Microsoft Buys Mojang For $2.5 Billion

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Microsoft buys Mojang for $2.5 Billion
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By Kalila 2014-09-16 03:36:49
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Yes, we’re being bought by Microsoft
by Owen on September 15, 2014


Yes, the deal is real. Mojang is being bought by Microsoft.

It was reassuring to see how many of your opinions mirrored those of the Mojangstas when we heard the news. 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. <3

Please remember that the future of Minecraft and you – the community – are extremely important to everyone involved. If you take one thing away from this post, let it be that.

We can only share so much information right now, but we’ve decided that being as honest as possible is the best approach. We’re still working a lot of this stuff out. Mega-deals are serious business.

Why did you sell Minecraft?
Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we’re massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch’s intention for it to get this big.

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.

There are only a handful of potential buyers with the resources to grow Minecraft on a scale that it deserves. We’ve worked closely with Microsoft since 2012, and have been impressed by their continued dedication to our game and its development. We’re confident that Minecraft will continue to grow in an awesome way.

Minecraft means many different things to millions of people across the world, and to each and every Mojangsta. We feel that this is the best way for everyone – you guys included – to benefit.

What about the other editions of Minecraft? Will they stop being developed?
There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.

We’re extremely proud of all editions and the awesome things you have achieved through playing together.

Is the game going to change? Will we still be able to make videos, mods, awesome builds, and all the cool stuff we’ve created over the past few years?
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.

What about the Mojang staff? What’s happening to you guys?
Though it’s too early to confirm which of us will continue working on Minecraft or other projects, we predict that the vast majority (if not all) Mojangstas will continue to work at Mojang for the time being.

The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool.

What’s happening to the other Mojang projects, like Scrolls?
We don’t know yet. We’ll share any news as soon as we do.

Will you still be able to tweet about features and interact with the community on a personal level, just like you’ve done over the years?
Yes! That’s not going to change.

How much money was the company bought for?
Microsoft acquired Mojang for a smooth 2.5 BILLION dollars.

Thanks for reading everybody.

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 Bismarck.Dracondria
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By Bismarck.Dracondria 2014-09-16 03:55:39
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Good for them
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By gdiShun 2014-09-16 04:46:08
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Would've preferred it to not be a console manufacturer. But overall, I'm pretty indifferent. Those games aren't exactly my cup of tea though.
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By Fenrir.Weakness 2014-09-16 06:34:40
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gdiShun said: »
Would've preferred it to not be a console manufacturer. But overall, I'm pretty indifferent. Those games aren't exactly my cup of tea though.

Wut?

Not 100% on this, but I think Microsoft also has something to do with computers and stuff. I'll have to look it up to be sure.
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 Ragnarok.Sekundes
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By Ragnarok.Sekundes 2014-09-16 07:14:03
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I can't say that I'd be "happy" by the purchaser, but honestly, the pool of people who can afford 2.5 billion is pretty shallow. I do find it rather difficult to understand how this will be net profit for MS though.

2.5 billion is a ***ton of money. The last record of total sales for minecraft was 54 million. This was a few months ago so for calculation purposes, we'll be generous and just put it at 60 million. To break even, microsoft would have to take every copy ever sold and sell it again... for $41.67.

Minecraft currently sells for 26.95 and for years it sold for less, as low as 15(at least that I recall as that is what I bought it for way back in the day).

In other words, this deal has substantially more money than the game has ever made during it's incredibly popular life.

I understand that they plan to use it to boost sales of other products but... That's a crap ton of sales needed. But I suppose for them, even a small market share increase will make a big profit. Probably worth it considering how miserable the windows phone sales are.

/shrug.
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By cwegman 2014-09-16 08:08:08
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Did the first Star Wars (episode 4) make a lot of money, or did Lucas kill it with merchandise. Currently Minecraft makes 150x more profit from MERCHANDISING than the game itself. If Microsoft does the deal justice it will be them laughing to the bank, unlike FOX and its deal with George Lucas. Minecraft crap is everywhere, even for a boring game such as that. Bravo notch for becoming a billionaire on such a simplistic idea.
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By Odin.Jassik 2014-09-16 09:08:49
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I do hope that MS keeps their noses out of Mojang's business and lets them keep doing what they do well. EULA and fair use could be the death of the community that has made Minecraft so popular.
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By Bismarck.Veruna 2014-09-16 09:16:26
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Ragnarok.Sekundes said: »
I can't say that I'd be "happy" by the purchaser, but honestly, the pool of people who can afford 2.5 billion is pretty shallow. I do find it rather difficult to understand how this will be net profit for MS though.

