Thing is why would Micro$oft ruin Minecraft? They are spending 2 Billion on it and knowing MicroSoft, they won't let it die easily.
I agree - Microsoft is not buying Mojang with the intention of ruining Minecraft... and since they are paying such a high price for the company, they must see some way for them to make that company grow or to gain enough profit from it's principle asset (Minecraft) to make the purchase worthwhile. Still, they have to realize they are fighting a real uphill struggle with regards to "moral support" from the PC Minecraft community. Ironically, the risk of game itself being "sunk/ruined" more likely comes from the possible "knee-jerk" reactions of that "community" than directly from Microsoft. In some ways, it's that "community" that has to take responsibility for Notch wanting to sell out his shares in the first place. As stated above, the "community" reaction to the EULA has been just brutal... and is clearly what prompted Notch to tweet about selling in the first place.
Thing is why would Micro$oft ruin Minecraft? They are spending 2 Billion on it and knowing MicroSoft, they won't let it die easily.
Tisk tisk, but Windows 8 was a massive flop due to its horrible confusing layout when they changed it from a layout nearly every Windows user was familial with into, well, that. And remember Rareware? That previous comment explained it all about Microsoft buying Rareware, and the only good game out of the now bought Rareware was Donkey Kong Returns. And not many people trust Microsoft after what's happened recently..
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Tisk tisk, but Windows 8 was a massive flop due to its horrible confusing layout when they changed it from a layout nearly every Windows user was familial with into, well, that. And remember Rareware? That previous comment explained it all about Microsoft buying Rareware, and the only good game out of the now bought Rareware was Donkey Kong Returns. And not many people trust Microsoft after what's happened recently..
The flop of Windows 8 still doesn't suggest that Microsoft intended to ruin it. Companies do make honest mistakes. The fact remains that Microsoft, if they do buy Mojang, will have a $2 billion incentive to try to make/keep Mojang's assets profitable. Even so, on a game that has been out on the market as long as Minecraft has, $2 billion is a lot of coin to try to recoupe when, according to the "community" everything but the initial $25 purchase of the game itself should be provided for free. Lifelong free updates are a liability for Mojang's future value, not an asset. By demanding them, the "community" is helping to ensure that Mojang will eventually go bankrupt. Can't blame Notch for not wanting to go down with the ship. Since Microsoft is a publicly traded company, it's Microsoft's thousands of shareholders who'll pay if purchasing Mojang is not profitable to Microsoft in the long run... Indie attitudes are one thing, but business is business; and as I said, Microsoft is more "ours" as a public than Mojang has ever been.
Tisk tisk, but Windows 8 was a massive flop due to its horrible confusing layout when they changed it from a layout nearly every Windows user was familial with into, well, that. And remember Rareware? That previous comment explained it all about Microsoft buying Rareware, and the only good game out of the now bought Rareware was Donkey Kong Returns. And not many people trust Microsoft after what's happened recently..
That's why they improved it and made Win 8.1 (my games run 60% smoother than Win 7)
I've been through a few corporate mergers. Survived many layoff cycles.
For MC and the various platforms itself, odds are good it will be business as usual for at least a year after. Whenever new management comes in, the standard wisdom is to observe and not make radical changes right away. The size of the absorbed organization usually indicates how long that watching period is. A small team might be a month. A big 1000 employee department might be 6-12 months. Mojang is 40 people.
When the big change does happen, that's when the Mojang employees will feel the pinch.
I gather Notch wasn't too organized of a programmer by himself on MC. The Jeb and the other guys may or may not be any better. When MS brings in formal development practices, expect some churn on the roster.
It's also going to kill people in support roles. Accounting, marketing, etc because MS already has people who do that.
On the plus side, nobody from MC will be shooting their mouth off about potential/future business partners. Folks may like Notch's candidness, but for a CEO, he needs to remember that he may be doing business with these people 2 years from now.
We'll have to see how it affects 4J. They might be next, or MS might keep the current relationship (in which case, 4J is really coding for the Microsoft platforms and Mojang is the ones doing the "other" platforms). It stands to reason they might embrace the xbox code-base as a baseline for the PC version, and the java code-base may go away as it is politically distasteful to Microsoft. If they do, abandon it, they may fracture the market as the mod community sticks with 1.8x (or whatever).
I've been through a few corporate mergers. Survived many layoff cycles.
