WSJ: ''Mojang to be bought by Microsoft'

Minecraft 100% wont be forever but the big question is how long it last.

Amazing 20 years like Mario?
or just one off?

I think it going to be hard time if forever or stay well longer because you cannot really just change the art direction. - It will always have pixel block looking.
 
Nightengale said:
In many ways, it's debatable that Minecraft is not utilised to its full potential aka milked for what it is worth.

I mean, just compare Minecraft with Angry Birds/Lego. The latter is exemplary milking till the very bones of those birds and those toys, whereas Minecraft's identity at its core is the game.

Has it peaked? Who knows at this stage. However, it definitely hasn't been fully taken advantage of.
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Are you aware of the merchandise available for this game?
 
Is it just me, or because it's on every platform, if they scale it back to just Microsoft products in the future it's going to run the risk of making them look like the most vile company in the gaming community (especially among PC fans)

Or... Is this the first step in them releasing games on Sony platforms and making a profit?


This does explain how they said their business is shifting to mobile, but not even Minecraft can help them beat android and Apple, no one will ever want a Windows phone
 
iceatcs said:
Minecraft 100% wont be forever but the big question is how long it last.

Amazing 20 years like Mario?
or just one off?
Click to expand...

For the type of game minecraft is? There never needs to be a sequel. Ever. It's perfect the way it is. It's a toy that can't be improved upon. I don't even think a Minecraft 2 is something that is needed.
 
BruiserBear said:
It's hard to imagine them not leveraging this in some way to benefit their own platforms. For example, timed exclusivity for Minecraft 2 on XB1.
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I suppose that's always a possibility. I'm sure MS platforms will be treated like royalty including the long missing windows phone version getting made. However if growth is their plan including more licencing for all manner things. Multiplatform is the way it will have to stay, or rather is the intention all along of I'm thinking of this right. At least I think that is where Microsoft are going with some of their bigger products and services.
 
Scrawnton said:
For the type of game minecraft is? There never needs to be a sequel. Ever. It's perfect the way it is. It's a toy that can't be improved upon. I don't even think a Minecraft 2 is something that is needed.
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Yep, you can't change the art.

Maybe we only can see it got bigger with story mode & MMO, and some more materials. that's it.
 
After passing up on Zynga before they hit it big with FarmVille, Microsoft would be dumb not to purchase the developers of this very popular video game.
 
Thomper said:
Except Mojang hasn't peaked? They've increased their revenue every year since they were founded, and there are plenty of indications that the same is the case for 2014 so far.
wsjchartoftheweek-r471x.jpg
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Sure, but after that? It's out on pretty much every platform in the world now (well, Vita in a few weeks).
 
At this point, it must purely be about the merchandising rights surely? But then why Mojang as a whole? Do they not think they can create another hit in their current condition?
 
Wait, people actually think MS would publish Minecraft 2 on PS4? I'd love to have some of what you're smoking. I could see it on Android/iOS/PC, but when have they ever historically thrown their console competitors a bone?
 
BeforeU said:
Good decision, 2B seems like a lot of money but you can't afford to let this IP slip to someone else's hand. 54million copies are sold. Market awareness is there, lets see what MS can do with this now.
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54 million copies are sold across how many platforms, though? If MS decides to shut out all those other platforms, how will that affect the IP?

I have to imagine the largest platform playing this game isn't a Microsoft console...
 
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Wait, people actually think MS would publish Minecraft 2 on PS4? I'd love to have some of what you're smoking. I could see it on Android/iOS/PC, but when have they ever historically thrown their console competitors a bone?
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When you spend 2 billion on something, you are looking for the best way to make that money back and then profit large. Why in the world would you cut off vita, ps3, ps4, Sony mobile, ect from your potential pool of customers? Timed exclusive to PC/Xbox maybe, but it would eventually be on everything known to man, including new3ds and WiiU.
 
Give War A Chance said:
54 million copies are sold across how many platforms, though? If MS decides to shut out all those other platforms, how will that affect the IP?

I have to imagine the largest platform playing this game isn't a Microsoft console...
Click to expand...

Sales Figures from Venturebeat:

Disclaimer: This was back in late June.
PC/Mac is 15 million copies sold
XBox 360 version is 12 million copies sold
PS3 version is 3 million copies sold
iOS/Android version is 16.5 million copies sold

Basically, if we do split the mobile version, it's very likely that either the 360 version or the original PC version are the largest platforms.

Also, guys, this isn't an XBox acquisition. Microsoft wants this for something else entirely. This will help XBox, but that's not the main goal.
 
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Wait, people actually think MS would publish Minecraft 2 on PS4? I'd love to have some of what you're smoking. I could see it on Android/iOS/PC, but when have they ever historically thrown their console competitors a bone?
Click to expand...

