Microsoft buys Minecraft $2.5 Billion.

[ZenOps]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/sept14/09-15news.aspx

Complete takeover. Minecraft founders will leave.

I think people just inherently like to dig, chop, and make things, but really hate dirty hands and moving muscles to do it, lol.

[dubhead]

Originally posted by ZenOps


I think people just inherently like to dig, chop, and make things, but really hate dirty hands and moving muscles to do it, lol.

Or step on pieces of Lego for that matter

[D'z Nutz]

http://i.imgur.com/H4vqsCs.jpg

[Canmorite]

$2.5B for what looks like an outdated 8-bit game. Wonder how they figured out those valuations :rofl:

[killramos]

Originally posted by Canmorite
$2.5B for what looks like an outdated 8-bit game. Wonder how they figured out those valuations :rofl:

Probably makes more money than their entire gaming division :rofl:

[Redlined_8000]

Crazy really! Wow 2.5billion...

[Mista Bob]

Originally posted by Canmorite
$2.5B for what looks like an outdated 8-bit game. Wonder how they figured out those valuations :rofl:

Possibly something to do with it being one of the best selling games ever made.
Minecraft brought in 330 million dollars in 2013, game still brings in $200,000+ a day just from the PC version.

I still think it was a bad purchase, but MS likely doesn't care since they have a mountain of money that can't be spent state side. Good ol tax evasion.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Notch personally gets $1.775B before taxes. Talk about a windfall!

[Tik-Tok]

In related news, PS4 is no longer allowed to advertise Minecraft is an available title :rofl:

[flipstah]

I'm missing something here.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
In related news, PS4 is no longer allowed to advertise Minecraft is an available title :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[pheoxs]

Great move for notch, he wanted to move I to other things anyways and definitely has the cash now to start up another game studio

Curious how badly the program gets bloated and buggy once Microsoft gets involved or if the majong team will operate semi independently still

[rage2]

There was a majong dev team? Minecraft had so little updates you'd think it was just 1 dude coding.

[pheoxs]

Originally posted by rage2
There was a majong dev team? Minecraft had so little updates you'd think it was just 1 dude coding.

Well there was Notch at the beginning but he brought on 4 or 5 others I thought, but they were trying to do other games as well so Minecraft itself might've been a one man show.

I agree there wasn't much for updates. It took what, 6 years from Alpha to its current state? I remember when it shifted to Beta we got a server going so we could play in class. I think at one point half our class was playing and the instructor had to do a mini intervention and start assigning problems at random points in the class so we'd have to pay attention.

[Jason Lange]

Ha at first glance I thought it said minesweeper!

[clem24]

Purely strategic, likely to try to sell more Windows Phones. Can't figure out who made the better/worse deal: Apple + Beats or MS + Minecraft.

[revelations]

There was discussion about the real reasons why this happened and none of them seemed to add up:

For eg.

If MS wanted this to be its "killer app" for its OS (Windows Phone, etc.) ok fine.... but it probably would have fared a lot better had they spend the 2 billion $$ by giving the money to developers who wrote Windows phone apps.

So instead of one massive app (that will probably fizzle in a few years) they couldve dealt with the cyclical issue of the lack of apps for the Windows phone, caused by lack of apps. :dunno:

[Inzane]

Never played the game. What am I missing?

[rage2]

8-bit graphics.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by revelations
If MS wanted this to be its "killer app" for its OS (Windows Phone, etc.) ok fine.... but it probably would have fared a lot better had they spend the 2 billion $$ by giving the money to developers who wrote Windows phone apps. Time to buy the kid a cell phone. Kid wants the Minecraft cell phone. End of story.

I don't think the point is to hook the twenty-somethings who fight over Android vs iOS. It's to get the HOJILLIONS of children that play Minecraft to now buy other products because Minecraft is attached to them.

How many of us resist changing things because there's no obvious reason to switch? Pretty much everybody. Get them on Windows Phone early and they'll be inclined to stay with it.

And that's on top of the fact that Minecraft is still ridiculously profitable.

[mr2mike]

Watched some loser kid at a wedding I was at playing this game on his laptop in the corner. The game is terrible.

I had the same loyalty to BBM once. Went back to blackberry because everyone else had BBM and couldn't be bothered to text. This soon faded as blackberry's overall systems lagged.

[rage2]

Originally posted by Mibz
Time to buy the kid a cell phone. Kid wants the Minecraft cell phone. End of story.

I don't think the point is to hook the twenty-somethings who fight over Android vs iOS. It's to get the HOJILLIONS of children that play Minecraft to now buy other products because Minecraft is attached to them.

How many of us resist changing things because there's no obvious reason to switch? Pretty much everybody. Get them on Windows Phone early and they'll be inclined to stay with it.

And that's on top of the fact that Minecraft is still ridiculously profitable.
That's going to be tough. Apple has them beat in that area, and even with a Minecraft themed device, it'll be a tough segment to crack.

The iPod is genius for kids, and I'm not sure if Apple even realizes it. No cell phone functionality so no data plan and parents don't feel like they're buying kids a phone so early on, ability to iMessage with kids and adults which is identical to SMS without allowing SMS to other platforms, Facetime for audio calls or video chatting with friends. When they're old enough for a phone, they have to get an iOS product to continue to talk to friends that haven't moved from an iPod yet.

If you look at all those funny parents and kids chat that pops up on facebook, you'll notice that all the kids are on iOS, while parents are 50/50 on iOS based on green vs blue text.

[revelations]

Originally posted by Mibz
Time to buy the kid a cell phone. Kid wants the Minecraft cell phone. End of story.

I don't think the point is to hook the twenty-somethings who fight over Android vs iOS. It's to get the HOJILLIONS of children that play Minecraft to now buy other products because Minecraft is attached to them.