For MC and the various platforms itself, odds are good it will be business as usual for at least a year after. Whenever new management comes in, the standard wisdom is to observe and not make radical changes right away. The size of the absorbed organization usually indicates how long that watching period is. A small team might be a month. A big 1000 employee department might be 6-12 months. Mojang is 40 people.
When the big change does happen, that's when the Mojang employees will feel the pinch.
I gather Notch wasn't too organized of a programmer by himself on MC. The Jeb and the other guys may or may not be any better. When MS brings in formal development practices, expect some churn on the roster.
It's also going to kill people in support roles. Accounting, marketing, etc because MS already has people who do that.
On the plus side, nobody from MC will be shooting their mouth off about potential/future business partners. Folks may like Notch's candidness, but for a CEO, he needs to remember that he may be doing business with these people 2 years from now.
We'll have to see how it affects 4J. They might be next, or MS might keep the current relationship (in which case, 4J is really coding for the Microsoft platforms and Mojang is the ones doing the "other" platforms). It stands to reason they might embrace the xbox code-base as a baseline for the PC version, and the java code-base may go away as it is politically distasteful to Microsoft. If they do, abandon it, they may fracture the market as the mod community sticks with 1.8x (or whatever).
I tend to agree that a recoding to C++ seems very likely, despite the effects it will have on the modding community. I think that sort of move became inevitable the moment they started work on the Xbox 360 Edition in C++; and I certainly can't see Microsoft continuing to code the game in both Java and C++ for very long. They could compensate by finishing development of the long promised modding API, however.
Mojang (only) made $100 million last year. It would take MS 2,000 years to recoup their investment. IF that rate of profit remains the same, which I doubt. They can't keep doing the freebie thing forever. As UpUp says, I also think the 'community' is Mojang's ball and chain that will cause their eventual downfall.
For fun, here's what I'd like to see:
Put Jeb and 4J in a room for a week. Let them brainstorm, making a list of all the things they'd like to do, but haven't for one reason or another. It may take a year, but come up with a new, modernized, customizable MC2, with all new (and varied) mobs, better graphics, skin and map editors build in (who needs mods?), and the same version on both PC and console. (I'm so tired of the "My version can beat up your version" posts). If that happens, I think we'd buy it all over again in a heartbeat, cause it would be worth it. And that's what Mojang needs- lots of fresh income.
Fun facts:
Notch is 35.
He owns 71% of Mojang stock.
If there's only 3 stockholders, and the other two own half of the other shares, that means Notch would get a check for $1.4 billion and the other two would get checks for 290 million.... each.
A billionaire, at 35? Wouldn't you!?
What I'm wondering is how this will affect 4j, and Sony. I imagine that Sony will get the bad end of the deal in one way or another. The thing is though, 4j was subcontracted to create minecraft for the consoles, so updates and dlc for them isn't really up to Mojang, it was 4j's business. So do you all think Microsoft will just have 4j stop working on ps3/4, or leave those consoles up to 4j? Or heck, maybe they'll buy 4j too
4J will be convinced to 're-negotiate' their contract. (MS will make it worth their while and convince them it's in their best interest). If not, 4J's out and another xbox-only developer will take over.
Have you ever heard of any game, done by a developer that one maker controls, that also works on a competitor's console???
What I'm wondering is how this will affect 4j, and Sony. I imagine that Sony will get the bad end of the deal in one way or another. The thing is though, 4j was subcontracted to create minecraft for the consoles, so updates and dlc for them isn't really up to Mojang, it was 4j's business. So do you all think Microsoft will just have 4j stop working on ps3/4, or leave those consoles up to 4j? Or heck, maybe they'll buy 4j too
It concerns me as well. 4J have done (IMO) a very credible job so far. I don't think they'll be bought out, but I don't really see that Microsoft has a need to contract out the game programming for their own console. Why wouldn't they just pull that task into their own shop? That said, I've been reading some additional articles that suggest, with this purchase, Microsoft is focusing on getting Minecraft developed for the Windows phone (something that Mojang would probably not ever get around to doing)... So... that may mean that Microsoft will just leave the console programming alone to continue as it has in the past. If they do allow for some continued development for the Sony platforms, this would be a deviation from what has happened in the past with games controlled/owned by console makers... but, just maybe it is signaling in a new era of cooperative co-development in the industry(???).
Mojang (only) made $100 million last year. It would take MS 2,000 years to recoup their investment. IF that rate of profit remains the same, which I doubt. They can't keep doing the freebie thing forever. As UpUp says, I also think the 'community' is Mojang's ball and chain that will cause their eventual downfall.
