Microsoft now owns Minecraft

[Antimony]

 

The rumours have been circling like slightly blocky vultures, but Microsoft has now confirmed that it has bought Minecraft makers Mojang.

Mojang has been acquired $2.5 billion (around £1.5bn), and it will join Microsoft Studios' stable of world class development teams.

 

On his official twitter account CEO Satya Nadella said of the purchase: "Thrilled to welcome the Minecraft community to the MSFT family & excited about the open-world possibilities ahead!"

 

Microsoft has been quick to point out how the acquisition will help the powerful Minecraft community, mindful of a potential backlash from a huge audience.

Friends with benefits?

"Microsoft's investments in cloud and mobile technologies will enable "Minecraft" players to benefit from richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools, and more opportunities to connect across the "Minecraft" community," said the company high up in its official statement.

 

For those who play Minecraft on Sony's PlayStation or Apple products fear not: "Microsoft plans to continue to make "Minecraft" available across all the platforms on which it is available today: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation," insisted the company.

 

Of course, a lot of people will be wondering what Mojang has to say about all of this. Over on its website, the company wrote: "Change is scary, and this is a big change for all of us. It's going to be good though. Everything is going to be OK."

 

So why sell? Mojang gave us a bit of a clearer idea, confirming that the game's founders, including Notch, will be leaving the company to pursue other things. "As you might already know, Notch is the creator of Minecraft and the majority shareholder at Mojang. He's decided that he doesn't want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance."

 

Over the past few years he's made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang. He'll continue to do cool stuff though. Don't worry about that."

 

Finally, the team promises players that the game won't see any sudden drastic changes. "Minecraft will continue to evolve, just like it has since the start of development. We don't know specific plans for Minecraft's future yet, but we do know that everyone involved wants the community to grow and become even more amazing than it's ever been. Stopping players making cool stuff is not in anyone's interests."

The Notch perspective

Notch has also chipped in with a few of this thoughts on the matter. "I'm aware this goes against a lot of what I've said in public. I have no good response to that," he said, later adding: "As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I'll probably abandon it immediately."

 

Speaking on the Microsoft/Mojang deal, Notch concluded: "It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

 

via:

http://www.in.techradar.com/news/gaming/Official-Microsoft-now-owns-Minecraft/articleshow/42545576.cms

[gibson66]

Like any fan of minecraft, I'm naturally weary of microsoft getting their money-grubbing hands on the game. Having said that, the minecraft community is strong enough that any major changes will be met with staunch resistance. Hopefully microsoft sees that and they won't try anything stupid. Then again it's microsoft...

[Jobba]

I hope they don't mess it up

[Kaliente]

I don't understand how they can see 2.5billion as a profitable acquisition, that's a ludicrous amount of money for a game that has seen it's foreseeable time in the sun, and the likelihood that they as a gaming studio will strike minecraft gold again? Astronomical.

 

Mind-numbing. Whatever.

[Daliger]

I don't understand how they can see 2.5billion as a profitable acquisition, that's a ludicrous amount of money for a game that has seen it's foreseeable time in the sun, and the likelihood that they as a gaming studio will strike minecraft gold again? Astronomical.

 

Mind-numbing. Whatever.

 

Well, they did spend 8.5billion on Skype. It's not the first time they've spent unreal amount of money for something. 

[GI-JOE]

And so, the countdown to paying for updates as "DLC" and Microsoft ruining Minecraft begins.

[Heretic121]

"Microsoft's investments in cloud and mobile technologies will enable "Minecraft" players to benefit from richer and faster worlds

Dafuq does cloud/mobile tech have to do with how fast/rich the worlds are? Richness is based on the seed. Speed is based on your desktop's hardware.

[Mr. Grimm]

Let's get ready for Multiplayer Live, Games for Windows, and 99 cents for a stack of diamonds.

[AcidParadox]

And so, the countdown to paying for updates as "DLC" and Microsoft ruining Minecraft begins.

I was thinking about this, how will these microsoft DLC compete with the extensive modding community. I just hope they don't restrict it too much.

[kami]

Dafuq does cloud/mobile tech have to do with how fast/rich the worlds are? Richness is based on the seed. Speed is based on your desktop's hardware.

Just like the EA servers helped SimCity to become such a life like simulation, obviously. /s

[Ol Smoke]

So does this mean that Minecraft will be upgraded to include  Ctrl-Alt-Del  command?

[Chameleon]

And so, the countdown to paying for updates as "DLC" and Microsoft ruining Minecraft begins.

Truth

[Night Hunter]

agree with GI-JOE like chameleon...lets wait microsoft dont ruin the game.....

[Jopa]

At least Apple didn't buy it, they would bring out a "new" game every 2 months and charge full price for it and also charge us each time we want to create a new world.

[gibson66]

At least Apple didn't buy it, they would bring out a "new" game every 2 months and charge full price for it and also charge us each time we want to create a new world.

icraft....