4 ms·

GTA V made $7B. Minecraft was worth it.

by common_ 8y ago

geezerjay 8y ago
> GTA V made $7B. According to Google, Minecraft made $23M up to 2011. > Minecraft was worth it. To Notch it sure did.
- fencepost 8y ago
  According to Google, Minecraft made $23M up to 2011. 2011? In 2011 Minecraft was a very new product compared to where it is now. What Microsoft was purchasing there was a pre-existing virtual world software that already many kids were familiar and comfortable with. It's a world where there's no significant level of concern about inappropriate avatars, and nobody really cares. It's a world focused on construction and design, not on killing off everyone else so that you can be the last survivor. As VR gets better over the next decade, it would be entirely feasible for something based on a Minecraft like world to be a solid base for corporate and educational markets.
- skinnymuch 8y ago
  Why are you bringing up Minecraft revenue for just 2011? It grew like crazy.
  - geezerjay 8y ago
    > Why are you bringing Minecraft revenue for just 2011? It's not revenue "for just 2011". It's revenue up to 2011.
    - skinnymuch 8y ago
      Does that really change much? Minecraft still grew a ton more and is still a big game. Microsoft also got to use overseas money to pay for it.
- ameister14 8y ago
  Sure, and its revenue in 2012 was $128 million, and 2013 was $326 million. Suddenly paying $2.5 Billion in late 2014 starts to make some sense.
  - geezerjay 8y ago
    > Suddenly paying $2.5 Billion in late 2014 starts to make some sense. You mean expecting that a game that's already a half a dozen years old will keep increasing its revenue for a decade straight? Does that make any sense whatsoever?
    - ameister14 8y ago
      No, I mean expecting that a game of this type that has more than doubled in revenue for the past two years to continue to be profitable makes sense. As it turns out, this was an excellent bet, as their next quarters saw revenue increases in the hundreds of millions. Two years later, they continued to increase sales of the game, selling about 20 million copies in 2016. It worked.

GTA V made $7B. Minecraft was worth it.

geezerjay 8y ago

> GTA V made $7B. According to Google, Minecraft made $23M up to 2011. > Minecraft was worth it. To Notch it sure did.

fencepost 8y ago
According to Google, Minecraft made $23M up to 2011. 2011? In 2011 Minecraft was a very new product compared to where it is now. What Microsoft was purchasing there was a pre-existing virtual world software that already many kids were familiar and comfortable with. It's a world where there's no significant level of concern about inappropriate avatars, and nobody really cares. It's a world focused on construction and design, not on killing off everyone else so that you can be the last survivor. As VR gets better over the next decade, it would be entirely feasible for something based on a Minecraft like world to be a solid base for corporate and educational markets.
skinnymuch 8y ago
Why are you bringing up Minecraft revenue for just 2011? It grew like crazy.
- geezerjay 8y ago
  > Why are you bringing Minecraft revenue for just 2011? It's not revenue "for just 2011". It's revenue up to 2011.
  - skinnymuch 8y ago
    Does that really change much? Minecraft still grew a ton more and is still a big game. Microsoft also got to use overseas money to pay for it.
ameister14 8y ago
Sure, and its revenue in 2012 was $128 million, and 2013 was $326 million. Suddenly paying $2.5 Billion in late 2014 starts to make some sense.
- geezerjay 8y ago
  > Suddenly paying $2.5 Billion in late 2014 starts to make some sense. You mean expecting that a game that's already a half a dozen years old will keep increasing its revenue for a decade straight? Does that make any sense whatsoever?
  - ameister14 8y ago
    No, I mean expecting that a game of this type that has more than doubled in revenue for the past two years to continue to be profitable makes sense. As it turns out, this was an excellent bet, as their next quarters saw revenue increases in the hundreds of millions. Two years later, they continued to increase sales of the game, selling about 20 million copies in 2016. It worked.