There was a point in time when MS would not had released anything for Android and iOS either... And now Office is on Ipad.

I'm not implying it'll happen because there's no precedence in console games space,but MS throwing a bone has happened before in other lines of their business.
 
Hope this happens. Minecraft 2 could be spectacular with a big development team behind it, the blocky 8-bit style was very charming and I'm glad it happened that way, but there's no reason why we can't move on from that now with future iterations. Microsoft will push the franchise hard, so we might see some cool spin-offs (e.g. block-less geo-mod Minecraft) and I presume Xbox One exclusive Minecraft 2 is the big get for Microsoft here.
 
Banjo-Kazooie said:
When you spend 2 billion on something, you are looking for the best way to make that money back and then profit large. Why in the world would you cut off vita, ps3, ps4, Sony mobile, ect from your potential pool of customers?
Click to expand...

To sell more Xbox Ones?

I honestly have no idea what they're gonna do with it.
 
Minecraft 2 is already out, and it is called Minecraft. The game has changed so much since launch it is amazing. I honestly don't know what they'd put in a 'proper' sequel that they couldn't simply do by expanding the current version and leveraging the existing userbase rather than fragmenting it again.
 
Hah, i bet they will get them to make some sort of sequel to Minecraft. Like Minecraft Super Ultra Championship HD Remastered Edition. Exclusive on Xbox One. World will implode.
 
Einbroch said:
Literally a spit take all over my desk.
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Like it or not, Mineceaft as an IP has more earning potential than many other IP's of the last decade, save maybe Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and a few others. It sits nearly alone in what it does best. Let some corresponding optimize and improve the engine.
 
Conspiracy time but this kind of explains why they haven't poured their heart into the next-gen releases, getting near parity to the PC code base, instead they served up warmed over PS3/xbox360 code from two years ago.

Because they knew the new masters would have new ideas on where to take things there?

The purchase is a bit like amazon buying twitch: the big guys can't tell where the puck is going to for pre-teens so, afraid of being blind-sided, they're just buying whatever ice it is skating on.

Hopefully if microsoft make it xbox or even xbox/windows exclusive, there will be impetus for a new minecraft-style engine that is multi-platform.
 
It's funny how people dismiss Minecraft as "just a one off" while it's been steadily raising popularity for 5 years now. One off? Maybe. "Just"? Hardly.

jellies_two said:
Conspiracy time but this kind of explains why they haven't poured their heart into the next-gen releases, getting near parity to the PC code base, instead they served up warmed over PS3/xbox360 code from two years ago.

Because they knew the new masters would have new ideas on where to take things there?

The purchase is a bit like amazon buying twitch: the big guys can't tell where the puck is going to for pre-teens so, afraid of being blind-sided, they're just buying whatever ice it is skating on.

Hopefully if microsoft make it xbox or even xbox/windows exclusive, there will be impetus for a new minecraft-style engine that is multi-platform.
Click to expand...

The console versions aren't developed by Mojang but 4J Studios.
 
Lanrutcon said:
MS will be dumb enough to make MC2 an exclusive. They are that deluded.
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Klart said:
To sell more Xbox Ones?

I honestly have no idea what they're gonna do with it.
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Nightengale said:
There was a point in time when MS would not had released anything for Android and iOS either... And now Office is on Ipad.

I'm not implying it'll happen because there's no precedence in console games space,but MS throwing a bone has happened before in other lines of their business.
Click to expand...

Banjo-Kazooie said:
When you spend 2 billion on something, you are looking for the best way to make that money back and then profit large. Why in the world would you cut off vita, ps3, ps4, Sony mobile, ect from your potential pool of customers? Timed exclusive to PC/Xbox maybe, but it would eventually be on everything known to man, including new3ds and WiiU.
Click to expand...

BronsonLee said:
Sales Figures from Venturebeat:

Disclaimer: This was back in late June.
PC/Mac is 15 million copies sold
XBox 360 version is 12 million copies sold
PS3 version is 3 million copies sold
iOS/Android version is 16.5 million copies sold

Basically, if we do split the mobile version, it's very likely that either the 360 version or the original PC version are the largest platforms.

Also, guys, this isn't an XBox acquisition. Microsoft wants this for something else entirely. This will help XBox, but that's not the main goal.
Click to expand...

Look at the platform split. 95% of the copies sold are on PC/Mac/Xbox/Mobile. The PS4 version just came out and I believe Sony's still sitting on the Vita version somehow. If they announced Minecraft 2 and cut off PS/Nintendo platforms starting say, Monday, they'd still please the vast majority of their audience.
 
