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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

#61

Post by arrrg »

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?

They still sell around 10k PC copies per day …

It’s not growing, but it’s also not exactly shrinking (I remember obsessively checking those stats years ago and they always hovered around 10k), and hasn’t for years. Minecraft might be a different beast than other video games, truly more like Lego than video games actually. There are always new young people you can sell the game to and with constant maintenance for free that might just work out.

That’s even ignoring other platforms and merchandise – or however much Minecraft Realms (their server hosting service) makes or how much potential that has.

The believe that they already made all the money seems completely wrong to me.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#62

Post by NDizzle »

josu wrote: post #24
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?

Sequels? Movie rights? Merchandising? More platforms? But yeah, $2B sounds disproportionate.

I see multiple kids wearing creeper shirts every day as I walk my daughter to elementary school.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#63

Post by readerrrr »

thetabyte wrote: post #56

Given everything I've read from Notch in the last year or two, I would be highly unsurprised if he wasn't pushing this as a way to dump his hands of anything to do with business and/or notoriety (as much as he ever will be able to). His recent sentiments have expressed a lot of regret that he is no longer able to spend his time doing simple game programming & experimentation with a decent level of obscurity -- and I…

Your speculation is bad.

He was experimenting/coding on a public stream for the last two weeks while talking to chat. Also he always announces his Ludum Dare entries, when he could make them using a pseudonym. Doesn't seem like he has problems with free time or fame.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#64

Post by berns »

georgemcbay wrote: post #33
Mandatum wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Helping others. There is no limit to that.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#65

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#67

Post by drzaiusapelord »

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.

Maybe Notch's perspective is that Minecraft as an IP is worth more than that. He can probably ride it out for the next couple decades with sequels or other monetization techniques.

Why take the big payment today when you can have the bigger payment on-going? Especially if you want to continue to make it your life's work. Look at some gaming stars from the past. John Romero didn't "make us his bitch" with his post iD offerings. Carmack's career seemed pretty down until his recent excitement with Oculus and even that happened while he was playing with space companies on the side. Even with all his brains and cred, he's now just a Facebook employee and his boss is a 20-something php coder.

A lot of gaming luminaries are often one-trick ponies. Its difficult to get lightning to strike twice. Smart money is keeping a tight hold of the IP that made you successful. Notch has seen what happens when you lose your IP and maybe he doesn't like it.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#68

Post by wonderzombie »

readerrrr wrote: post #26
xemoka wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, there is no momentum to get Minecraft on the Oculus Rift. Notch publicly cancelled it after Facebook bought Oculus.

And then he changed his mind. https://twitter.com/notch/status/500214489136910336

Not to split hairs, but that's really not how I'd characterize that tweet. He only says he's done being mad about it.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#69

Post by Scoundreller »

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…

"Minecraft Creator Calls Electronic Arts a 'Bunch of Cynical Bastards'"[1]

My guess is that it was EA that made the offer.

[1] http://kotaku.com/5907576/minecraft-creator-calls-electronic...

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#70

Post by robododo »

manachar wrote: post #46

What an odd rumor that I hope is just that. Notch has a history of bashing Microsoft and MS's efforts to lock down Windows and Microsoft has a pretty bad track record when it comes to acquisitions. They seem to kinda squash anything interesting out of them to try to force that acquisition into helping the MS/Xbox brand. If anyone buys Mojang I really hope it's either Valve or a company much like it. They seem much mo…

I always felt it was odd that Notch bashed Windows 8 so publicly for the store, yet happily sells on iOS, XBox, PS3, etc.
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