27 ms·

Yes, we’re being bought by Microsoft

941 points by jordanmessina 12y ago

bru 12y ago
> Microsoft acquired Mojang for a smooth 2.5 BILLION dollars. Impressive. I hope that Microsoft won't disrupt Minecraft's development (e.g. like they did with Skype, making Linux a third-rate platform - which should not happen since Minecraft's coded in Java).
- talideon 12y ago
  I'm just waiting for them to announce a rewrite in C#.
  - weavie 12y ago
    Given how similar the two languages are, I wonder how hard it would be to automate such a translation?
    - pistle 12y ago
      Many lines would need nothing. Overarching structure, idiomatic usage, and lack of benefits from being able to use language constructs of efficiency in C# would yield sub-optimal results. Manual conversion to idiomatic C# would be a better route and add the benefits of deeper familiarity with the application. It's one thing to wrestle with a new codebase. It's another thing to try to make sense of something transcoded by a tool. Was the original coder insane or is it just an edge case in your translation tool?
    - wcoenen 12y ago
      You don't even have to translate anything. Bytecode translation via IKVM.NET[1] to run JVM applications on the .NET runtime works surprisingly well. [1] http://www.ikvm.net/ http://www.ikvm.net/
    - ygra 12y ago
      On a language level, not that hard (though the result wouldn't be idiomatic in a lot of places). But on a library and API level ... Either you move everything that uses the stdlib to your own standard library excerpt that you maintain for both languages to be identical. Or you find compatible implementations in the other language (or translate Apache Harmony to C# as well). Or you'll deal with all the things that your program could call and emit code that does the same thing in the target language, with more code where standard library functionality differs slightly. And then there is the problem of external libraries and their APIs. Either translate them as well, or find API-compatible replacements, or find replacements and handle the API differences yourself. Actually, it comes down to the same thing either way, when considering the standard library just as a library, among the others.
    - Rapzid 12y ago
      You might be interested to know about ngit. It's a c# git library under the mono project: https://github.com/mono/ngit https://github.com/mono/ngit . The thing is they created a tool called sharpen so they could convert most of the jgit code over to c# :)
  - JetSpiegel 12y ago
    And a web version in JScript.
  - lmedinas 12y ago
    That would mean 2 things: 1 - They stop supporting everything except Windows and XBox 2 - They need to buy Xamarin too in order to keep supporting all platforms. #stopspeculation :)
    - nacs 12y ago
      You forgot about the almost dozen people that use the Windows Phone platform that they'll port Minecraft for and support.
- ericcholis 12y ago
  One would hope that their recent "open" nature to things like the .NET compiler and parts of the .NET source will rub off on the arm that will control Minecraft/Mojang. I find it hard to believe that they'd fail to recognize the impact of being on multiple platforms. But, Skype is a recent example of failing to realize the importance of platform agnostic software.
- Tloewald 12y ago
  Wasn't the problem with Skype (at least in part) that they bought a hollow shell and not the underlying technology?
  - spacemanmatt 12y ago
    Not at all. They did get all of Skype's assets, but they modified the technology significantly to comply with NSA spying desires, as well as port the back-end from PostgreSQL to SQL Server. It was not a quick surgery, and now Skype is a regular old crappy MS product.
    - kcbanner 12y ago
      I mean, Skype works just as well as it ever did on PC.
      - Tloewald 12y ago
        I'm curious: on the Mac, Skype went through a major regression in terms of usability from 3? to 4? (I forget exactly which major version change it was; I do know that 6.xx is not significantly different from the version everyone I know avoided upgrading to until they were forced) -- did this not also happen on Windows?
- romanovcode 12y ago
  They will most likely rewrite it to C#. C# games run perfectly fine on Linux.
  - Narishma 12y ago
    Why would they do that?
    - drivingmenuts 12y ago
      Because the original codebase is Java and that's the dirtiest of words around Microsoft.
      - Narishma 12y ago
        Only the PC version is in Java. The other versions are in C++.
        drivingmenuts 12y ago
        My Mac seems to disagree with you on that.
        Narishma 12y ago
        The Windows, Mac and Linux are the same version.
        Havvy 12y ago
        Your "Mac" is a PC.
        drivingmenuts 12y ago
        I think I disagree with you on that. You know, on principle.
TillE 12y ago
> He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance > The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving Yeah, that's exactly what I suspected when the rumors started. Markus doesn't really want to run a company, so he's cashing out and doing his own thing. Good on him.
- norswap 12y ago
  What I wonder is what Carl and Jeb are going to do though. Do those three have another collective project? Or is it all sunny beaches and martinis? Or a Carl/Jeb project while Notch tinkers away?
  - kissickas 12y ago
    Jakob =/= Jens http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jakob_Pors%C3%A9r http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jakob_Pors%C3%A9r http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jens_Bergensten http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jens_Bergensten
    - norswap 12y ago
      Haha, I just realized this and came back to see if someone had corrected the mistake. Sure enough :)
Joona 12y ago
Holy crap, 2.5 BILLION? And on top of that Notch and Jakob (and Carl) are leaving? I understand Notch's decision (as he has been doing his own thing), but I did not imagine Jakob or Carl leaving.
