Notes

Microsoft has Acquired Minecraft For $2.5 Billion



Microsoft Has Acquired Minecraft for $2.5 Billion
Microsoft has confirmed that Mojang and Minecraft will join its ranks, but will continue to offer the game across iOS, Android and PlayStation as well as on Xbox and PC the company announced today. Microsoft says that they started discussions about the game's release on the Xbox console and then saw their tremendous success and made the decision to purchase the game to "diversify its game offerings."



The founders Markus "Notch" Persson, Carl Manneh and Jakbok Porser are leaving Mojang after the acquisition that the team announced. Mojang's official website also confirmed the previously reported acquisition price of $2.5 billion. Mojang's community team has stated that Notch did not want to be a part of an enterprise of size and prefers to work on smaller projects. The decision to sell was made to help Minecraft continue to grow, while allowing the founding team to pursue other pursuits.



Mojang makes no assurances about the specific future plans in the future for Minecraft however, it says that for now it should remain as normal. Microsoft says it "respect[s] the brand and independent spirit" of Minecraft and will continue to work on projects like MINECON which is the annual event dedicated to the game that was launched by Mojang in the year 2010.



The reaction of the community to this news will be mixed. Minecraft fans who have been playing the game since its beginning will likely be skeptical of the new owners. But, the rationale behind the purchase is solid. We'll have the opportunity to examine if Notch can do it again and also to see whether the next generation's Lego version.



Here's Notch's own personal thoughts on the deal and his thoughts on leaving the company he built and his blog, which was in the process of crashing at the time of writing. :



Mojang is leaving me.



I don't think of myself as a real game developer. I create games for fun, and because I love games and am a programmer but I don't design games with the aim of them becoming huge successes and I don't attempt to make them change the world. Minecraft certainly became a massive success, and people are telling me that it has changed the way games are played. I didn't intend for it to change anything. It's a nice compliment, and it's interesting to slowly get in the public spotlight.



It was a long time back that I decided to end Minecraft development. Jens was the perfect person to lead the project and I was looking for new ideas. Although I tried to make it big initially but it ended up failing. But, since I decided to stick to small-scale prototypes, interesting challenges and I have had so much fun at work and haven't looked back since. I wasn't exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people actually did work, but since people said I was important to the culture, I stayed.



I was at home with a cold a few weeks ago when the internet went wild with rage against me due to an EULA situation which I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn't understand. I tweeted about this in anger. Later on I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and realized I did not have the connection to my fans I thought I did. I have become a symbol. I do not want to be a symbol accountable for something that I am unable to comprehend or do not want to tackle that keeps coming back to me. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not an executive director. I'm a geeky computer programer who loves to share opinions on Twitter.



Once the deal is done, I will be leaving Mojang to return to web-based experiments and Ludum Dares. I'll probably end any project I create that is successful in gaining traction.



Considering my public image is already a bit skewed, I don't expect to avoid negative feedback through this, but at least now I won't feel a responsibility to read them.



I'm aware that this is in contradiction to my previous statements spoken about in public. I don't have a solid answer to this. I'm also aware that a lot of you saw me as a symbol of the struggle you felt. I'm not. I'm a human being and I'm right there with you.



You are my best friend. All of you. Thank you for making Minecraft into what it is today however, there are too many of you and I can't be the sole person to be responsible for something this massive. It is Microsoft's property now in a sense. In a much bigger sense, it's been owned by everyone for a long period of time and that will never change.
Gslist


It's not all about the money. It's about my sanity.


My Website: https://gslist.net/minecraft-servers/