Microsoft Is Buying Minecraft

R.I.P Minecraft...

Seriously, first Gears of War (does anybody still care about GoW?) and now Minecraft (already at or past its peak). Hopefully they are different budgets or whatever.

MS want to secure the money the IP earns and guarantee the successor is exclusive to Windows (previously known as Windows Phone) and Xbox One.

Desperation? Yeah, reeks of it.

Spending some of that money they have overseas that they don't want to pay US taxes for? Yeah, about 90 billion in cash left, they will be able to write it off like it was nothing

If a company that may help their failures get more popular is up on the block they can buy it and Capcom better look the fuck out.

Be on your guard if you have a thing against moneyhatting. The future might end up sucking bad.

Wonder what this means for Scrolls.

Couldn't care less.

I like Minecraft in theory, but have never had any interest in playing it.

I'm not sure what Microsoft hopes to get out of this. Minecraft is already on every platform ever. Are they going to make Minecraft 2 or something?

Eh, oh well, don't care.

It would be nice if this helps Microsoft sell some more Xbones, though. I don't think it would be good for anyone if the PS4 just continues to dominate. Even though I'm not interested in the Xbone, I hope they catch up.

Yes, Notch sold his company for a shit tonne of money. Yes, anyone of us would do the same, me included. The thing that gets me is that he bitched about Oculus selling to Facebook and him saying that it's not about the money. One, if it wasn't about the money why didn't he sell it to a better company than MS for less? Two...There is no two. He is a hypocrite for bitching out Oculus.

The Notch and Mojang relationship was trying to be like Sid Meier and Firaxis.

Back in the day Sid Meier was able to separate himself from his success and hand the business side off to someone he trusted. Meier is able to lock himself away in his office for months on end, build out a cool new idea and then hand that idea off to a larger team once he is happy with it.

Notch was basically trying to do the same thing but he has to deal with the modern internet. Notch likes twitter and the twitter community largely likes Notch. Notch likes to share his experiments with the community but this means when he fails, he fails publically. When every experiment is perceived to become the big follow-up to Minecraft that is a lot of pressure.

Now he has more than enough money to retire on and is no longer responsible to create Mojang's next big thing. He can just work on whatever he wants and its obvious if you follow his twitter that he is much more about the journey than the destination.

considering how much of that 2.5 billion goes straight in to his pocket (70% I read recently) I believe the statement that it's not about the money to be highly invalid - its clearly all about the money

I love how you used an image with the Banjo Skin in it. Very apt.

You realize the statistics include winners of less than a million dollars, down to 100K, this is not a survey of people who became millionaires. But of all winners and a lot more people win 100K than 1M+.

This isn't about Microsoft buying a money maker. Okay, on the surface level it totally is, but really this is about changing public perception. Minecraft is targeted at kids. Some of these kids are really smart. These smart kids think Minecraft is cool. Now a fraction of them will start to think Microsoft is cool too. Boom, Microsoft's future programmers and engineers. I don't remember where I heard this idea (it's not my own), but it totally makes sense.

That's not to say that this doesn't make sense from an Xbox games division standpoint. Over the past couple of years Microsoft has gone through sweeping changes as a company. Their focus for the foreseeable future is services and cloud.

When you think about games in general, you go to a box connected to a screen (or a box with a screen) to play them. To the average person that piece of software is associated with that specific box. Minecraft is a service in the world of games. It's on quite literally EVERY platform. With "the power of Azure" it's within reason to see all of Minecraft's content being the same and accessible everywhere regardless of platform under Microsoft's umbrella.

This acquisition makes total sense for the Xbox side of Microsoft with their new direction.

For what it's worth, Minecraft has always cost $2 billion.

I wonder if EvilSeph was aware of the deal. The timing on him trying to cancel Bukkit development is a bit convenient.

Notch's leaving says so much about the internet and what that level of harassment, yes even positive harassment, can do to someone.

Notch's twitter was turned from a personal twitter feed to a place where some people could be validated in their opinions. Notch hates Microsoft? SO DO I!

In reality he's a person. With changing emotions, opinions, and a prone to mistakes and foibles like everyone else. Yet in this strange internet world he was never left alone or left to be himself. Even now people are angry at him for "selling out".

I guess the internet is really good at not understanding or investigating the root cause of something and then getting very emotional about it.

Seems like just yesterday Minecraft was a little indie game made in java.

Also, interesting side note, Disney bought the Star Wars franchise for $4billion. Minecraft is worth almost two thirds of the entire 37 year legacy and future of the Star Wars franchise?

That is ba-na-nas.

Goddaaaaaaaayum

Gettin paaaaid.

All that dumb "it's not about the money hurrr" posts... what is he supposed to give the company away? He has a responsibility to the company and he doesn't need to perform a charity for a huge company like Microsoft.

A smart move, if a bit expensive. I just saw a family with three kids in a restaurant each with tablets. They were all under 10 years old and were all playing Minecraft. This type of game appeals massively to the youngest demographic and will only be getting more popular.

Good for Notch.

