WSJ: ''Mojang to be bought by Microsoft'

That's a huge huge waste of money. Even if Minecraft still would have the same user base by the time they will be able to release Minecraft 2, it will still be a huge waste of money.


But by the time Minecraft 2 will be released, let's say 2016, probably there will be another mass market game and they only have two options: keep with the same way of Minecraft 1 (where I can't see what could they do that couldn't be done with a DLC) or make another game, similar, but new that it's easy that wouldn't have the same success...


Anyways, is its money, but...
 
I don't see this as possible at all.

Back when Minecraft was starting alpha to public, I would follow Notch and he would constantly shit on being bought out in any circumstances.

Fast-forward to post-Seananners days, and Notch was talking about how MS and others were trying to buy them out but refused because they were too greedy.

Throw in a year or two, and Notch would always complain about how Microsoft and their execs dealt with the 360 version of Minecraft and the like.

I haven't followed him much since then, but this is really against his morals and overall dislike of big companies trying to buy him out or have control of what they do.
 
I wonder if this would ultimately mean Minecraft for the PC would be ported to another language than Java... Microsoft maintaining a Java project just seems... yeah... no. They've already proven they don't do Java... even after bastardizing into J++ or J#...
 
I don't see this as possible at all.

Back when Minecraft was starting alpha to public, I would follow Notch and he would constantly shit on being bought out in any circumstances.

Fast-forward to post-Seananners days, and Notch was talking about how MS and others were trying to buy them out but refused because they were too greedy.

Throw in a year or two, and Notch would always complain about how Microsoft and their execs dealt with the 360 version of Minecraft and the like.

I haven't followed him much since then, but this is really against his morals and overall dislike of big companies trying to buy him out or have control of what they do.

When someone throws $2bn at you, see how easy it is to take the moral high ground then.
 
Just to give some perspective;
This is half of what Disney paid for Marvel.
This is half of what Disney paid for Lucasarts.
This is a quarter of what Microsoft paid for Skype.


Just to give some perspective;
This is 2.4% of their Cash Hoard.
This is the amount of net profit they make in 19 days.
They could spend $2 Billion on a new company every month and still be profitable.
 
Just to give some perspective;
This is 2.4% of their Cash Hoard.
This is the amount of net profit they make in 19 days.
They could spend $2 Billion on a new company every month and still be profitable.

Hmmm? What's this all about? That was supposed to a value of sale comparison, nothing more. I'll leave the talking of their cash reserves/the international offshore fund this is apparently coming from/etc to people who are better at that stuff than I. It's supposed to be simplistic. Nobody doubts they've got bags of money, that's what allows them to pay 8.6 billion for Skype, take an absolute bath on Kin, keep hurling money at Xbox/Zune, etc
 
Somehow it makes me sad, that a company that has only developed one game (and one that I find horrible, too :/) is worth four times the money that MS invested in Rare with all its talent, heritage and franchises.
 
I don't see this as possible at all.

Back when Minecraft was starting alpha to public, I would follow Notch and he would constantly shit on being bought out in any circumstances.

Fast-forward to post-Seananners days, and Notch was talking about how MS and others were trying to buy them out but refused because they were too greedy.

Throw in a year or two, and Notch would always complain about how Microsoft and their execs dealt with the 360 version of Minecraft and the like.

I haven't followed him much since then, but this is really against his morals and overall dislike of big companies trying to buy him out or have control of what they do.
In the bloomberg article it mentions him and Phil are friendly and eat dinner together once in awhile, maybe he had issues with Don?
 
What do you do with 2 Billion dollars?

I'd build a very, very nice house with an amazing view of the ocean somewhere, and then fill it with things I like. Art, arcade machines, books, classic cars, movies, etc.

Then I'd donate a ton to film preservation groups and reputable zoos that also focus on conservation and protection.
 
the fuck 2billion...
I wonder how many game studios you can start with that kind of money

Is this to basically buy the Minecraft IP?

People keep saying this, but I don't think this was an Xbox division decision, even if the xbox decision had some input. This is a larger Microsoft corporate strategy, designed to benefit things beyond just xbox alone, and clearly from their strategic point of view, getting and owning Minecraft, and perhaps the development team, is more valuable to the company as a whole rather than building game studios to make hardcore, big budget AAA games, which is something that would mostly just benefit the Xbox division, and clearly that alone isn't the goal here.

Yes. It's not like Mojang has done anything worthwhile aside from Minecraft. Right now, they are the definition of a one hit wonder.

Well, look at the facebook oculus deal for $2 billion. There's literally no hit there yet at all. So it's probably better to have the one hit wonder than a company that really hasn't done anything significant yet in the consumer space. I do think Oculus has potential, however, just not the way many gamers might think it has potential. I think it'll be bigger for more traditional apps or things such as new, exciting ways to experience social media, and as a pretty awesome extension of a PC or Laptop.
 