2.5 billion is a ***ton of money. The last record of total sales for minecraft was 54 million. This was a few months ago so for calculation purposes, we'll be generous and just put it at 60 million. To break even, microsoft would have to take every copy ever sold and sell it again... for $41.67.

Minecraft currently sells for 26.95 and for years it sold for less, as low as 15(at least that I recall as that is what I bought it for way back in the day).

In other words, this deal has substantially more money than the game has ever made during it's incredibly popular life.

I understand that they plan to use it to boost sales of other products but... That's a crap ton of sales needed. But I suppose for them, even a small market share increase will make a big profit. Probably worth it considering how miserable the windows phone sales are.

/shrug.

It was cheaper waay back in testing phases. Could get (and I did get it) for $5.
 Odin.Jassik
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By Odin.Jassik 2014-09-16 09:21:29
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Bismarck.Veruna said: »
Ragnarok.Sekundes said: »
I can't say that I'd be "happy" by the purchaser, but honestly, the pool of people who can afford 2.5 billion is pretty shallow. I do find it rather difficult to understand how this will be net profit for MS though.

2.5 billion is a ***ton of money. The last record of total sales for minecraft was 54 million. This was a few months ago so for calculation purposes, we'll be generous and just put it at 60 million. To break even, microsoft would have to take every copy ever sold and sell it again... for $41.67.

Minecraft currently sells for 26.95 and for years it sold for less, as low as 15(at least that I recall as that is what I bought it for way back in the day).

In other words, this deal has substantially more money than the game has ever made during it's incredibly popular life.

I understand that they plan to use it to boost sales of other products but... That's a crap ton of sales needed. But I suppose for them, even a small market share increase will make a big profit. Probably worth it considering how miserable the windows phone sales are.

/shrug.

It was cheaper waay back in testing phases. Could get (and I did get it) for $5.

I think I got it for 7.99 right before the Halloween update, so alpha.
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By gdiShun 2014-09-16 09:42:40
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Fenrir.Weakness said: »
gdiShun said: »
Would've preferred it to not be a console manufacturer. But overall, I'm pretty indifferent. Those games aren't exactly my cup of tea though.

Wut?

Not 100% on this, but I think Microsoft also has something to do with computers and stuff. I'll have to look it up to be sure.

My point, probably poorly-worded, was that I'd rather third-party publisher, like Square, EA or Activision, bought Mojang instead of Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. Mainly so Minecraft 2(which is coming now that a major publisher has their hands on it) would stay multi-platform.

If you just look at the quality of the titles Microsoft has published for PC and Xbox(link below), you can hardly argue they've been given equal treatment. It looks like MS gave up on PC gaming all the way back in '07. But it's not surprising either, MS has much more to gain with the success of Xbox. They get much more money from hardware sales. And they also get license and online subscription fees on top of that, neither of which they get from PC.

For gaming, they are a console manufacturer first and foremost. Just because they make the OS most of those games are on, doesn't mean they care or stand to profit from them as much as they would with Xbox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_published_by_Microsoft_Studios
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By Fenrir.Atheryn 2014-09-16 14:26:50
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By Kalila 2014-09-16 20:15:23
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Microsoft’s Game Content Usage Rules:

You may post your Item to a page or website that has advertising, but only if you do not earn any money from that advertising. For example, if you post your video on Youtube or Vimeo and there happens to be an advertisement next to it, then as long as you don’t get paid for that advertisement, the fact that there is an advertisement on the page doesn’t break these Rules. But enrolling in the Youtube partner program (or other similar programs), where you are entering into an agreement to get paid, is not allowed. On a similar note, if you create and distribute a free app, then you can’t earn any money from advertising in that app.


._.; I really hope this doesn't affect Minecraft, since Microsoft aren't the creators of Minecraft, just the new owners.

It would really, really suck for me if all my favorite YouTubers just suddenly stopped making videos because they no longer could profit off their videos, or at the very least reduced the number of uploads because of how much time it takes to record, edit, and upload a video.
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