For fun, here's what I'd like to see:
Put Jeb and 4J in a room for a week. Let them brainstorm, making a list of all the things they'd like to do, but haven't for one reason or another. It may take a year, but come up with a new, modernized, customizable MC2, with all new (and varied) mobs, better graphics, skin and map editors build in (who needs mods?), and the same version on both PC and console. (I'm so tired of the "My version can beat up your version" posts). If that happens, I think we'd buy it all over again in a heartbeat, cause it would be worth it. And that's what Mojang needs- lots of fresh income.
Fun facts:
Notch is 35.
He owns 71% of Mojang stock.
If there's only 3 stockholders, and the other two own half of the other shares, that means Notch would get a check for $1.4 billion and the other two would get checks for 290 million.... each.
A billionaire, at 35? Wouldn't you!?
Since the price tag for the purchase is higher than the current industry average... I suspect that some of that amount might be in Microsoft "paper"/shares... although, Microsoft does reportedly have a lot of excess cash on hand.
At the moment, I'm sort of leaning to a scenario where further development on the PC Edition essentially stops while the C++ Editions get caught up. (Sony may or may not get to come along for the ride.) Then a release of a C++ Edition on the PC (which would be "on par" with the console editions and effectively bring an end to all the old mods that were made under the terms of Mojang's EULA. It seems unlikley, but Microsoft may bring in their own system for allowed "community" modding at that time (depends if their philosophy on that practice is softening or not and whether they feel the "community" would be amenable to switching over. If they don't think the community will come around, they really have no reason to "bother" with upgrading the existing PC edition.). In the meantime, Miccrosoft also focuses on developing their own unique version for the Windows phone that would far outdo the current edition on their competitor's hand-held devices... in order to boost sales of their phone system. If they can get a more sizable chunk of the phone market... that's where they might stand to make their +$2 billion purchase investment back.
I seriously hope Microsoft regrets buying Minecraft..
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I seriously hope Microsoft regrets buying Minecraft..
I would really appreciate your restricting purely anti-Microsoft rhetoric to the PC section threads on this topic. Comments such as this do not advance the discussion on this thread, which has been delightfully civil so far. Thank you.
Their buying of Mojang may indeed be a bad investment; that is, they may have paid far too much for it. The PC community, however, effectively drove Notch to selling out his stock with their "reaction" to his attempt to bring a few of the servers who were charging excessive "fees" in line with changes to the EULA... in Notch's own words, he was just trying to do the right thing and all he got for it was hated on by the "community" he helped to build... If Notch had instead just decided to shut down Mojang and walk away without selling to anyone, the PC "community" would be in a worse boat. They also have something to gain (i.e. a long-promised shiny new modding API) if they give Microsoft a chance to see the community involvement as something worth keeping intact. However, in order to get Microsoft onside with them, the community is probably going to have to at least stop alienating them.
Why? My GF is the same way- "change" to her is a 4-letter word.
Three things could happen:
1) MS screws up MC for all of us forever.
2) Nothing happens. It's business as usual. (But I still think Sony's out of it).
3) MS brings in some fresh incentives and concepts, saving it from the boredom that has set in. (How many "I'm bored.." posts have we seen?)
MS is worth $385 billion.
What's $2 billion to them (cash, paper, or both)?
As for MC to Windows phones- you knew that was gonna happen.
True... It's just in my experience that when someone agrees to pay more than the going average (i.e. X times income) in a takeover deal... the deal usually consists of some paper. So, Notch may not get it all in a check is all.
Several game sites are reporting a new Reuters' article that says MS buyout of Mojang will be announced Monday.... for $2.5 billion. (Apparently Notch may have played a little hardball during negations.)
As a side note, I've been watching the ps3/4 forums. Not one peep from them about the buyout. Don't they have a clue about what's to happen to them? Are they just sticking their heads in the sand? Something tells me those forums will light up shortly. They'd better buckle up cause it's gonna get.... interesting.
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what ever happens, it is gunna be interesting. So long as the pc community stays active and growing we should be in the clear. I only have the console version, but if the pc community starts to die then it's bad for everyone. I think Microsoft will start focusing in console because it will help them sell more xbox ones. People have always been saying that they wish console edition would be worked on more and looks like it's about to happen. As the phrase goes, be careful what you wish for. The community IS the game, and the biggest portion is the pc players. I really hope Microsoft respects that and focuses their efforts towards the computer version...