Banjo-Kazooie said:
When you spend 2 billion on something, you are looking for the best way to make that money back and then profit large. Why in the world would you cut off vita, ps3, ps4, Sony mobile, ect from your potential pool of customers? Timed exclusive to PC/Xbox maybe, but it would eventually be on everything known to man, including new3ds and WiiU.
Click to expand...

Yeah, just like Rare games got ported to Nintendo and Sony systems or how Uncharted got ported to Nintendo and MS systems. Of course if MS bought Mojang new games would become exclusive to MS platforms, including PC, maaaybe also for iOS / Android. I don't know if they'd pull the existing game though, but I doubt they'd continue printing retail copies for the PS3/4 versions.
 
metareferential said:
The first DK was crowd funded.

Not the company, or anything beyond the first DK. People believing they were "investing" in Oculusvr are delusional.
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Sure, but that piece of kit made the company surely? I agree people that think they bought shares are proper guano, but it still makes a difference, because those people that gave money and created the success of Oculus, ultimately just donated to FB and made a few people rich, instead of creating a company free of evil overlords to explore their vision. I can understand the objection to that, even if I think those people should receive nothing beyond the dev kit for that investment. This was my understanding of why Notch was bothered by it, because peoples good will and faith in a product turned into Facebook dollars instead.
 
Wait. Notch hasn't reacted to all this madness on Twitter yet?

Okay, that is awfully suspicious. Especially since he always shoots down fake rumors pretty quickly.

Microsoft never ceases to amaze in how far they're prepared to go to buy there way out of a bad situation. Tomb Raider is nothing compared to this.
 
Very impressive acquisition price, 500M$ more than what Softbank paid for Supercell with much higher revenue and profitability. But I don’t think this deal is about the revenue. To me, this is all about herding the next generation of gamers into Microsoft platforms.

Minecraft is the king of the playground and schoolyard, and commands a tremendous mindshare in social media.

I see this as the first big move MS is doing to catch up to its competitors on the mobile and gaming fronts where the competition beating them like a government mule.

We\ll see if it works. Exciting times!
 
BibiMaghoo said:
Sure, but that piece of kit made the company surely? I agree people that think they bought shares are proper guano, but it still makes a difference, because those people that gave money and created the success of Oculus, ultimately just donated to FB and made a few people rich, instead of creating a company free of evil overlords to explore their vision. I can understand the objection to that, even if I think those people should receive nothing beyond the dev kit for that investment. This was my understanding of why Notch was bothered by it, because peoples good will and faith in a product turned into Facebook dollars instead.
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The bizzare thing is that those people would rather see VR fail, but remain indie (which is what was going to happen) than suceed under Facebook.
 
Mojang does not exist to make as much money as possible for the owners. As the majority shareholder, I’d know. Every time a big money making deal comes up that would make a lot of money, it’s of course very tempting, but at the end of the day we choose to do what either makes the most sense for our products, or the things that seem like fun for us at Mojang.
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From the Notch Blog earlier this year.

If I got offered $2 billion I would accept and laugh about 'doing it for the fans' on the way to the bank.
 
PetriP-TNT said:
It's funny how people dismiss Minecraft as "just a one off" while it's been steadily raising popularity for 5 years now. One off? Maybe. "Just"? Hardly.



The console versions aren't developed by Mojang but 4J Studios.
Click to expand...

Well since the article said that mojang reached out to microsoft because of their great experience coding the xbox one, clearly it isn't hands off.

So my conspiracy theory stands: 4j are just a coding group paid to do what they are told to do. Mojang decided how much focus a given port or platform was to get. It would make sense not to throw heart and soul into next-gen ports during protracted buyout discussions by someone with a strongly partisan view on the console market.
 
You know it is eerily silent on Twitter today with regards to tweets from various Mojang guys. I have never known Mojang to be so silent. Hell Notch isn't known for keeping his mouth shut and I would have expected a tweet first thing this morning blatantly denying this, yet there is nothing. Nothing from Notch, or Jeb, or Dinnerbone just silence.
 
iceatcs said:
I think it going to be hard time if forever or stay well longer because you cannot really just change the art direction. - It will always have pixel block looking.
Click to expand...

You can change it quite a bit on PC. Kind of missing the point of Minecraft though, either way. Minecraft is more toy than game, the focus is on how it functions and what art direction the player can bring to it.

The focus on player creativity is what gives toys like minecraft a long lifespan. It is the first really successful virtualization of Lincoln Logs/Tinker Toys/Etc. gameplay. Expect it to last a long time unless somebody can build a significantly better one.
 
King_Moc said:
Sure, if it's still around in 30 years.
Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be around in 30 years to be remembered like we remember Mario 1 or 3. It is this generations Mario. Just because Mario is still around today, doesn't mean it didn't affect me 25 years ago, the same way Minecraft is affecting kids the same way today.
 
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