy their way to victory is 2/3 of their whole strategy for Christ's sake. Sony won't win the spending money game
MS has a lot of money. The Xbox division does not, and you would crazy to think that corporate MS would use billions of dollars on a division with not much profit, if at all. You could say surface and WS7 phones, but those are portable strategies with high margins, and big growth area, unlike the Xbox division, which market share is shrinking by the day. Not to mention the revenue from falling market share = less revenue from Live, which is the Xbox´s biggest blow this gen imo.
That just can't be the extent of it to justify a $2B investment. I think they can make most of that money back over the lifetime sales of the game and merchandising deals in years to come, and I suppose Windows Phone could see a small bump (lol), but there's got to be more to it.
I can't be the only one thinking it's a power chip in the AR and VR wars.
Rumor has it they have their own AR solution coming, but I'm sure they're going to try to be the go-to platform and infrastructure for AR devices and services. The only way they do that is if they get out in front in terms of install base and stay there. At the right price point Minecraft could help them sell millions of Windows-powered AR devices and Azure-powered personalization.
They could also use it as leverage to strike a deal with Facebook where Minecraft VR on PC is Windows only and bring Oculus support to Xbox One. It could significantly reduce the power of Samsung and Sony VR catching on with kids.
I mean, they spent $500 million on Kinect marketing back in 2010, with hopes that Kinect's motion and voice technology would develop to set the 360 and Windows PC apart. With AR and VR there are new interfaces, development tools and platforms, and non-gaming applications and services at stake. They could have all eyes on their solutions if they are the ones leading with the most popular video game of all time going VR for the first time. EDIT: I wouldn't be surprised if things like the NFL deal extends to AR interfaces as well, so it wouldn't be just a single video game.
Maybe I'm crazy, but if this happens then it's the largest investment on the gaming side they've ever made. It's in a completely different league. There's got to more to it than just sequels, merchandising, and DLC.
The Xbox division rolls into the Windows division. Their new CEO has recently unified a lot of divisions such as hardware so that they're NOT running like their own businesses, but helping either contribute technology to the core platform and infrastructure offerings, or in the case of hardware try to create the best showcase for software and services. In the latest letter to the company, Nadella specifically pointed out the technology contributions Xbox has made to the larger organization and that there will be more of it in the future. He also pointed out that gaming is the largest time and money spent in mobile and that Xbox puts them in a unique position to take advantage of the opportunity.
With $86 billion in cash and a mobile-first, cloud-first agenda, where they admit gaming plays a huge part in that mobile world, it's really not all that surprising that they're investing a couple billion in a huge game IP that spans devices.
CountAntonius
Member
Please Microsoft don't buy Rust!
plasmawave
Banned
Rise of the Minecraft.
Wiktor
Member
What are you talking about? They not only took a team of Company of Heroes vets to turn Age of Empires into crappy mobile Clash of Clans clones, but they also paid Square Enix to keep Rise of Tomb Raider away from PC. Microsoft is huge supporter of PC gaming obviously
SteveO1683
Member
Should be an interesting sale if this pans out. What will be really interesting is a look back in five or ten years if it was worth it or not.
TimeEffect
Member
Man Im going to be pissed if the PS4 version doesnt get supported. I'm expecting a lot of updates to keep the content coming, and really hoping for an adventure mode.
Night Angel
Member
It's obviously not their style. They prefer to buy studios, underutilize them, and force them to make sequels to old successful IPs rather than working new projects.
Please change, MS.
Ninja Scooter
Member
This seems like such an odd deal. I mean, Minecraft is a fucking phenomenon, but it feels like it became that precisely because it wasn't a Microsoft (or any other big publisher) game. It allowed it to appear on any platform under the sun (kids can play the thing on their parents old hand me down android phones) and have a ton of mod and user created content. I feel like if Minecraft had come out 5 or however many years ago and was an XBLA/Windows Phone exclusive or something it wouldn't have gotten nearly as big.
