Mojang Joins Microsoft; Founders Notch, Carl, Jakob Leaving

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Notch, sells out for 2 billion. Man am I laughing my ass off. No one has integrity the way people fantasize about integrity. As Ted DiBiase used to say, Everyone has a price!
So Notch and the ground floor guys just got a spectacular payout, and basically threw everyone who supported them over the whole ideal that they weren't sellouts because they didn't put Minecraft on steam under the bus.
Hell I don't blame them. If I were Notch and company, now resting comfortably in the more money than God range of rich, I'd retire. Why? One reason, they'll never ever top Minecraft. Just won't happen. The other? 2 billion is a lot of money, guaranteed a height of financial success one can never reach again. So retirement at an early age sound like a damn good idea. One can still do things post-retirement, but one doesn't have to do jack shit.

I can assure you that my price is significvantly less than 2.5 billion

Tbh I think people here will underestimate what the minecraft licence really brings microsoft, it's more than just the game.

I freely admit I'm mercenary. Everything has a price and I'll agree to it, but then sometimes the price is out of the range of what the person who wants said thing done can pay.
I also don't believe anyone ever sells out, they just buy in to a different life.

 

[craddoke]

In related news, Windows 9 will be replacing the unpopular "tile" desktop of the previous iteration with new-and-improved "blocks."

 

[Darklord008]

Man, with that kind of money, Notch can now buy untold amounts of silica gel packets! /DesertBus7Reference

 

[AT God]

Notch may have been the face of Mojang but he wasn't really an active part of Minecraft's development anymore anyway. At least by most accounts. He's already tried moving on, but his entire reputation is dwarfed by that of Minecraft.

I understand that and that is also part of my point. Despite Minecraft expanding away from Notch's control, he continued to be the one who was mentioned in the various hateful messages directed at anything Minecraft or Mojang or even Indie related. I read through the comments thread for the Rumor post on this buyout and most of the hateful commenters blamed Notch for things, or claimed it was Notch's fault that Minecraft did _____ or whatever they disliked was Notch's fault. Games are almost never a one person operation but the biggest name attached takes the majority of the fire and I get the feeling that Notch will continue to get spammed with hatred for long after this deal is done whenever Minecraft does something a person dislikes. I don't think Notch will get the escape he wants by leaving Mojang and that worries me because I would like to see him keep doing things, but if Minecraft gets horribly corrupted by this deal that we internet people like to speculate, Notch wont be able to do anything without getting spammed hate for "abandoning" Minecraft to an evil corporation. I am interested to see how much longer the industry can sustain this massive amount of abuse without drastic changes.

 

[BeerTent]

Internet fame scares good people from innovating more than once.

That's what the headline should be.

 

[Timpossible]

2.5 Billion? Well...I would sell out for this amount of money to be honest. But for Mojang itself? Well...Mojang will be the new rare?
1. Great Developer with an intersting perspective of videogames
2. Beeing bought by MS
3. All the founding staff leaves
4. End up making Kinect games

I guess Minecraft will stay the way it is. But I wouldn't be suprised if Big Updated become every rarer as they already are. But I think MS would be just stupid if they touch modsupport and stuff. If MS actually does this and changed MineCraft that much...they could have just burned 2.5 billion dollars.

BUT: I guess:
In one or two years: MineCraft 2 will be announced. "Exclusivly" for XBONE (means for about 6 months) and will be F2P with a huuuuuuuuge ingame-shop so you have to pay for say recipes for Diamond Tools or more space in your inventory.

 

[Erttheking]

Christ. Hope Microsoft doesn't fuck this up too badly. Just let the employees do their thing and keep updating the game. The money will print itself. DON'T FUCK IT UP MICROSOFT!

 

[Silent Protagonist]

The most important thing for me is that microsoft doesn't get in the way of mod makers. Even if there was never another official update to the game, the mods would still role out add a ridiculous amount of content to the game. If anyone here is a fan of the game and hasn't done so already, I highly recommend that you try out some of the massive mod packs out there such as those that can be found on Feed the Beast, Tekkit, ATLauncher, as well as others.

