Microsoft to buy Minecraft?

[GreyGeek]

Notch stated last June 14th,
http://notch.net/2014/06/literally-worse-than-ea/

Mojang does not exist to make as much money as possible for the owners. As the majority shareholder, I’d know. Every time a big money making deal comes up that would make a lot of money, it’s of course very tempting, but at the end of the day we choose to do what either makes the most sense for our products, or the things that seem like fun for us at Mojang.

Is $2 Billion too much temptation?
http://kotaku.com/report-microsoft-t...min-1632692098

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, according to "a person with knowledge of the matter", Microsoft is in "serious discussions" to buy Mojang, the studio that made smash hit Minecraft.


The deal is reported to be worth a whopping $2 billion, and "could be signed as early as this week".

If Notch continues to put principal above money Microsoft will never be successful. If Notch's June statement was all Window dressing then Minecraft is heading toward being an MS platform only product. First, the Windows product, probably to be written with Silverlight, will contain all new improvements, patches, etc., while the platform neutral jar file will become the step child, soon to be abandon. That would be sad news. My grandsons and I will have to find a new game to enjoy together. As someone wrote, it would be a clash of cultures:
http://qz.com/262626/microsoft-buyin...culture-clash/

Markus “Notch” Persson, who has a tendency to poke at other technology companies—Microsoft included:

I'd rather have minecraft not run on win 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to win 8 that way..—
Markus Persson (@notch) September 27, 2012

EDIT: More detail:
http://recode.net/2014/09/09/game-on...ld-be-a-steal/

[MoonRise]

I agree thumbs down on that. My daughter and I have played Minecraft a long time. On Linux! Not Windows. So sad if they do.

[GreyGeek]

I went to Notch's blog and left him a thumbs down message which included his 2012 and 2014 quotes sayhing he'd never sell out for money.

[MoonRise]

Let's hope but unfortunately money talks nowadays.

[whatthefunk]

Hes already got millions from Minecraft. According to the Minecraft statistics page, 16,653,992 have purchased the game and theyre still getting 8000 purchases a day. How much more money could you want?

[GreyGeek]

Hes already got millions from Minecraft. According to the Minecraft statistics page, 16,653,992 have purchased the game and theyre still getting 8000 purchases a day. How much more money could you want?

That's the PC version sales only. The phone and table version ups the total to near 50,000,000. For the PC version Notch has pulled in $500,000,000. Mojang has 28 employees. Paying 20 of them $100K/yr for five years is only $10,000,000. Building costs, equipment costs, server fees, etc., would probably double that to $20,000,000. Let's add another $100,000,000 in who knows what expenses - silent partners, lawsuit defenses, wife alimony (?), etc.... The poor man has only $380 Million left. Over five years he would have had to live on $76 Million/yr.

[Simon]

People start tossing out figures like that and I would end up letting sleep with my wife... if I was married. So yes that could spell the end of Minecraft being available on Play Station as well as other consoles. I never played Minecraft I am just not into the game. If I was a big fan, I guess I would start looking for a "private server". I know they have them out there. From what I understand they allow you to download and run your own server? Then you wouldn't have to worry about dumping money into the MS piggy vault.

[GreyGeek]

.... I never played Minecraft I am just not into the game. If I was a big fan, I guess I would start looking for a "private server". I know they have them out there. From what I understand they allow you to download and run your own server? Then you wouldn't have to worry about dumping money into the MS piggy vault.

MS would make sure that money continues to dump into their piggy vault.

Mojang offers both the client and the server for a one time price of $30 (for both). One has to sign in with Mojang to verify their account each time they start the game, which is fine. In addition, the launcher app automatically updates itself and Minecraft to the latest release, but it does not disable previous releases. The current launcher is compatible with version 1.52 and higher. To update the server you would have to log into Minecraft with your account name and password, go to the download page, and download the latest server. If you have created a map with a previous version and run it with a more recent version the map is irreversible updated to the new release.

However, the newer releases, 1.72 and higher, allow you to stream to Twitch, to run the client in the single player mode, and if someone wants to join you all you do is click the "connect to LAN" button. You are given the port address to pass on to the others who want to play and when they use your IP and port address they can connect and the single player automatically becomes multi-player. With previous versions one would have to use the client to create a single player "map", move the map to the server directory, change the "properties" file to point to the new map, and then run the server app. Then everyone uses their client to select multi-player and then sign on to the server. The newer method of "connect to LAN" is so much easier.

