Dont do it Notch !!!!!

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Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by John Doe » Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:26 pm

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/r ... 2-billion/

Report: Microsoft to buy Minecraft developer Mojang for $2 billion

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is in talks to buy Swedish game developer Mojang, best known for its block-based zombie survival building game Minecraft. Citing a "person with knowledge of the matter," the purchase would value the developer at more than $2 billion.

The purchase would be a surprising one. Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson has been critical of Microsoft, claiming that Windows 8 could be "very very bad" for indie developers. When Facebook bought VR goggle company Oculus earlier this year, Persson cancelled development of a virtual reality version of Minecraft, saying that "Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts."

The price is also remarkable. Minecraft is the only Mojang game that's reasonably complete. Card strategy game Scrolls is currently in beta, and planned space-based sandbox game 0x10c was cancelled in 2013.

If the sale goes through, Mojang will join the likes of 343 Industries, new developers of the Halo series, Turn 10 Studios, developers of the Forza series, and Rare, developers of the Kinect Sports series, as part of Microsoft Studios.

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by The Domer » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:48 pm

Psh, I'd take the money in a heartbeat.

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Boss Llama » Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:09 pm

While I would not want this to happen, if the rumored price is accurate, I'd join Domer and sell it in a heartbeat were I in position to do so. It seems quite frankly like an absurd sum for what's basically a single game (that anybody cares about) portfolio, but what do I know?
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Plinko » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:46 pm

Reports have it Notch approached MS to sell Mojang. He won't be staying, though . . .
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by TheCarpe » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:48 pm

Hasn't Notch kind of been out of the picture for a while now?
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Boss Llama » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:03 pm

For Minecraft yes, but he still owns the company. He just has been hands-off of Minecraft itself.
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by The Domer » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:29 pm

The growth of minecraft from a profitability standpoint has been insane. A one man op to a (potentially) multi-billion dollar franchise? Crazy. That said, the market is pretty saturated and the law of diminishing returns would suggest it's not going to get too much more profitable (in a relative sense), so it makes perfect economic sense to cash out, allow your family and descendants to live a life of luxury for generations to come, and focus on whatever new projects notch is more passionate about.

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Guardian » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:41 pm

This is probably a really dumb move on Mircosoft's part.

Ya sure Minecraft is a popular game but Mojang is unlikely to produce anything that's quite as popular. They're really just riding off it's success and making the games they want to make (which is fine, I mean we get free updates to minecraft). But nothing they make is producing 2 Billion dollars. I don't even think merchandise from Minecraft could make up for it.

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by ADevilishPotato » Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:55 am

Guardian wrote:This is probably a really dumb move on Mircosoft's part.

Ya sure Minecraft is a popular game but Mojang is unlikely to produce anything that's quite as popular. They're really just riding off it's success and making the games they want to make (which is fine, I mean we get free updates to minecraft). But nothing they make is producing 2 Billion dollars. I don't even think merchandise from Minecraft could make up for it.
well when was the last time microsoft made a smart business decision? :lol: :P :roll: :) :| :( :cry:
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Boss Llama » Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:52 am

As of earlier this year, Minecraft had something around 14.3 million paid user accounts. I'm sure it's gone up somewhat in the meantime, but none the less - even if all 14.3 million paid users had bought the game at its $27 price, which many of them paid nothing near, that's still "only" $386.1M. If we say that the successful merchandising of the game has doubled that amount, a lifetime earnings of $772.2M is still a long way short of $2B for a product that is probably on the backside of its profitability curve. All those numbers (except the paid user accounts) are speculation by me, so I might be way off obviously, and the $2B figure is merely a rumor with an anonymous source, so everything really might be moot here.

All I can say with certainty is that I fear what happens to MineCraft if Microsoft does acquire it, because I don't want to see nonsense like paid patches, MineCraft 2, console/mobile exclusives, restricted modding, or other such bunk. Even if they're a bit slow at times, Mojang has shepherded the game beautifully. I don't think there are many studios that could have taken a one-man garage hack and successfully turned it in to one of the most widely known, used, and played products, without jumping the shark or selling out, and so far Mojang has done so. If the numbers bandied about are true, I wouldn't blame them in the slightest for selling out now - I'd just be very disappointed.
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Larry » Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:01 am

Minecraft was a huge success but everybody who already owns it does, so there isn't much more to sell. Maybe Microsoft thinks Mojang has something hidden or they can make money off them.

3 Billion is a whole lot of money. They made all that money off of people buying it and now they can make more money off it? Why not?

Unless Minecraft makes it dlc loaded. Then I'll be sad.
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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Inner » Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:07 pm

I have relished that Minecraft is not on Steam and not owned by say, Microsoft. Alas, change happens. So it will be sad, but okay.

Domer/Alizee nailed the main points as usual. I will only add that this is the kind of transaction (if it happens) that may not make perfect sense in today's dollars as everything currently stands, but makes awesome sense in the 5-10 years range. Well, at least to me. Minecraft has potential that Mojang would probably never be able to exploit, but Microsoft can. If it loses money for a few years, that's just a tax write-off, not a problem. Microsoft has so many double chests of diamond blocks!

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by belak » Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:53 pm

If I had to guess, this would be just as much of an acqui-hire as wanting the IP. Sure, Microsoft could do a ton with Minecraft, but when you think about it, the talent they would be acquiring is definitely impressive. If there are game ideas in Microsoft, having an existing team build new games would be a good idea... Plus most first party Microsoft studios are large. Having an indie studio would be a pretty big change, but it would allow them to maybe have an advantage over Sony or Nintendo in those regards as well.

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Inner » Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:09 am

belak wrote:If I had to guess, this would be just as much of an acqui-hire as wanting the IP. Sure, Microsoft could do a ton with Minecraft, but when you think about it, the talent they would be acquiring is definitely impressive. If there are game ideas in Microsoft, having an existing team build new games would be a good idea... Plus most first party Microsoft studios are large. Having an indie studio would be a pretty big change, but it would allow them to maybe have an advantage over Sony or Nintendo in those regards as well.

Yep, the team is good. Of course MS can't literally buy the team, they can only try to get them to stay on. The team members could say no thank you.

MS could do a ton with Minecraft as a game, and probably will. However, with a few exceptions, MS isn't a strong gaming company. What else could the Mojang/Minecraft purchase be used for? I can think of a number of things. On one end of the spectrum you have business related stuff like it could be a pre-emptive purchase to prevent lawsuits. (MS recently lost big money in the UK over having named their cloud storage product SkyDrive and had to change the name to OneDrive.) Closer to the other end of the spectrum, think along the lines of a very interesting code generator or even user interface. But in the end, it could be they just like the game.

:)

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Re: Dont do it Notch !!!!!

Post by Flash » Sat Sep 13, 2014 4:16 pm

Alizée Fan wrote:All I can say with certainty is that I fear what happens to MineCraft if Microsoft does acquire it, because I don't want to see nonsense like paid patches, MineCraft 2, console/mobile exclusives, restricted modding, or other such bunk. Even if they're a bit slow at times, Mojang has shepherded the game beautifully. I don't think there are many studios that could have taken a one-man garage hack and successfully turned it in to one of the most widely known, used, and played products, without jumping the shark or selling out, and so far Mojang has done so. If the numbers bandied about are true, I wouldn't blame them in the slightest for selling out now - I'd just be very disappointed.

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