- deleted 12y ago
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citricsquid 12y ago
A copy of the blog post if the site is down: https://archive.today/TbJQh https://archive.today/TbJQh Xbox announcement: http://news.xbox.com/2014/09/games-minecraft-to-join-microsoft http://news.xbox.com/2014/09/games-minecraft-to-join-microso...
- Joona 12y ago
  And an image mirror (credit to @duncangeere on Twitter): http://i.imgur.com/Vcyx0Yx.png http://i.imgur.com/Vcyx0Yx.png
tyho 12y ago
>What about the other editions of Minecraft? Will they stop being developed? >There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. So what is happening to the Linux edition that has been fully supported since day 1?
- barbs 12y ago
  Haha! First thing I noticed as well!
  - Tepix 12y ago
    They also didn't mention the free Raspberry Pi version.
    - jbrooksuk 12y ago
      Or the Toaster & Potato versions.
- Joona 12y ago
  So Linux is not PC anymore?
  - seren 12y ago
    In a Microsoft press release, you have some rights to be circumspect on how 'PC' should be interpreted.
  - dale-cooper 12y ago
    Thanks to Apple, PC is now an alias for Windows
  - insertnickname 12y ago
    Mac is PC too.
- larrydag 12y ago
octo_t 12y ago
I think the most significant part is that the founders at Mojang are leaving: > The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool.
scrollaway 12y ago
There goes all hope of Minecraft being released as open source. There was a blog post from several years ago from Notch saying that after he made enough money with the game, he would "probably clean it up and release it as open source". Oh well. Instead now we have the DMCA-infighting and an atrocious modding community that hosts their binaries on shady file upload sites, their "project page" in a forum thread, make their measly money from adfly-like sites and have never heard of Github. So much wasted potential. Anyhow, congratulations Microsoft.
- JetSpiegel 12y ago
  Infiniminer still exists, I bet Zach wouldn't mind that good PR.
  - lawlessone 12y ago
    This is the first time i've seen the word infiniminer in 2 years, not sure i'll see it again. I think it already got the publicity it would out of minecraft, the game is already well enough known without MS.
- ericcholis 12y ago
  The .NET Compiler Platform and parts of the .NET Source being open sourced will hopefully tell a different story.
  - Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
    The MS of 5 years ago, you'd have said it would never happen. The MS of today, it's not impossible (though it is unlikely).
  - scrollaway 12y ago
    Microsoft has gained a lot of respect from me when they did that. However I doubt they would go out of their way to open source minecraft. But hey, who knows which of my words I might eat with gravy sauce?
  - 12y ago
centizen 12y ago
Well, this will be an interesting ride. At least now Notch will have enough time and money to fund that Psychonauts sequel!
aaronbasssett 12y ago
Coming soon, Minecraft 2.0! Exclusive to Xbox One.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  That's my guess too. Or at least, released first on Xbox.
  - saalweachter 12y ago
    I'd package it for free on Microsoft platforms - the solitaire of the twenty-first century - and keep selling it on other platforms at the current rate.
deleted 12y ago
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DigitalSea 12y ago
Worse kept secret ever.Good for Notch and everyone else though, a well-deserved cash out and completely understandable. Notch never striked me as a guy who wanted to run a big company like Mojang in the first place.
jacquesm 12y ago
That's 2.5 Instagrams, or 0.33 Nokias. What do you feel, realistic, too much, too little? Personally I feel this makes (much) more sense than instagram, these guys have a very loyal following, a tremendously strong product and actually make money. Congratulations to everybody on the selling side in this deal, too bad it had to be Microsoft but with amounts like that there are not too many companies on the acquiring side. Does anyone know if this was stock / cash / a mix? edit: this Microsoft - Mojang deal will do more to get people into (games) programming than a million $ adspend by codecademy would edit2: right now (16:43 my time) microjang.com is still free Wonder how long it will take before that is a registered domain. edit: microjang.com is now no longer free. Registrant: Microjang Development (DR is US) PO Box 100439 NY, NY 10163-4668 US (UNITED STATES)
- weavie 12y ago
  A large majority of this very loyal following are still < 16 years old. If MS play things right and can retain this following in about 5 years time it will be a very loyal following with a huge reserve of disposable cash then this could become a very profitable move indeed.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    I see it mostly as a long term plan to move as many people as they can find into the Xbox ecosystem. edit: downvoted already, new record. At least I didn't suggest that Microsoft would now have to re-write minecraft in C# rather than in the Java that they love so much there.
    - dataminer 12y ago
      Noticing this aggressive downvoting trend quite alot on HN lately. Perfectly valid inoffensive arguments are downvoted just because the downvoter disagrees with them.
      - icebraining 12y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171
rcamera 12y ago
I have been trying to understand why Microsoft would buy Minecraft. Even though Minecraft is really important, and wildly successful, but the price tag for a game studio with one successful game is rather odd, considering it is unlikely Minecraft will sell millions of copies more (it is already the most sold game ever made). This is a long shot, but it may explain it: If Microsoft is trying to build its own Steam competitor (which given Valve's current strategy to make Linux an alternative gaming platform to Windows, makes sense), then Minecraft is the perfect acquisition to start it up, for a number of reasons. It is the best selling video game of all time, with over 15 million copies sold for the PC (54 million copies across all platforms), and it has over 100 million accounts registered. It is possibly the only successful indie game that has never integrated with Steam, and that has a very young userbase (based on my experience) which, given their ages, probably isn't part of Steam's userbase. All of these aspects make it a great strategic acquisition if Microsoft wants to make a new and successful game marketplace and platform for Windows. Anyone else has any other idea why the 2.5 billion price tag?