You wouldn't believe the flexibility and power of the Minecraft platform. Mojang has made creating modifications, called "mods", so easy to connect to the game it has SIGNIFICANTLY expanded the power and fun of Minecraft exponentially. Mods are created by other coders, not associated or paid by Mojang, and usually given away for free. I haven't seen a mod that requires you to pay for it. Players have even created working 8 bit computers inside a map, working electric (red stone) circuits, gigantic buildings with elevators, a full size Star Trek Voyager space ship, and much, much more. Even PixelMon. I could run out of space in the msg box describing less than 10% of what is available or possible.

With Microsoft's mentality and past behavior the connectivity of the mods would be monetized, and mod developers would be required to buy a developers license and/or tool kit. That would force them to sell their mods and MS would take a cut. Probably the lion's share. The client and server would be separately priced and upgrading to a later release would require additional license fees. Those who buy the client would only be able to play games in the single player mode. The server app would be priced based on the number of players allowed. Both apps could have their price scaled to the features activated. Going into the "Creative" mode would require an additional license fee. Allowing combat would require an additional license fee, etc, etc, etc...

Currently the only Minecraft limit is one of performance. With more than, say, 20-30 players the game can get sluggish, especially if discarded or dropped objects are not vacuumed up every two minutes but are allowed to expire in their normal 10 minutes or so, unless the server is run on a high powered game machine. I've run both the client and the server on this Acer V3-771G and there were five people playing without performance degradation of anyone's client or my Acer.

In other words, IF MS buys Minecraft they will kill the game. Without the jar file version it won't be Linux or Mac compatible. If they buy it my grandsons and I will switch to Steam and CastleStory and drop Minecraft.

[MoonRise]

With Microsoft's mentality and past behavior the connectivity of the mods would be monetized, and mod developers would be required to buy a developers license and/or tool kit. That would force them to sell their mods and MS would take a cut. Probably the lion's share. The client and server would be separately priced and upgrading to a later release would require additional license fees. Those who buy the client would only be able to play games in the single player mode. The server app would be priced based on the number of players allowed. Both apps could have their price scaled to the features activated. Going into the "Creative" mode would require an additional license fee. Allowing combat would require an additional license fee, etc, etc, etc...

That is what I'm afraid of and I know they'll do it too. It would end my Minecraft playing. They'll probably charge all they way around for Resource Packs too!

[whatthefunk]

If they end Linux support, they should give us Linux users a refund.

[mparillo]

Which JVM do they currently require on Linux?

[MoonRise]

If they end Linux support, they should give us Linux users a refund.

Agreed!

[MoonRise]

Which JVM do they currently require on Linux?

I have OPENJDK 6 installed here.

[GreyGeek]

If they end Linux support, they should give us Linux users a refund.

I purchased three copies of Minecraft nearly four years ago, one for me and one for each of my two grandsons. We've had many, many, many enjoyable hours playing it. Those years of playing Minecraft together with my grandsons has much, much more value than the $90 I spent buying the game. Considering all the mods, versions, resource packs, versions and such that we have enjoyed I wouldn't even consider asking for a refund. The game was decently priced, well supported, and the single purchase price covered ALL future versions, patches, updates, etc. It was the best value in gaming I've ever seen or heard of, and I've played games on PCs since the summer of 1978.

After MS stinks Minecraft up my grandsons and I will just move on to other things. Steam Linux is offering some good games. We've already bought and played CastleStory and Portal2, plus a $5 pack of 5 games. I have no doubt that others will fill the void that MS will create if they buy MC from Notch.

[whatthefunk]

I purchased three copies of Minecraft nearly four years ago, one for me and one for each of my two grandsons. We've had many, many, many enjoyable hours playing it. Those years of playing Minecraft together with my grandsons has much, much more value than the $90 I spent buying the game. Considering all the mods, versions, resource packs, versions and such that we have enjoyed I wouldn't even consider asking for a refund. The game was decently priced, well supported, and the single purchase price covered ALL future versions, patches, updates, etc. It was the best value in gaming I've ever seen or heard of, and I've played games on PCs since the summer of 1978.

After MS stinks Minecraft up my grandsons and I will just move on to other things. Steam Linux is offering some good games. We've already bought and played CastleStory and Portal2, plus a $5 pack of 5 games. I have no doubt that others will fill the void that MS will create if they buy MC from Notch.

I too feel like I got my money's worth, but I want to continue playing. I bought the game under the assumption that I would be able to play it more or less forever.