Several game sites are reporting a new Reuters' article that says MS buyout of Mojang will be announced Monday.... for $2.5 billion. (Apparently Notch may have played a little hardball during negations.)
As a side note, I've been watching the ps3/4 forums. Not one peep from them about the buyout. Don't they have a clue about what's to happen to them? Are they just sticking their heads in the sand? Something tells me those forums will light up shortly. They'd better buckle up cause it's gonna get.... interesting.
I think the $2 Billion was just for Notch's shares and the extra $1/2 billion is to buy out the other two shareholders as well.
I agree - Microsoft is not buying Mojang with the intention of ruining Minecraft... and since they are paying such a high price for the company, they must see some way for them to make that company grow or to gain enough profit from it's principle asset (Minecraft) to make the purchase worthwhile. Still, they have to realize they are fighting a real uphill struggle with regards to "moral support" from the PC Minecraft community. Ironically, the risk of game itself being "sunk/ruined" more likely comes from the possible "knee-jerk" reactions of that "community" than directly from Microsoft. In some ways, it's that "community" that has to take responsibility for Notch wanting to sell out his shares in the first place. As stated above, the "community" reaction to the EULA has been just brutal... and is clearly what prompted Notch to tweet about selling in the first place.
Tisk tisk, but Windows 8 was a massive flop due to its horrible confusing layout when they changed it from a layout nearly every Windows user was familial with into, well, that. And remember Rareware? That previous comment explained it all about Microsoft buying Rareware, and the only good game out of the now bought Rareware was Donkey Kong Returns. And not many people trust Microsoft after what's happened recently..
Click on this spoiler to see mods and ideas that I support!
The flop of Windows 8 still doesn't suggest that Microsoft intended to ruin it. Companies do make honest mistakes. The fact remains that Microsoft, if they do buy Mojang, will have a $2 billion incentive to try to make/keep Mojang's assets profitable. Even so, on a game that has been out on the market as long as Minecraft has, $2 billion is a lot of coin to try to recoupe when, according to the "community" everything but the initial $25 purchase of the game itself should be provided for free. Lifelong free updates are a liability for Mojang's future value, not an asset. By demanding them, the "community" is helping to ensure that Mojang will eventually go bankrupt. Can't blame Notch for not wanting to go down with the ship. Since Microsoft is a publicly traded company, it's Microsoft's thousands of shareholders who'll pay if purchasing Mojang is not profitable to Microsoft in the long run... Indie attitudes are one thing, but business is business; and as I said, Microsoft is more "ours" as a public than Mojang has ever been.
That's why they improved it and made Win 8.1 (my games run 60% smoother than Win 7)
For MC and the various platforms itself, odds are good it will be business as usual for at least a year after. Whenever new management comes in, the standard wisdom is to observe and not make radical changes right away. The size of the absorbed organization usually indicates how long that watching period is. A small team might be a month. A big 1000 employee department might be 6-12 months. Mojang is 40 people.
When the big change does happen, that's when the Mojang employees will feel the pinch.
I gather Notch wasn't too organized of a programmer by himself on MC. The Jeb and the other guys may or may not be any better. When MS brings in formal development practices, expect some churn on the roster.
It's also going to kill people in support roles. Accounting, marketing, etc because MS already has people who do that.
On the plus side, nobody from MC will be shooting their mouth off about potential/future business partners. Folks may like Notch's candidness, but for a CEO, he needs to remember that he may be doing business with these people 2 years from now.
We'll have to see how it affects 4J. They might be next, or MS might keep the current relationship (in which case, 4J is really coding for the Microsoft platforms and Mojang is the ones doing the "other" platforms). It stands to reason they might embrace the xbox code-base as a baseline for the PC version, and the java code-base may go away as it is politically distasteful to Microsoft. If they do, abandon it, they may fracture the market as the mod community sticks with 1.8x (or whatever).
I tend to agree that a recoding to C++ seems very likely, despite the effects it will have on the modding community. I think that sort of move became inevitable the moment they started work on the Xbox 360 Edition in C++; and I certainly can't see Microsoft continuing to code the game in both Java and C++ for very long. They could compensate by finishing development of the long promised modding API, however.