Then again MS has to see some kind of big time revenue producing potential out of it. I wonder if this is less of a "MS buying a game studio" thing, and closer to "Disney buys Marvel". Like if MS is justmore interested in selling merch and shit.
Then again MS has to see some kind of big time revenue producing potential out of it. I wonder if this is less of a "MS buying a game studio" thing, and closer to "Disney buys Marvel". Like if MS is justmore interested in selling merch and shit.
Auto-Reply
Member
Bizarre move, should have been way earlier to get it as an exclusive to the platform. What do they (MS) expect from this deal?
It can't be a possible Minecraft 2 as I doubt anybody knows what that could/should look like, not even Mojang.
Whatever will be regarded as the new Minecraft (if anything ever will be) is probably a completely different game from a different developer.
It can't be a possible Minecraft 2 as I doubt anybody knows what that could/should look like, not even Mojang.
Whatever will be regarded as the new Minecraft (if anything ever will be) is probably a completely different game from a different developer.
TimeEffect
Member
Think about a sequel though! MC2 would be a very huge exclusive.
Though I guess in that case, they could just buy exclusivity for the IP.
with remote play, the vita version never has to come out!
Wouldn't it be a waste of money if it didn't?
James Sawyer Ford
Banned
Wow, I didn't think Microsoft's gaming division could be any more clueless than after they secured timed exclusivity for Tomb Raider, and now this? It's hilarious in retrospect how people were so convinced Phil Spencer was good for the division. He's shown time and time again he doesn't have a clue. If this acquisition goes through it would be one of the biggest wastes of money I've ever seen a company make this side of Nokia..
Minecraft isn't a system seller, it's a fad and a one hit wonder. You could literally fund 10 huge exclusives for this money.
Minecraft isn't a system seller, it's a fad and a one hit wonder. You could literally fund 10 huge exclusives for this money.
Maximilian E.
AKA MS-Evangelist
If this whole thing is true, then it is for more than IPs. For example, notch would be in a position to influence pc gaming in a much bigger scale. I think MS want also the people within Mojang or especially notch.
Because it's a one hit wonder. He can't make anything else that's close to the luck he hit.
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.
Pancakes R Us
Member
It was never gonna be on Wii U anyway.
OrlanisWorks
Banned
If they were to sell themselves, I'd hope they at least would have in their contract that their games can be exclusive to the Xbox One console, but will they will always have a PC version in general and as priority.
Bleh. Smells funny. I don't like this much.
Bleh. Smells funny. I don't like this much.
worst money spent ever.
like honestly what is the point ? mincraft is a true example of one hit wonder. It will pretty much go south from there. even if MS buying this because of the idea of Minecraft 2 next year will be awesome, I doubt it will cover the cost of the buying price.
or maybe they will. I duno. buy Capcom for 2 billion lol.
this is not true at all. if anything, its growing really fast. look at the sales of home consoles now vs ps2/xbox or ps3/xbox 360.
you will find the adoption rate is very high.
like honestly what is the point ? mincraft is a true example of one hit wonder. It will pretty much go south from there. even if MS buying this because of the idea of Minecraft 2 next year will be awesome, I doubt it will cover the cost of the buying price.
or maybe they will. I duno. buy Capcom for 2 billion lol.
this is not true at all. if anything, its growing really fast. look at the sales of home consoles now vs ps2/xbox or ps3/xbox 360.
you will find the adoption rate is very high.
Nightengale
Member
Influence PC gaming? How?
Hm, b-but I thought MS doesn't care about xbox and gaming at all? Why would they spend so much money for a gaming company? IMHO, this deal doesn't male sense at all. The only reason, why Minecraft is so popular, is that EVERYONE can play it. If you limit to a Single console or just a few, Minecraft wouldn't be so successful.
So, yeah I dont think we will see an exclusive Minecraft 2.