- Joona 12y ago
  I think Steam competitor idea is interesting, but forcing it on your playerbase is generally quite a bad idea (see Origin or Uplay). I'd love to see more competition though.
  - Monk_NT 12y ago
    Steam was originally forced on users IIRC
    - rlu 12y ago
      Yep. HL2 was the first game to require it. You would buy the game at best buy and then you'd need to go download this strange program and tie the game to your account. A lot of people were super pissed. Gabe Newell said "I know, I know, but trust me: this is going to be AWESOME in the future" - boy was he right :)
      - 12y ago
mattdotc 12y ago
Very peculiar seeing this news after Notch was so critical of the OculusVR sale to Facebook. Seeing as I bought my premium Minecraft account on 8/1/2010, I must be due some sort of equity for supporting him at such an early stage. edit: Oh, and what do you think will become of the old alpha/beta/release builds? I'm thinking about going ahead and archiving them all in case access to them is revoked. Not sure if I'm being too paranoid, but I much preferred the simpler versions without all the distractions like XP, hunger, and those weird tall black guys.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  > Very peculiar seeing this news after Notch was so critical of the OculusVR sale to Facebook. That's a valid point. > Seeing as I bought my premium Minecraft account on 8/1/2010, I must be due some sort of equity for supporting him at such an early stage. I don't think that's a valid point :)
  - cma 12y ago
    Notch said the Facebook deal was rotten because early backers on Kickstarters who weren't promised equity didn't get equity. Minecraft was one of the first early access games and likewise didn't promise or give equity.
    - magicalist 12y ago
      No he didn't, he was very specific on why he didn't like the deal: http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world/ http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-...
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Everyone has a price it seems.
dageshi 12y ago
They'll probably create a market. Right now mods/skins are for the most part being given away for free. I think the obvious thing to do is allow mod creators to sell at a profit if they wish.
netcraft 12y ago
I look forward to a post from MS about their plans. I still believe that with a proper modding API minecraft could quadruple its current impact.
DanBC 12y ago
Be interesting to see how MS deal with YouTubers. Shutting down Etho, Yogscast, etc is likely to lead to hordes of 13 year olds hating MS for ever. Maybe there'll be an MVP programme for YouTubers? </s> I just hope MS can sort out modding: a sane mod interface would make many people very happy.
- Mithaldu 12y ago
  Why would this lead to those channels shutting down? Did i miss something in the posts?
  - DSMan195276 12y ago
    I presume the assumption is that with Microsoft now owning Minecraft (and presumably the copyright over it, among other things), they could leverage that to get videos of Minecraft pulled off of Youtube. Personally I doubt it extremely, but you never know.
    - Someone1234 12y ago
      Microsoft hasn't done that with any of their other properties in the gaming division. Now Nintendo has quite a few times.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    MS is a big organisation. Imagine one part of MS submitting stuff to YouTube for ContentID, and including the Minecraft music. Suddenly you have a bunch of people struggling to put content online.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    MS presumably now own the intellectual property (IP) surrounding Minecraft and could choose to demand payment from people using the Minecraft TM commercially - eg to run a YouTube channel. If those channels are offering tips on circumventing MS's lockdown (yes I'm pessimistic about what MS will do) then MS will use IP initially to shut them down I imagine. The Minecraft EULA has the standard "we can change this without notice" clauses. I will be fascinated to see what changes come to it.
JoeAltmaier 12y ago
Perhaps Microsoft has a similar project in the works, and instead of fighting over IP and copyright, they just bought the company. Like Intel or Cisco buying innovators to avoid patent litigation.
- knd775 12y ago
  I very much doubt it. The two companies have been working closely on the Xbox version. I don't think for a second that Microsoft has any intention of making a game similar to Minecraft.
  - toupeira 12y ago
    Well, Project Spark certainly looks at least inspired by Minecraft.
    - knd775 12y ago
      Have you used Project Spark? I don't think it was.
      - _random_ 12y ago
        Can you elaborate: better/worth? To me it seems impressive, the way remixes remind git forks etc.
turshija 12y ago
I hope they won't ditch cross-platform and go for Windows + Xbox only. Or try to make "Minecraft 2". Damn
- mattdotc 12y ago
  I'm thinking this is an almost-certainty at this point. I doubt they can really do anything about existing builds of Minecraft on non-Microsoft properties, but a Minecraft 2 XB exclusive is the obvious way to get a healthy ROI on the Mojang acquisition. I obviously don't know the whole picture here, but I see the purchase of Mojang as a strategic move to strengthen the Xbox One platform. They're banking on Minecraft being a strong property for the next few years; they could easily sell a few hundred thousand units holiday season 2015 if they have a exclusivity on Minecraft 2.