How many of us resist changing things because there's no obvious reason to switch? Pretty much everybody. Get them on Windows Phone early and they'll be inclined to stay with it.

And that's on top of the fact that Minecraft is still ridiculously profitable.

The catch is that MS phone may not survice 10+ years while the Minecraft generation grows up :dunno:

[Mibz]

Originally posted by rage2

That's going to be tough. Apple has them beat in that area, and even with a Minecraft themed device, it'll be a tough segment to crack.

The iPod is genius for kids, and I'm not sure if Apple even realizes it. No cell phone functionality so no data plan and parents don't feel like they're buying kids a phone so early on, ability to iMessage with kids and adults which is identical to SMS without allowing SMS to other platforms, Facetime for audio calls or video chatting with friends. When they're old enough for a phone, they have to get an iOS product to continue to talk to friends that haven't moved from an iPod yet.

If you look at all those funny parents and kids chat that pops up on facebook, you'll notice that all the kids are on iOS, while parents are 50/50 on iOS based on green vs blue text. You're still looking at it as an adult. Kids don't give a shit about feature lists or data plans or any of that. They want the Minecraft phone. It will be on their Christmas list. Of course there are parents that will buy what makes sense, but I think the vast majority will buy what their kid wants, especially if the price is right.


Originally posted by revelations
The catch is that MS phone may not survice 10+ years while the Minecraft generation grows up :dunno: If they didn't think their phone could survive then they wouldn't be investing in it.

This is all, of course, based on the assumption that this is their master plan for the brand. We have no idea what their reasoning was.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[rage2]

Originally posted by Mibz
You're still looking at it as an adult. Kids don't give a shit about feature lists or data plans or any of that. They want the Minecraft phone. It will be on their Christmas list. Of course there are parents that will buy what makes sense, but I think the vast majority will buy what their kid wants, especially if the price is right.
That's the thing, even in our household, the defacto gadget is the iPod because of everything I've mentioned. Sure Christmas lists had all sorts of other electronics, but they're sitting in a closet somewhere and the kids go back to the iPod.

The iPod is the first piece of electronics I bought for the kid, and it's the only one that's stood the test of time. So yes, kids do care about feature lists, just not specs.

[kenny]

Originally posted by rage2
The iPod is the first piece of electronics I bought for the kid, and it's the only one that's stood the test of time. So yes, kids do care about feature lists, just not specs.

Could it be possibly linked to the fact that the iPod is linked to an itunes account with unlimited $? :rofl:

[firebane]

Originally posted by rage2
8-bit graphics.

You can download some extremely high quality graphic packs for the game and it looks entirely different.

With that said... the developer must be loving this.

[ExtraSlow]

itunes account linked directly to centurion card.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by rage2
even in our household What the fuck does "even in our household" mean? You think that your house is LESS likely to have Apple devices in them? You are an Apple fanboy. The household with infinite money and almost as many iDevices is as close to the ideal exception as possible.

Stop pretending you're normal.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Canmorite
$2.5B for what looks like an outdated 8-bit game. Wonder how they figured out those valuations :rofl:


Originally posted by killramos


Probably makes more money than their entire gaming division :rofl:

Mojang made $816M in profit in 2013 and they claim to have $1.5B worth of asset.

Base on those numbers, $2.5B is a steal.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by firebane

With that said... the developer must be loving this.

https://twitter.com/notch/status/478766808841732096

http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/


It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.


http://reactiongifs.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/crying-money-woody-harrelson-zombieland.gif

[rage2]

Originally posted by kenny
Could it be possibly linked to the fact that the iPod is linked to an itunes account with unlimited $? :rofl:
He has his own iTunes account and pays for his own stuff from CNY money. Definately not unlimited.


Originally posted by Mibz
What the fuck does "even in our household" mean? You think that your house is LESS likely to have Apple devices in them? You are an Apple fanboy. The household with infinite money and almost as many iDevices is as close to the ideal exception as possible.

Stop pretending you're normal.
Ok, all his cousins have iPods (one teenager with iPhone) and he messages and facetime with them. This is why he sticks with it. Before we allowed messaging and FaceTime he still chose the iPod as his defacto device. He has a barely used DS, a completely unused Android tablet, an unused Blackberry, the list goes on. Just because I use a lot of Apple devices, I do not force that on him whatsoever.

I could choose to now allow Apple devices, but that would just alienate him from his cousins that don't live in Calgary. I have zero influence on what his cousins use.

[ap2s2k]

Originally posted by Canmorite
$2.5B for what looks like an outdated 8-bit game. Wonder how they figured out those valuations :rofl:

Yea because the fact that its 8-bit means its worthless. If anything the valuation is low and should of been way more.

[clem24]

Originally posted by rage2
Ok, all his cousins have iPods (one teenager with iPhone) and he messages and facetime with them. This is why he sticks with it. Before we allowed messaging and FaceTime he still chose the iPod as his defacto device. He has a barely used DS, a completely unused Android tablet, an unused Blackberry, the list goes on. Just because I use a lot of Apple devices, I do not force that on him whatsoever.

Haha you realize that YOU are his idol, whether you think it or not. Kids will follow in your footsteps even if you don't realize it, because when it comes down to it, kids are basically too stupid to make their own decisions. If you had a Windows Phone, that's probably what he'd be using.

[rage2]

Originally posted by clem24
Haha you realize that YOU are his idol, whether you think it or not. Kids will follow in your footsteps even if you don't realize it, because when it comes down to it, kids are basically too stupid to make their own decisions. If you had a Windows Phone, that's probably what he'd be using.
I'm his step dad. His dad is his idol. There's no competition. I don't even argue when he says Bing is better, and Blackberry is better because that's what his dad says. I just try to encourage him to try everything and make those decisions on his own.