So, yeah I dont think we will see an exclusive Minecraft 2.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
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.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
Microsoft may exploit the Minecraft brand a la the Lego games releasing new themed versions or sequels with such tenacity that the Minecraft 'brand' becomes as big as Mario in it's 1990s prime, with a new 'pirates', Star Wars, Harry Potter, Dora the Explorer whatever-themed Minecraft every holiday blitzing parents and children with the full Microsoft marketing machine. They embrace multi-platform for it on every platform imaginable because its profit margins per software outweigh the advantages of exclusivity increasing hardware revenue. New themed-Minecrafts becomes a bigger brand or event than Call of Duty, Minecraft merchandizing rivals the Mario choose-your-own-advantages, McDonald's Happy Meal toys, Pepi under-the-cap bottle SNES promotions of the 1990s, and it becomes the single biggest icon that both Microsoft and Xbox are known for. It spawns an avalanche of shitty clones, but a small percentage of titles end up being innovative or exciting, and help insert new life into world building, simulation, strategy, and role-playing games. MMOs are forced to evolve into grander sandboxes (killing off the age of static theme parks) and maybe even a few Minecraft/RTS hybrids are spawned, rejuvenating small amounts of life into slightly-related genres. It also results in a new generation of gamers, raised on Minecraft rather than Call of Duty or Candy Crush, that, as they age and buy more consoles or bigger PCs, demand bigger or more complicated simulation, survival, strategy, or role-playing games instead of console shooters or pay-to-win mobile games. In general, Minecraft grows beyond its current level of Halo or Call of Duty sales success, and becomes a merchandising and branding success more akin to Mario of the 1990s.
Or they churn out Minecraft 2 with too limited platform scope, it is just sub-par with no fanfare, disappears, and Microsoft wastes 2 billion.
My reply wasn't entirely serious. It's exaggerated. It was 'theorycraft' of the delusions of grandeur sort. I have no idea what the real answer to your question will be, in hindsight. I've barely even played Minecraft and I don't own any Xbox platforms (though I do own shares in MS and as a finance analyst I follow Microsoft). It was purposefully exaggerated, partly for fun and partly to alleviate the seriousness of the question, in terms of and regards to any sort of aspiration.
But you have to think Microsoft is pretty serious and grand and even exaggerated in their aspirations for Minecraft, including about the branding and merchandising potential, if that's the price tag they're offering. They're not offering $2b just for an average sequel or for platform exclusivity that will likely reduce software revenue. Any M&A of that size also has a growth plan in place that expects, or hopes, for even bigger growth and return. So if the M&A plan is that big than the branding, merchandising, and promotion plan must also be pretty big.
Maximilian E.
AKA MS-Evangelist
By offering Notch a position and give him influential power across the board, gaming related. Perhaps Notch already was involved with input on Win9 and it perhaps turned out so well that the only way for Notch to come over to MS was if MS buys Mojang. Mojang without Notch would not be the same.
So 2 billion could be small a price MS had to pay to Improve Windows as a gaming platform and set it up nicely for the future..
Nightengale
Member
And it continues to sell.
Roll on Minecraft 2 VR Edition XB1 exclusive with a bunch of DLC. Somewhere at EA someone is going "Fuck, why didn't we think of this?".
I'm curious to see what Notch will do.
Cheaper to just pay couple hundred mil and make gta timed exclusive. Or some exclusive marketing. Its not like GTA is a yearly franchise. It comes out like once every 5 years and has a large budget. 2 billion is a waste of money. And the other Take Two franchises would be pointless for MS as well. Why would they want to compete with EA with NBA 2K? They already own age of empires and they don't know what to do with it. So there is no point in getting Civ as well. The rest as well like Borderlands, Bioshock, XCom. All those games will sell well on Xbox regardless. And I doubt owning those games will stop people from buying PS4. Than again you never know with MS. They could buy Take Two as well in the future (lol). They throw around money like its nothing.
As for Mojang. MS has probably made a ton of money with Minecraft already. Millions of 360 copies sold. Millions of people subbed to Live and bought MS hardware to play the game in the past couple years. Exposure to their store. MS has all the numbers they probably figured this 2 billion purchase is already mostly paid for. This type of game covers a large demographic. Kids love it and there aren't any graphical hurdles. MS will easily squeeze money out of the ip for the next decade.
Similar threads
- Poll