He seems like a good enough guy with a genuine passion for making stuff. Now he gets to do it forever without distractions, so that's cool.

If it wasn't about the money, he'd have just given the rights away. Everyone has a price, everyone.

And apparently Dave Lang's is really low.

@rirse: They really need a like system on Giant Bomb.

Can't wait to have "more opportunities to connect across the Minecraft community!" Go Microsoft!

What is all the internal turmoil and pressures that Markus is speaking of? and the perception he thinks everyone has of him?

I see what you did there...The Rare jokes are a very nice touch. Thanks for the article/update Patrick! Keep up the great work dude.

I love you too Notch, even though I don't give a fuck about Minecraft. 1 billion please.

So, should I buy it now before MS double the price and fuck it up?

Could have been worse, they could have sold to facebook!

I never played minecraft, but i wish him the best of luck.

Somehow, I think the backlash would have been even worse, there.

Notch's statement here really rubs me the wrong way:

If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

Why even bother making games if you're going to give up as soon as something becomes popular?

I have yet to touch Minecraft. I guess this is news though...

I wonder what will happen with the Sony side of things from a business perspective. It obviously makes sense for Microsoft to continue supporting the Playstation versions, but you've gotta wonder what the contracts look like.

I would have hated the guy if he didn't sell..

He creates because the act of creation is the reward. He's not looking for success or feedback, because with it comes the weight of expectation and a responsibility to another party. Creatives don't all want the same things, and I empathize where this dude is coming from.

Notch Seems like a good dude and always has, I wouldn't be surprised if he did something like fund his own scholarship program, or programming school, or just gave away half the damn money, most people could live in absolute comfort for a few million anyway, having a couple billion is excessive for anyone.

If he doesn't though, whatever, good for him for never being a dick or screwing his customers/fans over in any major way and still making off like a bandit at the end of it.

"It’s not about the money," he said. "It’s about my sanity."

But I bet the money helped.

lol why?

It's like Patrick said: maybe they'll try to make the Xbox version the "superior" one. Although almost certainly they won't ditch the Playstation support. What the heck, maybe they'll even keep all versions the same... you know, to show some "good faith" .

He already did the same thing with Minecraft. He just gave it to somebody else to develop once it became a thing.

@batmanbatman: It certainly would bolster their PR right now, which is in dire need of it.

Buying Mojang seems like a huge waste of money. Minecraft was something original and cool. On the other hand it is a java game and it runs like shit. I really don't think they have a lot of talent. Just look at Scrolls. It looks like shit and there is literally no reason to play it because of Hearthstone.

Good for Notch! He seems like a good dude and I'm happy for him. Can't say I believe ANYONE who says they wouldn't do the same thing if they were in his shoes.

As for Microsoft buying Mojang, well - is anyone surprised? When it comes to nurturing and developing in house talent, Microsoft has had its share of problems. Not saying they haven't had some great first party games come out of their own studios, but I think we all know who the leader(s) are in that department (ie. Nintendo and Sony). Here's another instance where Microsoft went out, flexed their financial might and bought talent. Good for them - other companies don't have the money to do what they did. I'm just worried about what it's going to do for us as gamers. I know it's been said but - they killed Rare.

As an Xbox and Xbox 360 owner, I'm very happy with my decision to stay away from the Xbox One. Don't really like what Microsoft has been about this generation.

@sparky_buzzsaw: Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if they did that at all.

You've never seen a celebrity harassed by paparazzi trying to get out of their cars or politicians harassed by protesters trying to leave their offices?

How about we stop blaming the internet for everything and accept that popular people will deal with shit no matter who they are and where they go?

People act like pieces of trash no matter where they are, don't pretend this kind of thing is exclusive to the internet.

@xeirus said:

Also that's not the what the term "ivory tower" is used to refer to. It's meant to refer to areas of academia that are so esoteric that they do not, and will never, have any application to everyday life. Nothing about Notch or his work really has anything to do with an ivory tower scenario.

Anyway, yeah, it's obviously impossible for Notch to go back to being an unknown and people may just like his work because "It's Notch, he's the Minecraft guy" whether the work actually has any merit or not. Notch knows he can't put the genie back in the bottle. But distancing himself from Minecraft is still the obvious move for him to get back some semblance of normality and to make it 100% clear that he'd rather focus on his new projects and doesn't want to be this guy indirectly managing Minecraft for the rest of his life. Also he could always just stop putting his name on stuff and release all of his future works under a different screen name than Notch and see how people react to them.

I am not sure how people see this as "makes sense" even now. With Rareware this was a company with decades of reputation behind them making a bunch of games. Mojang made one successful game and tinkered with some others. Notch made out like a bandit which is a "whatever" in my view. It feels like the real question is whether not Minecraft really is worth billions or if 2.5 billion could have been spent revitalizing first parties (you know...like get Rare to make a new Banjo?) or cultivate a hundred indie games or what.

I'm excited for whatever Notch does next (even if he doesn't want anyone to care about what he does) but I'm not excited for the future of one of my favorite games ever made.

Minecraft is now, first and foremost, a product.