Just now realizing this thread title is about Mojang and not the ancient game of Mahjong. I was like how could MS even buy that and who the hell even cares?
 
Is this still a rumor? How have we but heard from Notch about it yet?

If it was fake, someone (Notch or MS) would have said something by now.


The silence basically says shit is real but the deal isnt done but its so close its not worth denying. I suspect we will have a official announcement of the deal by Friday.
 
Is this still a rumor? How have we but heard from Notch about it yet?

It's still officially a rumor, but the lack of any response from anyone at Mojang, not even one single peep, leads me to believe it's happening.



Or the guys at Mojang are just milking the spectacle for fun....
 
2 billion seems like a bit much for a franchise that is probably past it's mid-way popularity point.

I guess they probably know of future plans we don't.
 
I have a feeling IF this is true (which it likely is) Microsoft will announce the deal tomorrow to counter the NPD news, especially if it was another bad month for MS. This odd reply to a tweet from Aaron Greenberg might indicate the NDPs are not pretty again.

15Qlsd2.png


The way his tweet is worded makes me think the sales were not great this month. Which makes this time of this Microsoft/Mojang news interesting. So, like I said, I bet we get confirmation tomorrow.
 
I have a feeling IF this is true (which it likely is) Microsoft will announce the deal tomorrow to counter the NPD news. I wonder if it was another bad month for MS, especially after this odd reply to a tweet from Aaron Greenberg.

15Qlsd2.png


The way his tweet is worded makes me think the sales were not great this month. Which makes this time of this Microsoft/Mojang news interesting. So, like I said, I bet we get confirmation tomorrow.

mrt_zps3cbf62b8.gif
 
I have a feeling IF this is true (which it likely is) Microsoft will announce the deal tomorrow to counter the NPD news, especially if it was another bad month for MS. This odd reply to a tweet from Aaron Greenberg might indicate the NDPs are not pretty again.

15Qlsd2.png


The way his tweet is worded makes me think the sales were not great this month. Which makes this time of this Microsoft/Mojang news interesting. So, like I said, I bet we get confirmation tomorrow.

Sure, why release anything in the summer or any "slow" season? Just trow you fans under the bus and release games "when it really count".
 
Just to give some perspective;
This is half of what Disney paid for Marvel.
This is half of what Disney paid for Lucasarts.
This is a quarter of what Microsoft paid for Skype.
More perspective. ...This is more than the entire market cap of Take-Two.

Minecraft > GTA franchise + RDR + civilization + Bioshock + NBA 2Kn + X com + evolve + mafia + all those studios + etc.

Really?
 
if this means the end for Java I am all for this deal
I don't think you understand. Without java minecraft would not be. Being able to download it and have it run in a window on anything is a huge part of its success. Kids can't all maintain a windows steam install but they can run minecraft on a school library pc or their moms laptop or whatever.

I don't see where Java is a negative for it. performance is good, as good as it needs to be, and nobody has to learn java to play it.
 
Sure, why release anything in the summer or any "slow" season? Just trow you fans under the bus and release games "when it really count".

If they're too embarrassed to say anything when they're losing by 70K, I can't imagine they're going to be eager this fall when the sales gap is in the hundreds of thousands range.
 
I don't think you understand. Without java minecraft would not be. Being able to download it and have it run in a window on anything is a huge part of its success. Kids can't all maintain a windows steam install but they can run minecraft on a school library pc or their moms laptop or whatever.

I don't see where Java is a negative for it. performance is good, as good as it needs to be, and nobody has to learn java to play it.

You don't need java to make a standalone app ...

Modding would have been more difficult though.
 
More perspective. ...This is more than the entire market cap of Take-Two.

Minecraft > GTA franchise + RDR + civilization + Bioshock + NBA 2Kn + X com + evolve + mafia + all those studios + etc.

Really?

But none of those Take Two IP have kids or community the same way Minecraft does. Not one of them has the same portability and accessibility across any device either.
 
But none of those Take Two IP have kids or community the same way Minecraft does. Not one of them has the same portability and accessibility across any device either.

Also, Mojang probably doesn't cost nearly as much as 2K does to run and whatnot.

That being said, they've got one project (Minecraft) vs 2Ks litany of them. If Minecraft can sustain itself, it won't matter, but..
 
You don't need java to make a standalone app ...

Modding would have been more difficult though.

You don't need Java for one executable on one platform but Java is a plus because my kids can grab a laptop even one running whatever version of whatever, including OSX, and it just runs. Straight out of the download file.

Mojang is now big enough to make hand crafted binaries for every platform but I'm not sure they would be there now if they hadn't taken the Java route. Modding is another wrinkle to that as well.
 
Top Bottom