- TheRealDunkirk 12y ago
  With Microsoft, I think Minecraft 2 is a given. You didn't expect Disney to NOT release another Star Wars trilogy after acquiring the franchise from Lucas, did you?
  - Avshalom 12y ago
    To be fair Lucas had been planning on the third trilogy since Empire Strikes Back.
LERobot 12y ago
The skype effect is near
pinaceae 12y ago
Did Minecraft ever take on any VC money? I think not, so this 2.5b is very, very different than the stuff you see here. Not comparable to Instagram in net profit for the founders.
- merrua 12y ago
  2.5B is a lot of money anyway. But your right. I dont think you need to half it for the founders (+company people)
deleted 12y ago
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blueskin_ 12y ago
>There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future. Translation: MS hasn't killed them yet, but probably will soon.
- n09n 12y ago
  Just like they killed Skype and Office on iOS and Android?
  - Crito 12y ago
    Probably more like they killed Skype on linux: Keep it on 'life support', much like "sloth" in Se7en.
  - tensor 12y ago
    Most opinion seems to be that Skype has consistently gotten worse after the takeover.
    - n09n 12y ago
      That's subjective. An objective fact is that it still exists on non-MS platforms, it's interoperable across platforms, and there hasn't been a "Skype 2" to replace it on MS platforms only. If that same holds true for Minecraft, that allays most of the largest fears people have.
tehwebguy 12y ago
No one has mentioned merch or licensing yet here. I would offer an educated guess that Minecraft is/was the single most valuable indie game IP outside of actual game sales.
knd775 12y ago
This makes me sad. I see that there is the potential for good to come from this, I don't think it will happen. At least Jeb is staying. There might have been some pretty big problems for Minecraft if he didn't stay.
Pyrodogg 12y ago
Well, there goes a ton of support for the current Forge-related modding community. "Take care everybody. rm -rf .minecraft MS free for 20 years. Not starting now!" https://twitter.com/minecraftcpw https://twitter.com/minecraftcpw
diltonm 12y ago
I'd feel much better if they would clarify the term PC. As a long time Linux user and Minecraft fan; I'd hope the Linux client continues to thrive similar to the way the Skype client has after the Microsoft acquisition. The fact that the list uses the term PC instead of spelling out "Windows,Linux,etc." worries me some.
- morganvachon 12y ago
  Unless Microsoft moves the game away from Java to some other language, I don't see how that would happen. The "Linux client" is just the raw .jar that is wrapped by the Minecraft.exe Windows executable. They both pull down the same assets and Java bits and pieces before running the main process.
  - Aaron1011 12y ago
    I'm worried about that too - the real issues is the platform-specific "natives" folder.
    - deniska 12y ago
      For now this folder consists of opensource libraries (lwjgl).
    - hornetblack 12y ago
      That's mostly lwjgl. So they would need to move away from that before that goes away.
programminggeek 12y ago
$2.5 billion and the founders get to walk. That is impressive. No golden handcuffs.
Pxtl 12y ago
So, MineCraft 2 will be an X-Box/Win8 tablet exclusive made by a AAA development studio, I suppose.
jccalhoun 12y ago
One thing that needs some explanation is the fact that because Minecraft predates Mojang, at one point Mojang was only licensing the Minecraft trademark from Notch (even though Notch was the majority owner of Mojang). (If you look at the bottom of minecraft.net you will see: "Mojang © 2009-2014. "Minecraft" is a trademark of Notch Development AB") I hope that MS's lawyers were smart enough to make sure they were actually buying Minecraft and not just a license...
- seanflyon 12y ago
  I'm sure they were smart enough to know what they were buying and I assume they bought "Minecraft" as well Mojang.
illumen 12y ago
Ludumdare is bigger than Y combinator now.
Fastidious 12y ago
Next steps: - Replace Mojang/Minecraft account with a Microsoft Account, use it to login - Minecraft installer comes with Bing - Minecraft ported to C#, Java version discontinued. Name changed to Microsoft Minecraft 1.0 - Minecraft servers can only be run in Azure, legally
- romanovcode 12y ago
  >Minecraft servers can only be run in Azure, legally I wouldn't mind if it would use Azure Cloud CPU farms for some bad-ass physics and other cool stuff. Not very likely though.
worklogin 12y ago
> There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future. Linux is absent, but I wonder if they lump that in with "PC".
danschuller 12y ago
I think this just demonstrates the power of the internet/social networks and an increasingly interconnected world. Notch creates a small game on his own, improving on Infiniminer, it catches the imagination of an entire generation. Without the internet and social networks this would have never happened. Without this game having a multiplayer mode added (which happened fairly early on) it wouldn't have happened. I wonder what it would be like it Doom was first released into a similar environment but maybe it's a little less universal. People in their bedrooms recording themselves playing video games speak as loudly, or more loudly than traditional media. PewDiePie has 30 million subscribers - he can make any game just with a mention. It's interesting now our networks are concentrating and distributing influence, power and wealth. Nothing I could have predicted and I'll enjoy seeing what comes next.
joemaller1 12y ago
I'm trying, but I just don't see any good coming of this. The comments from Mojang seem incredibly naive, everything is going to change. First people to make money on this will be lawyers. There's going to be a blizzard of copyright takedown notices going out to every unlicensed (most all) Minecraft merchandise and spinoffs. The offline fan ecosystem is going to get slaughtered. Mostly I'm just sad for all the kids. They love Minecraft, and this won't end well.
