If the PS4 vs X1 situation has taught us anything, it's that goodwill can do a lot for a company. Of course it's not only that, but a good chunck of PS4's success comes from that.
WSJ: ''Mojang to be bought by Microsoft'
- Thread starter Thomper
- Start date
If the PS4 vs X1 situation has taught us anything, it's that goodwill can do a lot for a company. Of course it's not only that, but a good chunck of PS4's success comes from that.
2 billion for Minecraft really isn't that outrageous considering it has sold well over 54 million copies.
BibiMaghoo
Member
I don't disagree, I just understand the ire that some contributors to that funding might feel. And consequently, why Notch reacted the way he did, and why he may view this as very different.
I think the best example of this is Blockbuster. According to many, Blockbuster's online offerings (which were intended to compete with Netflix) in its last few years were actually quite good deals for the money. They got rid of late fees, too, near the end.
But the Blockbuster name was so toxic -- such ill will had been built up through the years -- that a few good moves near the end simply were not enough.
And the amount of goodwill MS will earn from gamers worldwide once this has been officially confirmed will be astronomical. So much good will that they'll need a second warchest just to stash it in.
SaucyJack
Member
Really. How many more copies do you think it would have to sell to give you a return on an investment of $2 billion?
Who did? http://news.investors.com/technolog...-do-more-acquisitions-with-cash-stockpile.htm
If you want the current state of Minecraft for PS4, sure.
Castef
Banned
Mass Effect
Member
This is crazy. That is an insane amount of money. I wonder what this means for Minecraft going forward.
Hmm, would that make him the first billionaire game developer?
Hmm, would that make him the first billionaire game developer?
only 80m more sales on PC should make their investment back
Oh, agreed, not disputing that for a moment.I just think that MS strategy with this acquisition is not to buy goodwill from existing gamers but to get the next generation onboard. Supercell acquisition made sense revenue-wise, the Minecraft acquisition only makes sense if MS believes they can get tons of new users into their ecosystem with it -Mojang revenue is clearly not the target here, that much is evident.
Might fail or might not. Exciting to see.
Not sure if serious. I was actually supporting the opposite scenario.
"Has sold" doesn't equal "will sell" though.
Ray Wonder
Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
Yeah, I don't think 54 Million more people are going to buy it though. It's a wasted investment.
Minecraft is a whole merchandising business. Not sure what their profit was like, but their revenue is in the hundreds of millions per year. So it's possible they could get a return on investment if Minecraft stays steady.
However I think they're banking on sequels and so on boosting revenue and profit further in the future. I doubt they're banking on static performance.
Xenon
Member
Blockbuster was killed by the one-two punch of Netflix and Redbox. Microsoft is just lucky Nintendo took itself out of the game this generation.
Isn't this deal supposedly not just for the game but really the brand itself which extends beyond gaming? Merchandising etc...
I understand the fear, I shared it the first days.
But that's pretty much it, and once you pute a Rift on your head, I really can only see how that technology need heavy founding and access to good manufacturing deal, to have an even better future, my DK2 definitly convinced me about it.
I just specificly don't like Notch reaction because it's pretty much someone who has the success and the money to make it's creation bigger, but does the very minimum about it ( team size, stop working on it himself ) who complain about the one who still need to prove himself, had limited amount of funding for something very costly ( hardware ), so choose to do something drastic for the sake of the project ( for all we know ).
100% certain Spencer was involved in this.
Honey Bunny
Member
Unfortunately? I don't know. I'd rather they blow their pocket money on this one overvalued dev than them buy out multiple ones, who put out multiple franchises, that I care about.
Bolts-n-Rays1109
Banned
This is more than just selling copies of Minecraft. It's for the whole Minecraft brand. That includes clothes, toys, the Minecraft movie, and anything else with the Minecraft name on it.
Adam_Roman
Member
As long as Minecraft 2 comes to PC, I don't care.
BronsonLee
Member
There...there's no article there
I found it though, danke. That's on Venturebeat then. That being said, split that and take into account the cheaper price. 360 and PC basically reign supreme because they don't go down in price, ever ever ever
SaucyJack
Member
How do you propose to make a profit of $25/unit on a game that sells for $19.99?
It mainly sells on mobile. In the UK that's a whole £4.99 per sale.
SaucyJack
Member
Indeed.
Looks like Ferrio beat me to it. I was wondering the same thing. Seems overpriced to me.