For fun, here's what I'd like to see:
Put Jeb and 4J in a room for a week. Let them brainstorm, making a list of all the things they'd like to do, but haven't for one reason or another. It may take a year, but come up with a new, modernized, customizable MC2, with all new (and varied) mobs, better graphics, skin and map editors build in (who needs mods?), and the same version on both PC and console. (I'm so tired of the "My version can beat up your version" posts). If that happens, I think we'd buy it all over again in a heartbeat, cause it would be worth it. And that's what Mojang needs- lots of fresh income.
Fun facts:
Notch is 35.
He owns 71% of Mojang stock.
If there's only 3 stockholders, and the other two own half of the other shares, that means Notch would get a check for $1.4 billion and the other two would get checks for 290 million.... each.
A billionaire, at 35? Wouldn't you!?
Have you ever heard of any game, done by a developer that one maker controls, that also works on a competitor's console???
Sorry, Sony's out of it, no matter what.
It concerns me as well. 4J have done (IMO) a very credible job so far. I don't think they'll be bought out, but I don't really see that Microsoft has a need to contract out the game programming for their own console. Why wouldn't they just pull that task into their own shop? That said, I've been reading some additional articles that suggest, with this purchase, Microsoft is focusing on getting Minecraft developed for the Windows phone (something that Mojang would probably not ever get around to doing)... So... that may mean that Microsoft will just leave the console programming alone to continue as it has in the past. If they do allow for some continued development for the Sony platforms, this would be a deviation from what has happened in the past with games controlled/owned by console makers... but, just maybe it is signaling in a new era of cooperative co-development in the industry(???).
Since the price tag for the purchase is higher than the current industry average... I suspect that some of that amount might be in Microsoft "paper"/shares... although, Microsoft does reportedly have a lot of excess cash on hand.
At the moment, I'm sort of leaning to a scenario where further development on the PC Edition essentially stops while the C++ Editions get caught up. (Sony may or may not get to come along for the ride.) Then a release of a C++ Edition on the PC (which would be "on par" with the console editions and effectively bring an end to all the old mods that were made under the terms of Mojang's EULA. It seems unlikley, but Microsoft may bring in their own system for allowed "community" modding at that time (depends if their philosophy on that practice is softening or not and whether they feel the "community" would be amenable to switching over. If they don't think the community will come around, they really have no reason to "bother" with upgrading the existing PC edition.). In the meantime, Miccrosoft also focuses on developing their own unique version for the Windows phone that would far outdo the current edition on their competitor's hand-held devices... in order to boost sales of their phone system. If they can get a more sizable chunk of the phone market... that's where they might stand to make their +$2 billion purchase investment back.
What's $2 billion to them (cash, paper, or both)?
As for MC to Windows phones- you knew that was gonna happen.
Click on this spoiler to see mods and ideas that I support!
I would really appreciate your restricting purely anti-Microsoft rhetoric to the PC section threads on this topic. Comments such as this do not advance the discussion on this thread, which has been delightfully civil so far. Thank you.
Their buying of Mojang may indeed be a bad investment; that is, they may have paid far too much for it. The PC community, however, effectively drove Notch to selling out his stock with their "reaction" to his attempt to bring a few of the servers who were charging excessive "fees" in line with changes to the EULA... in Notch's own words, he was just trying to do the right thing and all he got for it was hated on by the "community" he helped to build... If Notch had instead just decided to shut down Mojang and walk away without selling to anyone, the PC "community" would be in a worse boat. They also have something to gain (i.e. a long-promised shiny new modding API) if they give Microsoft a chance to see the community involvement as something worth keeping intact. However, in order to get Microsoft onside with them, the community is probably going to have to at least stop alienating them.
Three things could happen:
1) MS screws up MC for all of us forever.
2) Nothing happens. It's business as usual. (But I still think Sony's out of it).
3) MS brings in some fresh incentives and concepts, saving it from the boredom that has set in. (How many "I'm bored.." posts have we seen?)
Hopefully, it's 2 or 3.
True... It's just in my experience that when someone agrees to pay more than the going average (i.e. X times income) in a takeover deal... the deal usually consists of some paper. So, Notch may not get it all in a check is all.
As a side note, I've been watching the ps3/4 forums. Not one peep from them about the buyout. Don't they have a clue about what's to happen to them? Are they just sticking their heads in the sand? Something tells me those forums will light up shortly. They'd better buckle up cause it's gonna get.... interesting.
"Jake groaned and rolled onto his side."
The Master Roleplayer was born...
You know who found that interesting?
I think the $2 Billion was just for Notch's shares and the extra $1/2 billion is to buy out the other two shareholders as well.