Also, does anyone here have any insight on how the merchandising for minecraft works or if microsoft will be getting a cut of it as a result of this deal? I seem to see that crap everywhere so I imagine it would be fairly lucrative

 

[gigastar]

Well, i hope it was worth it for Microsoft.

Though im struggling to see what MS thought dropping $2bn on Mojang is going to get them. Yes, it gets them Minecraft, but that ships already sailed unless they start cranking out paid DLC and/or sequels.

Also this had me rolling.
[Tweet t=https://twitter.com/KazHiraiCEO/status/511507949291069440]

Thanks for that. Really made my day.

 

[Darren716]

So Mojang is as the dirtsheets said Microsoft's newest client, nice. I look forward to their new ring gear, theme, and finishing move.
Still they'll need a proper feud to get people really interested in them so I'd suggest Mojang vs Nintendo...or is that too quick? Maybe starting with just one of Nintendo's clients would be better.

Mo' money, Mo'jang.

Also this had me rolling.
[Tweet t=https://twitter.com/KazHiraiCEO/status/511507949291069440]

Also hope it means that local (to me) guys 4J Studios get a decent payday too, considering the work they've put in on the console ports.

What is the context of the avatar on that twitter? All I see is Kaz doing the four horseman gesture.

Man all those reference and no classic Ted Dibiase "everyone's got a price"?

 

[shrekfan246]

I am interested to see how much longer the industry can sustain this massive amount of abuse without drastic changes.

I'd be more interested in seeing the internet suddenly realize that flinging anger and abuse at every little thing they even slightly don't like isn't the way to improve things, but that's a fleeting hope right there.

Maybe once they've pushed out every single person trying to make something unique and interesting and all we're left with is actually the fiftieth iterations of Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, et al and they start wondering why we don't get anything new anymore, they'll finally see that their methods are doing far more harm than good. Though it hasn't worked so far...

 

[ascorbius]

Fair play to Notch. That's good business that is. Everyone in business should have an exit strategy, otherwise it's just a job.
Now he gets to retire on the back of the good fortune he had.

Do I feel betrayed? Absolutely not!
Will Microsoft mess with it? Probably, but they'll probably improve on some aspects... make a rubbish sequel but the 3rd version will be amazing.

 

[Vivi22]

Notch just robbed Microsoft and they don't even realize it. Amazing!

 

[LaoJim]

I'm not an economist, and big numbers make my head hurt, but...

$2 billion seems a crazy number. Grand Theft Auto 5, allegedly the most expensive game ever made apparently cost $265 million including marketing. This is seven to eight times the price. Minecraft is currently available for the XBox One for $19.99 meaning that they'd have to sell 100 million copies to break even on this deal. (I know we'll get Minecraft 2 at some point and DLC...)

According to Wikipedia the only game that has sold that amount is Tetris with 143 million copies over all consoles. The next best selling Wii Sports is only at 82 million. Minecraft is already number 3 with 54 million copies sold, meaning that a hell of a lot of people already own it.

Seems a hell of a risk that Minecraft will remain a popular franchise long enough to make the money back and not just become a passing fad...

For all the talk of selling out, frankly Notch would be insane not to take this deal.

 

[jackpipsam]

I can't help but feel this a bad idea on Microsoft's end.
I mean they brought Rare for $375 million and I am not sure they ever really made their money back on them. Rare a company with a long history.
Now more than SEVEN times that amount on a still small and new studio with a one-hit-wonder.

I think Microsoft may not get much out of this.
I wish they had spent that money on new IP and games from many different studios.

 

[Midniqht]

Well, cue the angry masses...

I don't see this as a bad thing if they plan to keep on keepin-on, as it were. Minecraft probably won't change too much. At the very least, I'd expect new developments for other platforms like Windows Phone or Windows based tablets now that MS owns it.

 

[J Tyran]

Good on him, sure it might not "be about the money" but with his chunk of $2.5b he can sit and piffle about with whatever he wants too and love in luxury without ever earning anything again.

 

[RA92]

Seems a hell of a risk that Minecraft will remain a popular franchise long enough to make the money back and not just become a passing fad...

I agree with you to an extent, but you aren't taking into account the merchandising possibilities (that's where the likes of Angry Birds get most of their cash). Minecraft is a cultural milestone by now, so it ain't fading away any time soon.