How Much is $2.5 Billion in Minecraft Terms?

[Robert Rath]

How Much is $2.5 Billion in Minecraft Terms?

How do you understand real world business transactions? Why, by comparing them to the value of objects in Minecraft, of course!

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[Albino Boo]

I suspect the real reason for the sale is that Notch doesn't want spend the time and effort that running a multimillion dollar business like minecraft. I think he just wants to spend time fiddling with code and trying out new ideas but you can't do that when you are in meetings with lawyers and having to learn a whole new skill set that running an international business requires. It isn't his dream and the business side of things isn't his motivation. Notch hand over the $2.5 billion to investment specialists and never have to work a day in his life again. He has the money to create to his hearts content and not have to please anyone but himself

 

[UNHchabo]

I thought Jerry from Penny Arcade was particularly on-the-nose when it comes to the amount of money involved:

But it?s only partially the Product that is being purchased, only partly the growing services platform. If you don?t hang around with Children Of A Certain Age, you might not know exactly what is being bought here. They?re functionally purchasing a generation. Two billion dollars starts to look like a steal.

 

[rofltehcat]

Notch should really build a castle, crown himself as the King of Games and then assume the role of an investor in game development. Not only could he make all the devs and games media bow to him in his throne room, he could also massively influence the direction gaming evolves in (into a direction other than EA/Ubi/Activision would like to see).
Imagine how many game projects could be funded with that amount of money.

 

[Muspelheim]

The man and his mates are well worth that dosh. Yes, it's quite alot for relatively small work, but hey. The free market rewards luck just as much as industry. Of course, could be speaking from a position of possible minute benefit myself.

Förmögenhetsskatt, tjockis! Muahahaha! :3

Let us hope Microsoft doesn't quietly strangle the modding community, though. They might not, they probably understand that it's a feature that makes Minecraft even more popular. Probably.

If worst comes to it, there will probably be a replacement. And unless he retires completely, I imagine Notch will reinvest in new projects and ventures. It'll be interesting to see what else comes over the horizon.

 

[Urgh76]

Most of the stuff you see concerning this news are arguments about 'How stupid Microsoft is' for paying that much.

Can we take a moment to appreciate how damn smart Notch is for accepting this offer?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Most of the stuff you see concerning this news are arguments about 'How stupid Microsoft is' for paying that much.

Can we take a moment to appreciate how damn smart Notch is for accepting this offer?

Everyone's too busy crucifying him for "selling out", claiming that they personally wouldn't have sold to Microsoft for any amount of money, eschewing money to keep the game "pure".

In other words, spouting bullshit.

 

[RandV80]

Most of the stuff you see concerning this news are arguments about 'How stupid Microsoft is' for paying that much.

Can we take a moment to appreciate how damn smart Notch is for accepting this offer?

Everyone's too busy crucifying him for "selling out", claiming that they personally wouldn't have sold to Microsoft for any amount of money, eschewing money to keep the game "pure".

In other words, spouting bullshit.

I don't disagree and I'm not arrogant enough to criticize him about how he chose to sell his company... but that said if he wanted to get out and do what was best for Minecraft without being too concerned about the money he could have sold it to Valve for however much Gabe would pay. Mojang's company values are much closer aligned with Valve than Microsoft.

 

[shirkbot]

I agree that the heads of Mojang deserve to be rewarded, but they already have been. They created the biggest selling video game in History, over 50 million units sold. Those guys have already received their reward, they are already wealthy. $2.5 billion is just ludicrous... Over 1000 entire human lifetimes of money.

Maybe MS is trying to buy a generation, but if I have learned anything from Hollywood it's that nostalgia can be as great a liability as an asset. Here's hoping we haven't just seen the birth of video gaming's Michael Bay Transformers.

Edit: Can we stop pretending that Notch was somehow chained to the business of Minecraft? He was the majority shareholder, but that doesn't mean he had to actually be involved/care, and by all accounts he really wasn't. He could have walked away at any time, he just didn't. He may have sold the company, but if he really thinks that's going to end his association with Minecraft then he is a fool.

 

[blackrave]

Yeah, diamond size in Minecraft is ridiculous
9diamonds=1m^3=1'000'000cm^3
1diamond=1/9m^3=111'111.(1)cm^3
That's basically ~48x48x48cm cube of diamond (48,074985676913612744054610359337cm to be exact)
That's 18.9 inches for [sub]those too stupid to think in metric terms[/sub] unitedstatians
.
.
.
What?
I don't overthink anything.

 

[PatrickXD]

I know it's a minor enough issue, but please don't refer to kilograms as weight measurement. Weight is a force calculation for gravity's effect on a mass - go ahead and use pounds or Newtons. If you're talking kilograms, that's mass - and it's constant regardless of gravity.
Minor physics error aside, this was a fun article, though I don't think $2.5 billion will ever register as real money in my mind. That's just way too much to think about! As for the value of Mojang, that's determined by the people buying it. If it wasn't worth 2.5 billion then it wouldn't have sold for that. I look forward to whatever Notch brings us in the future, if anything.

 

[MonkeyPunch]

I'm with Mr. Rath on this one and am happy that the creators of Minecraft got some decent money.
They made a game which many love and many tried to copy. If you're not happy with where you are then get out and if you can make a buck doing so, then all the better.
Anyone who says they wouldn't have sold for that price is either really good at kidding themselves or full of it.

I would wager that Notch won't be touching anything near the 2.5 billion though. But still, getting even a fraction of that sum must be good.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

snip
That's 18.9 inches for [sub]those too stupid to think in metric terms[/sub] unitedstatians
.
.
.
What?
I don't overthink anything.

Have you ever stopped and wondered if maybe just maybe you're being an asshole for stereotyping the way you just did. I can only speak for myself and the classes I took but I was taught both.

 

[blackrave]

snip
That's 18.9 inches for [sub]those too stupid to think in metric terms[/sub] unitedstatians
.
.
.
What?
I don't overthink anything.

Have you ever stopped and wondered if maybe just maybe you're being an asshole for stereotyping the way you just did. I can only speak for myself and the classes I took but I was taught both.

Nope, not really
But have YOU stopped and wondered that maybe you're not baseline?

P.S. Also, that's obviously was the most important part of my original post, right?

 

[AgDr_ODST]

snip
That's 18.9 inches for [sub]those too stupid to think in metric terms[/sub] unitedstatians
.
.
.
What?
I don't overthink anything.

Have you ever stopped and wondered if maybe just maybe you're being an asshole for stereotyping the way you just did. I can only speak for myself and the classes I took but I was taught both.

Nope, not really
But have YOU stopped and wondered that maybe you're not baseline?

P.S. Also, that's obviously was the most important part of my original post, right?

Is it relevant to the discussion of Microsoft buying Mojang? No not at all, but the insult wasn't necessary either imo.

OT: I agree with those saying that Notch and his 2 friends/co-founders who are leaving the company deserve every penny of they money they're getting. On the other hand I'm not entirely sure if that means it was a smart move by M$. It's not the same thing or as sure of a thing as Disney acquiring Marvel.

 

[Poerts]

More important than all of that, you know what that absurd pile of cash can REEEEALLY afford? Psychonauts 2. After Notch withdrew his plans to fund the sequel after getting everyone riled up about it I've been extra-antsy about the idea. My very first thought upon reading the news of the buyout was "Holy shit, Psychonauts 2 is most likely going to be a thing now".