- zanny 12y ago
  Hopefully enough people wake up and realize that projects like Minetest exist to pivot to. Yeah, you have to redo a lot of work (since it was all in Java anyway) but the core game is there, and it is much healthier to do it all open source and open collaboration.
- cLeEOGPw 12y ago
  Same thing was said when Facebook acquired Oculus Rift. We have yet to see the horrible "downfall" and "messing around" with Oculus by Facebook. I think sometimes people are exaggerating the perceived damage acquisitions cause.
  - tensor 12y ago
    They haven't even shipped a product. It's way too early to tell how hands off Facebook is going to be.
gokhan 12y ago
For people without children, here are some quick notes on the situation in kiddieland: - My son is 7. We bought iPad edition first, shelled some more for PC edition last month, and I'm sure I'll be forced to buy more in the future if MS puts a price tag on it. - I spend a fair amount of time during weekends for deciphering the modding world, trying to find something called CraftBukkit, learning to mod, finding launchers, finding maps shown on some Youtube video etc. because the son is mad about it. BUT, he's spending hours trying to learn JS (ScriptCraft on Bukkit) just to make an exploding arrow. I truly believe this is analogous to C64 days back then. - School started today, he's moved to another school this year. The first thing he asked to his news friends was about Minecraft. Then he advertised how PC version is superior to the one on iPad. - My 2 yo daughter knows what Minecraft is, tells she'll play Minecraft when she grows up. - While we were shopping for school supplies last week, saw two people asking for Minecraft licensed school bags for their kids. - We live in Turkey.
- sireat 12y ago
  What is interesting is how Minecraft has been pretty much the only game that people actually pay cash for in the Eastern Europe. This is pretty amazing since most games and software are pirated. Of course, people can and do pirate it, but it has a fantastic sell-through that no other game has achieved outside first world. The popularity among 5-15 year olds is very high.
  - thesz 12y ago
    If Russia counts for Eastern Europe, then the whole Steam catalog is pretty much the only games that are paid for here. http://www.steamfirst.com/worldwide-steam-sales-by-region-some-impressive-stats/ http://www.steamfirst.com/worldwide-steam-sales-by-region-so... Keep in mind that Russians has much lower income than Western Europeans.
    - zyx321 12y ago
      But aren't prices in Russia less than half of those in EU/US? I remember that region locking controversy a few years back, where people bought the cheap eastern European boxed copies over the Internet and found that they wouldn't be able to redeem them from a US IP.
shmerl 12y ago
TL;DR: We don't know Microsoft's plans. But don't worry, everything will be fine. Yeah, right. It's MS we are talking about. MS don't even hide their mindset here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/sept14/09-15news.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/sept14/09-15n... > Minecraft fans are loyal, with nearly 90 percent of paid customers on the PC having signed in within the past 12 months. That's MS for you. DRM to be expected.
- Thimothy 12y ago
  Minecraft has DRM. You have to register with Mojang and enter your account in the game to play.
smoyer 12y ago
Is this the first product Microsoft will own that's written in Java? They support it on Azure but I'm not aware of them selling a software product that's based on Java.
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  Interesting, I know it was released on PS4 and Xbox One. I imagine it was re-written in C++ or, at least, a non-Java language. Porting from Xbox to PC seems trivial if Mojang wants to replace their Java version. My guess is that there will be a new Windows version with a sane mod system and written in C# or C++ soon as MS's first hand-out to fans. The broken mod system and the performance issues need to be addressed and getting off Java is the best way to do this.
  - makomk 12y ago
    The console/mobile ports were a C++ rewrite, I think. The mobile version and previous-generation console releases definitely were.
- SixSigma 12y ago
  J++, but that didn't work out so well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_J%2B%2B http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_J%2B%2B.
- slackgentoo 12y ago
  They are selling Hadoop (based on Java) via HdInsight. http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/hdinsight/ http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/hdin...
LeicaLatte 12y ago
Mojang's new roadmap starting next sprint - Minecraft kart racer, brawler, side scroller, kinect game, store.minecraft, themed COD maps, Forza tracks, minecraft 2 pre-order beta access
- MartinCron 12y ago
  I know you're joking, but if anything could get kinect to take off, it might be a really great Minecraft implementation.
  - LeicaLatte 12y ago
    Agreed
- readerrrr 12y ago
  Monthly subscription for online play. ::shiver::
drivingmenuts 12y ago
Well, it was fun while it was lasted. Being on OS X, I'm not going to pretend that Microsoft will support us for any longer than they have to.
- Chronic29 12y ago
  You won't be missed. Bye.
aabdocker 12y ago
> The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool.
talmand 12y ago
All I can say is that my daughters are so lucky that Games for Windows Live is dead and won't be integrated into Minecraft.
calewis 12y ago
Seems to me like the most sensible tech purchase in a while, PE ratio is a bit more normal and it has massive and sustained traction amongst young people. It remains to be seem if M$FT will fuck it up, but that's a different question.
xedarius 12y ago
I find it amazing that there wasn't a clause tying Notch and the other founders to the company, at least for a transitional period. Usually when you buy a games company it isn't the product you buy so much it's the creative talent. But to counter my own argument, few games companies have a product as strong as Mojang.
