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Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

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Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#31

Post by x0x0 »

Mandatum wrote: post #25
citricsquid wrote: post #15

This is interesting given that Mojang doesn't actually own the Minecraft IP, they license it from Notch who owns it (I believe) exclusively, that's how he's able to pull in hundreds of millions per year while Mojang makes a much smaller amount. Notch previously said he's had an offer in the $2bn region and turned it down[1] so this seems /weird/, that said anything is possible! [1] https://twitter.com/notch/status/44…

Is it fair to say that once you achieve "FU money", numbers start to lose their value? I can't imagine being able to say "no" to something like that. Although likely for something like Minecraft, it'd be stock options/cash mix.

Adding a zero (or two) to your personal net worth may still change minds about many things.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#32

Post by JanSolo »

mindstab wrote: post #19

I don't get it. Mojang already made "all the money" from selling minecraft and are largely maintaining it now. I haven't heard if they even have any new games on the way? The space one was cancelled. What exactly is MS possibly getting that could be worth $2B?

Agreed.

I can only assume that MS are going to insist on a sequel with all of the 'NextGen' trappings we've come to expect from them. Minecraft2: MasterChief Edition. With Kinect! And day1 DLC! And product placement... (Use the new MTN DEW powerup to double your building speed! Feed your animals DORITOS to improve their stats!)

Good for Markus and the Mojang guys though... they built a multi-billion-dollar empire out of nothing. It's real indie-games success story. An inspiration to the rest of us! Congrats!

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#33

Post by georgemcbay »

Mandatum wrote: post #25
citricsquid wrote: post #15

This is interesting given that Mojang doesn't actually own the Minecraft IP, they license it from Notch who owns it (I believe) exclusively, that's how he's able to pull in hundreds of millions per year while Mojang makes a much smaller amount. Notch previously said he's had an offer in the $2bn region and turned it down[1] so this seems /weird/, that said anything is possible! [1] https://twitter.com/notch/status/44…

Is it fair to say that once you achieve "FU money", numbers start to lose their value? I can't imagine being able to say "no" to something like that. Although likely for something like Minecraft, it'd be stock options/cash mix.

I don't have any "FU money", but it seems very likely to me that once you have that sort of money, there are only a couple of reasons to run it up any further:

1) You have "Big Plans" that need funding (eg. Elon Musk)

2) Running up the numbers as a life gamification to "beat" your peers, or just because you can't stop chasing yourself, like one of those freak beast weightlifters that looks like a space monster but is addicted to "the gainz" (eg. Larry Elison, et al)

There are only so many houses and planes and boats and experiences you can buy, practically speaking, and at a certain point all your grandkids' grandkids are easily taken care of (should you decide to reproduce, and assuming society stands and the dollar keeps its value, of course).

Interestingly I'm pretty sure Bill Gates started in bucket #2 but moved to #1 at some point later in life, but I think most people stick in one or the other.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#34

Post by tdicola »

JanSolo wrote: post #32
mindstab wrote: post #19

I don't get it. Mojang already made "all the money" from selling minecraft and are largely maintaining it now. I haven't heard if they even have any new games on the way? The space one was cancelled. What exactly is MS possibly getting that could be worth $2B?

Agreed. I can only assume that MS are going to insist on a sequel with all of the 'NextGen' trappings we've come to expect from them. Minecraft2: MasterChief Edition. With Kinect! And day1 DLC! And product placement... (Use the new MTN DEW powerup to double your building speed! Feed your animals DORITOS to improve their stats!) Good for Markus and the Mojang guys though... they built a multi-billion-dollar empire out…

Sorry, you can't build any more wood blocks today! Would you like to buy an extra 10 wood blocks for 99 Mojang bucks?

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#35

Post by vlunkr »

__Joker wrote: post #29
tdicola wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ability to make a popular game franchise exclusive to their gaming hardware. Just take some money you would have spent on advertising and dump it into buying some franchises for exclusivity. Also since Mojang is a European company MS can no doubt use some of it's $90+ billion stockpile of money outside America without getting hit for taxes.

But minecraft already released on ps4. Unlesss MS buys and takes back the minecraft of ps4, there is no exclusivity. This move will make MS face a shit-storm. The gamers are not taking well to tomb raider (timed) exclusivity. It is accepted that you can have exclusive gaming franchise. But you should not most certainly take a multi-platform and try to make it exclusive.

It also runs on linux or OSX. As well as other editions for xbox360, iOS, android, and even raspberry pi! So... that's not it

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#36

Post by Fizzer »

mindstab wrote: post #19

I don't get it. Mojang already made "all the money" from selling minecraft and are largely maintaining it now. I haven't heard if they even have any new games on the way? The space one was cancelled. What exactly is MS possibly getting that could be worth $2B?

Most likely a free-to-play Minecraft 2 that's loaded with microtransactions. Or retro-fitting microtransactions into the existing Minecraft.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#37

Post by MrZongle2 »

Ugh. Horrible if true, and not because it's Microsoft. Any large corporation that would potentially drop that much money for such a property clearly has plans to suck every last dime out of it.

While immediate changes would likely not be visible, I'm sure that over the long term it would mean the end of the ongoing Minecraft development, less developer-community interaction, and the start of Minecraft 2 development ... exclusive to Xbox 1 (with Windows 8 launch TBA). And DLCs out the ying-yang.

If true, I can't blame the Mojang team for cashing in on an incredible opportunity. But as a consumer, I really hope this rumor turns out to be false.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#40

Post by KnightHawk3 »

cjslep wrote: post #30
Pyrodogg wrote: post #6

The Minecraft modding community just had a ridiculous few weeks with the various dramas surrounding Bukkit (a popular, extensible server mod). I can't wait to see what the reactions are to this news.

I was (am?) a moderator for Technic/Tekkit, and at the time the modding community seemed to me like it was a cesspit of adfly links and people eager to claim copyright over everything they touched. If the community is still similar then I agree, seeing the reactions to this news will be interesting to say the least.

I still don't grasp why everyone is trying to make a profit and claim copyright of their modification on someone elses work. (That doesn't have a licence to allow modification)
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