Post by Eorl @ 10:07am 10/09/14 | 25 Comments
The rumour comes from The Wall Street Journal, who cites a source with knowledge on the matter. The Journal reports that if the deal goes through, it could be valued at more than $2 billion and may be looking at signed "as early as this week."
If this is true, this could be a very large and very powerful acquisition by Microsoft, with Minecraft so far selling almost 54 million copies since its inception across PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile's iOS and Android. Minecraft has since been the studio's only successful title, with development still on-going for tactical role-playing card game Scrolls.
What do you think about this possible acquisition? Could you see Minecraft becoming Xbox/PC exclusive? Let us know in the comments!
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Posted 10:10am 10/9/14
Cheap sellout wanker. They are all the same.
Posted 10:15am 10/9/14
Posted 10:18am 10/9/14
Besides possibly one or two wow patches. I've never seen a changelog this large for a game.
Posted 10:31am 10/9/14
That's kind of intentional, Notch has said on multiple occasions that the company was formed to spend time with friends and just be creative, producing something isn't the goal and the company has a 10 year life span (source - pretty sure I either read this in a wired interview or rolling stones, who f*****g knows, but its around on the internet). This is part of the reason that development on Minecraft itself is looked after by others, leaving the Mojang core to just do what the f*** ever.
I'd love for notch to sell up just based on the way he has talked about Microsoft and Windows 8 in the past, it would be the irony on the hypocrite cake turd that he is. I honestly couldn't speculate if it will or won't happen as either result wouldn't surprise me.
Credit where credit is due, he made a game (despite the inspirations) that was accessible to everyone. My kids love the s*** out of it, it's made him wealthy and he gets to enjoy life the way he wants to. If only he didn't act like some magical veteran I'd probably respect him as an individual.
Posted 10:34am 10/9/14
um, they just released a massive update to the game.
Posted 10:41am 10/9/14
from what I understand notch would be more than happy to walk away from most of it, I mean he hasn't really done much work on minecraft once it really took off, and the guy doesnt need the drain running a company, so why not sell it off, let it run its course,
Posted 10:44am 10/9/14
edit: it goes without saying that EVERYTHING that makes Minecraft popular is basically the antithesis to EVERYTHING that Microsoft know how to do with games.
Posted 11:01am 10/9/14
MS are a publisher primarily, so buying / financing dev studios seems their MO for sure.
Not sure what you think the better MS-published games were but Flight Sim, the AOE series and World of Goo don't feel like the 'antithesis' of a work like Minecraft to me.
They haven't done anything interesting for a while though that's for sure.
Posted 11:15am 10/9/14
Posted 11:17am 10/9/14
I dunno, I wouldn't call $2 Billion cheap.
Posted 11:53am 10/9/14
Everything else about the MS gaming experience is about control.
Posted 11:59am 10/9/14
Going back on your principles because of money is cheap, regardless of the price. Not to mention, it's not like Notch is walking to maccas with his only $5 man. Microsoft can't make MC better. Name three things Microsoft has made better in recent times. Office 2012 (lol) Windows 8 (lol) XboxOne (lol).
For us, the gamers, this isn't good news at all. As Eorl said above, this could end up with MC being pulled from other companies such as Sony, from Android, from IOS, etc.
Posted 12:57pm 10/9/14
Posted 01:15pm 10/9/14
Posted 01:50pm 10/9/14
Last it was mentioned, Notch was worth $150,000,000. In 2012 he made over $100,000,000 alone. In 2013 he made $115 million profit from $291 million revenue. I suppose it's a lost battle when the gamers you'd fight integrity for have no integrity for themselves. Even selling out to a company he hasn't shat on would seem a tad more normal.
But MS? With their AAA gaming division and Metro that nobody wants? With all the exclusive console game drama getting thrown around? We lose the battle, and we're slowly losing the war. Soon enough we'll be paying just to look at the pictures of an early access game.
Wall Street Journal has my sentiment in a nutshell:
Posted 02:39pm 10/9/14
Posted 08:49pm 10/9/14
Posted 10:17pm 10/9/14
Posted 05:27am 11/9/14
Posted 07:58am 11/9/14
I just hope Microsoft if all this is true doesn't smash it into the ground.
Posted 08:24am 11/9/14
Posted 08:28am 11/9/14
As long as he doesn't play it on PS4, Wii, etc, you should be fine. In the world of exclusives, what better game to make exclusive..
Microsoft haven't done anything right for a few years now. The optimism and lack of long term memory sickens me.
Posted 08:40am 11/9/14
If you knew you were a one trick pony, and probably had no chance of repeating that success in the future wouldn't you "sell out".
Its basic buy low/sell high.
But hey, of course he could just fade into obscurity for his "principles"
Posted 02:59pm 29/9/14
It is not a rumour. check out the Mojang's website https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-b
Posted 03:19pm 29/9/14
Oh what... really? Oh. Nevermind, carry on then.