- Havvy 12y ago
  Notch and the founders haven't been driving Minecraft for awhile now. They hired from the community, and basically let them run things. And really, Notch doesn't have much creative talent w.r.t to content. He did build a nice framework though.
eric_cc 12y ago
Minecraft 2: now with Micro-transactions, Achievements and More!!
- insertnickname 12y ago
  Minecraft already has achievements.
  - eric_cc 12y ago
    Gross
    - recursive 12y ago
      Don't worry, you can ignore them.
cptskippy 12y ago
I could see this being a huge play for young developers by Microsoft. They have been positioning themselves as a platform agnostic services provider, investing in or purchasing cross platform development frameworks, and opensourcing a lot of their technologies (e.g. C#, .NET, Rosetta, OWIN). Now all they need are developers to adopt their technologies. Minecraft has a huge modding community and a lot of first time coders are getting into the scene because they love Minecraft. Imagine Microsoft ports Minecraft to C# or possibly C while maintaining full support for all existing platforms. Then go about developing a great API/SDK for modders and making it incredibly easy for anyone to download Visual Studio and the Minecraft SDK. They just introduced an entire generation of developers to MS technology.
- Rapzid 12y ago
  Don't forget ASP.NET vNEXT project will run their testing suite against mono as well:) I made a similar comment. Confirmation bias tells me your on the ball :)
georgehaake 12y ago
Very interesting that my 8 and 10 year old sons two weeks ago declared Minecraft boring after 3-4 years of all that they could consume play.
malloreon 12y ago
That Mojang is worth 62.5% of Star Wars is a testament both to Minecraft's value and how much Lucas destroyed Star Wars in the last 20 years.
KhalilK 12y ago
First thing to do: ditch Java; port the game to C#.
- _random_ 12y ago
  That would be awesome! But I doubt they would do it, some people might become unhappy and also it means extra costs.
- raptormissle 12y ago
  Why would they down port it to a shitty language like C# that's slower than Java?
outside1234 12y ago
One of the things you need to understand about these deals, and deals like it (Nokia), is that Microsoft is using trapped overseas cash to make these acquisitions. (If they repatriated this cash to the US instead they would lose something like 40% of it to taxes) Its a good time to be a foreign (to the US) company.
betabob 12y ago
Think Microsoft-VR. Billions in VR-device/console sales secured via platform exclusivity. See Halo(Bungie)/Xbox etc. Games dictate console sales. Minecraft will actually be a lot more effective. Massively popular among every demographic. Smart move and good timing. Hats off to New-Microsoft.
tdicola 12y ago
The thing I can't wait to see is how Microsoft intends to recoup the cost in FY2015 like they say they will. From what I read Mojang only made ~$300 million off Minecraft last year, so where is the other $2.2 billion going to come from in the next 9 months? I will be surprised if there isn't a big write-down on this purchase come July.
neves 12y ago
Hope they don't decide to bundle it with Windows. My kids will have zero productivity for their whole life.
- psykovsky 12y ago
  Install some *nix flavour on their computers and problem(s) solved....
spacecadet 12y ago
Notch went from having trouble with Paypal over a poultry $750k to being a Billionaire. That's awesome.
- redstripe 12y ago
  How did he run afowl of paypal?
  - spacecadet 12y ago
    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103385-PayPal-Freezes-750K-in-MineCraft-Devs-Account http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103385-PayPal-Free... Back in 2010 when Minecraft was very young.
  - spacecadet 12y ago
    "Because it's a struggle for me to scrape together 750 bucks" - NOT anymore! So awesome.
  - merrua 12y ago
    paypal tend to be weird
    - spacecadet 12y ago
      I've used PayPal for many years with no problems. While I don't defend what they did to Notch- Any bank would have.
wiremine 12y ago
I like this quote from Gruber: "It’s almost impossible to overstate just how big a deal Minecraft is for my son and his friends." [1] My son is 8, and he and his friends are CONSUMED by the game. I wonder how Microsoft is going to leverage this fact for reaching new users... [1] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/25/minecraft http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/25/minecraft
keypusher 12y ago
Not clear to me exactly what Microsoft is buying here. As far as I know the development studio Mojang is tiny, maybe a few dozen people. Minecraft itself has a huge community, and made a lot of money, but it's not clear how Microsoft leverages that into anything other than goodwill.
p1mrx 12y ago
With $2.5 billion, you could buy 3 blocks of gold: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cubic+meter+of+gold http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cubic+meter+of+gold == $765 million.
maljx 12y ago
Personal statement by notch - http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/ http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/
alyandon 12y ago
I can't see this being a good thing for anyone that cares about Minecraft at all. I wonder how long it'll be before: 1) The older Minecraft binaries suddenly become unavailable for download which will effectively kill many launchers, mods and modpacks 1a) Microsoft aggressively uses DMCA notices to kill off the modding community when the modding community tries to work around #1 by hosting the binaries themselves 2) Microsoft adds unnecessary integration with the win32 API via JNI to Minecraft in order to make it Windows-only despite the fact Minecraft is written in Java 2a) More aggressive DMCA usage to kill off the community attempting to work-around #2 Those are just off the top of my head but I'm sure I can come up with more not too far-fetched scenarios.