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
Involved, yes. Deciding factor? sole factor?
Is it Xbox Money? Is it Device and Services overall money?
Lots of questions.
Interfectum
Member
I'm not sure if Minecraft's success can be replicated in a sequel.
I think this can be the only reason, but even then they're overpaying. I could almost understand if they were doing it to screw over competitors, but Minecraft isn't really a big thing for Sony, so I don't think it'd make a huge difference there.
I don't think Minecraft players have anything to worry about (Unless you're on a non Microsof console). Me personally (nothing to do with the business side of things) would have loved to see 2 billion invested in new studios with new IP's or resurrecting old IP's. Microsoft owns a colossal amount of IP's that just sit dormant.
CadetMahoney
Member
Pretty much, however we don't know how much more the IP can bring in the future.
Personally I think it's peak has passed, but what do I know.
thehillissilent
Member
Microsoft is going to exploit Minecraft with DLC and merchandising. We will see tons of spinoff games. We will probably see tv shows and movies in addition to the games.
I wonder what will happen to the modding community. I suspect that they will migrate to another similar game. There are tons of Minecraft clones out there unless Microsoft wants to start suing people which is ridiculous since there were similar games before Minecraft arrived..
I wonder what will happen to the modding community. I suspect that they will migrate to another similar game. There are tons of Minecraft clones out there unless Microsoft wants to start suing people which is ridiculous since there were similar games before Minecraft arrived..
There is not even a minecraft 2, 3 or 4 yet.. and not to mention the spin off toys and other minecraft paraphernalia.
Yeah, because Minecraft 2 is going to sell no copies.
CassidyIzABeast
Member
Notch won
BronsonLee
Member
Have..have you been in a mall recently? Minecraft merch is already everywhere
Yeah, I would say you probably should be.
Freeman
Banned
At least those 2B$ were used to buy Mojang and not a publisher or studio that matters to me. Minecraft is already out everywhere, it can be modded and it's not the sort of game that would benefit from a potential sequel with better graphics.
Its hard to believe this is true, because it would show MS is dangerously clueless for such a large company.
My hope is that MS will eventually buy EA and run it to the ground so the NFL license would be available to someone else. That would be the greatest contribution MS ever did to gaming.
Its hard to believe this is true, because it would show MS is dangerously clueless for such a large company.
My hope is that MS will eventually buy EA and run it to the ground so the NFL license would be available to someone else. That would be the greatest contribution MS ever did to gaming.
This is completely common place. I'm not sure what your point is? None of that has any bearing on the "attitudes" of microsoft
PanicFreak
Member
I agree but I think it goes a bit further than just winning over young gamers. I think this is Microsoft trying to make a new generation of kids think that Microsoft is cool.
thehillissilent
Member
The modding community is probably really worried right now and rightfully so. Microsoft could make the game F2P and sell loads of DLC. If this happens, fans and modders might have to migrate to another game.
I've seen stuff in stores. I should have been more specific. I'm thinking tv shows, movies, crossovers, etc.
Minecraft doesn't supply all of its profits just from game sales. It sells hundreds of millions of dollars in toys, clothing, collectibles, and thousands of other random things (like accessories, pens, etc.) There's potential for other media forms too.
Don't look at this with such a narrow mind/window.
Sorry, I don't get this sentiment - not just from you but from others in the thread as well. MC is a franchise that at least has the legs to be milked like Lego can. And if it's actually nurtured right, it could have much bigger potential than that when you start bringing in persistent, connected online worlds and then tie it in to the impending VR resurgence.
And fidelity. Jesus, just imagine what the MC platform will be like after a few iterations at increasing the granularity of detail to everything.
SaucyJack
Member
Minecraft 2, 3 and 4 don't exist and will require effort and cost to develop. There's no guarantee that it'll sell.
As someone else said earlier in the thread it is more than likely that the next Minecraft will be some other game from some other developer.
I also don't think people are getting just how much revenue would have to be earned to give sufficient profit to recoup the $2 billion and make an adequate return and just how many copies of a cheap game would have to be sold. You would have to sell a ton of merchandise and dlc to bridge the gap.
It would be a miracle if they were to make a return on a $2 bn investment.
There is not even a minecraft 2, 3 or 4 yet.. and not to mention the spin off toys and other minecraft paraphernalia.
Rewind three years.
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