- Already__Taken 12y ago
  MS have open projects and code up on github now. I know it's inconsequential but the old rules don't quite apply.
mindstab 12y ago
Ran some math with friends. Minecraft is from 2009, so it's 5 years old. https://minecraft.net/stats https://minecraft.net/stats says it's sold ~16M pc and mac copies and the front page says at $27. That's about $432M in its entire life [assuming everyone paid full price, which they didn't, there have been loads of deals over the years]. Now that doesn't take into account mobile and console. For android the $7 pocket version is reporting 5M which is $35M. I don't have numbers for iOS and console but I can't really imagine they come close to PC and Mac. And as my friend reminded "Well I'm one if those 5m and I paid $0.10 [for the android version]" I have a hard time understanding where they get the $2.5B valuation considering its revenues. Another friend thought advertising: " heck, even brand recognition - if they put "Microsoft Minecraft" on the title, I'm sure that's comparable to a few superbowl ads &tc" So we ran that math. "the average cost of a 30-second advertisement was around $4 million" - wikipedia [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_advertising https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_advertising ] "Super Bowl XLV, played in 2011, became the most-watched American television program in history with an average audience of 111 million viewers " - wikipedia. 16.7M people have bought minecraft [mincraft.com/stats pc and mac] + 5M for android. That's still a fraction of a super bowl ad (like 16%) or ~$670,000 value in super bowl advertising terms. Except I suspect anyone actually in advertising would say the value of a finely crafted 30 second video advert massively beats your company name under a game title. Regardless of quibbles, the advertising potential seems off by many orders of magnitude. also as was mentioned: "Is brand recognition something ms has a problem with?" So where is the $2.5B coming from? Especially when the gamesutra article [ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225611/Minecraft_studio_Mojang_has_been_bought_by_Microsoft_for_25B.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225611/Minecraft_studio_M... ] has them saying they think they can recoup the full value in 1 year!
- pohl 12y ago
  I don't have a complete answer, but the other day I popped into a local Target and was surprised to see Minecraft-themed clothing (shirts, hats) and toys (foam pixel-swords). Maybe the merchandising deals are a big piece?
- JacobAldridge 12y ago
  Mojang reported profits last financial year of $128 million (approx, allowing for conversion rates to USD). Microsoft is trading today on a P/E multiple of 17.6. That means, in super simplistic terms, that $128 million in extra profit increases Microsoft's market capitalisation by ($128 x 17.6 =) $2.2528 Billion. Given those profit figures are 6 months old, and the negotiating team would have access to current data, $2.5B is about on the money. Recoup full value != recoup the $2.5B in profit.
worklogin 12y ago
He's a bit disingenuous. Don't care about the money at all? Open-source it and let it thrive. Care about the money a bit, but really want the game to survive? Want the community to have faith in its future? Sell it to Valve for $25m or something on the condition that an API gets built. If it's worth a fraction of its sell price, Valve would have jumped on it. But instead, it got sold to a company devoted to closed source software and killing its game purchases. And Notch got a fat check for it. Listen, I can't judge him, and I won't. The game is great, and he built it. But every action in this says it's about money, while none of it shows a care for the game. We'll see how it pans out, but history tells us to be suspicious.
Florin_Andrei 12y ago
> Everything is going to be OK. Yeah, with $2.5 bil in the bank, I'm sure it will.
tomrod 12y ago
More power to you, Mojang employees, and may you see many happy returns.
deleted 12y ago
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Immortalin 12y ago
I hope that a clr port of minecraft would be out soon. Modding minecraft with java is not an option for me as it is way too verbose. I am trying to use clojure but getting it to work with the gradlew custom buildscripts used by minecraft forge is very painful. Modding minecraft with F# sounds fun....
stickhandle 12y ago
I keep reading the lego comparisons but i think that's staying a little too inside the box. Block for block, if you will. A better comparison is "Minecraft is the digital equivalent of playing in the sandbox".
rurounijones 12y ago
Ok, everyone here is bashing Microsoft and making doom and gloom predictions but let us think about what the possible benefits could be: * A bigger development team that could optimise and speed development of minecraft improvements * Maybe actually make an official, well-designed, modding API. I agree that the scope for them screwing it up is huge, but lets try to think at least a little bit positive.
easytiger 12y ago
>There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android Confirmation that the Linux version has been killed then
- jiggy2011 12y ago
  There never was a Linux "version" , it is built entirely in Java.
  - easytiger 12y ago
    just because it is java doesn't mean there isn't critical code in there to make it work on Linux. Filepath code for instance is often platform specific in java.
    - jiggy2011 12y ago
      It's pretty straight forward to write platform agnostic filepaths in java. More likely Linux is just a subset of "PC" here or this press release was hastily written.
      - easytiger 12y ago
        I think considering that was something most people were worried about before the purchase it would have been a pertinent time to clarify.
        jiggy2011 12y ago
        Linux installs are unlikely to be more than a couple of percent of their customers. Even so I doubt that they would have a reason to ditch Linux support and keep up support on other platforms unless there was a technical reason to do so.
        modsequalfags 12y ago

941 points by jordanmessina 12y ago

bru 12y ago

> Microsoft acquired Mojang for a smooth 2.5 BILLION dollars. Impressive. I hope that Microsoft won't disrupt Minecraft's development (e.g. like they did with Skype, making Linux a third-rate platform - which should not happen since Minecraft's coded in Java).

talideon 12y ago
I'm just waiting for them to announce a rewrite in C#.
- weavie 12y ago
  Given how similar the two languages are, I wonder how hard it would be to automate such a translation?
  - pistle 12y ago
    Many lines would need nothing. Overarching structure, idiomatic usage, and lack of benefits from being able to use language constructs of efficiency in C# would yield sub-optimal results. Manual conversion to idiomatic C# would be a better route and add the benefits of deeper familiarity with the application. It's one thing to wrestle with a new codebase. It's another thing to try to make sense of something transcoded by a tool. Was the original coder insane or is it just an edge case in your translation tool?
  - wcoenen 12y ago
    You don't even have to translate anything. Bytecode translation via IKVM.NET[1] to run JVM applications on the .NET runtime works surprisingly well. [1] http://www.ikvm.net/ http://www.ikvm.net/
  - ygra 12y ago
    On a language level, not that hard (though the result wouldn't be idiomatic in a lot of places). But on a library and API level ... Either you move everything that uses the stdlib to your own standard library excerpt that you maintain for both languages to be identical. Or you find compatible implementations in the other language (or translate Apache Harmony to C# as well). Or you'll deal with all the things that your program could call and emit code that does the same thing in the target language, with more code where standard library functionality differs slightly. And then there is the problem of external libraries and their APIs. Either translate them as well, or find API-compatible replacements, or find replacements and handle the API differences yourself. Actually, it comes down to the same thing either way, when considering the standard library just as a library, among the others.
  - Rapzid 12y ago
    You might be interested to know about ngit. It's a c# git library under the mono project: https://github.com/mono/ngit https://github.com/mono/ngit . The thing is they created a tool called sharpen so they could convert most of the jgit code over to c# :)
- JetSpiegel 12y ago
  And a web version in JScript.
- lmedinas 12y ago
  That would mean 2 things: 1 - They stop supporting everything except Windows and XBox 2 - They need to buy Xamarin too in order to keep supporting all platforms. #stopspeculation :)
  - nacs 12y ago
    You forgot about the almost dozen people that use the Windows Phone platform that they'll port Minecraft for and support.
ericcholis 12y ago
One would hope that their recent "open" nature to things like the .NET compiler and parts of the .NET source will rub off on the arm that will control Minecraft/Mojang. I find it hard to believe that they'd fail to recognize the impact of being on multiple platforms. But, Skype is a recent example of failing to realize the importance of platform agnostic software.
Tloewald 12y ago
Wasn't the problem with Skype (at least in part) that they bought a hollow shell and not the underlying technology?
- spacemanmatt 12y ago
  Not at all. They did get all of Skype's assets, but they modified the technology significantly to comply with NSA spying desires, as well as port the back-end from PostgreSQL to SQL Server. It was not a quick surgery, and now Skype is a regular old crappy MS product.
  - kcbanner 12y ago
    I mean, Skype works just as well as it ever did on PC.
    - Tloewald 12y ago
      I'm curious: on the Mac, Skype went through a major regression in terms of usability from 3? to 4? (I forget exactly which major version change it was; I do know that 6.xx is not significantly different from the version everyone I know avoided upgrading to until they were forced) -- did this not also happen on Windows?
romanovcode 12y ago
They will most likely rewrite it to C#. C# games run perfectly fine on Linux.
- Narishma 12y ago
  Why would they do that?
  - drivingmenuts 12y ago
    Because the original codebase is Java and that's the dirtiest of words around Microsoft.
    - Narishma 12y ago
      Only the PC version is in Java. The other versions are in C++.
      - drivingmenuts 12y ago
        My Mac seems to disagree with you on that.
        Narishma 12y ago
        The Windows, Mac and Linux are the same version.
        Havvy 12y ago
        Your "Mac" is a PC.
        drivingmenuts 12y ago
        I think I disagree with you on that. You know, on principle.

TillE 12y ago

> He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance > The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving Yeah, that's exactly what I suspected when the rumors started. Markus doesn't really want to run a company, so he's cashing out and doing his own thing. Good on him.

norswap 12y ago
What I wonder is what Carl and Jeb are going to do though. Do those three have another collective project? Or is it all sunny beaches and martinis? Or a Carl/Jeb project while Notch tinkers away?
- kissickas 12y ago
  Jakob =/= Jens http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jakob_Pors%C3%A9r http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jakob_Pors%C3%A9r http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jens_Bergensten http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Jens_Bergensten
  - norswap 12y ago
    Haha, I just realized this and came back to see if someone had corrected the mistake. Sure enough :)

Joona 12y ago

Holy crap, 2.5 BILLION? And on top of that Notch and Jakob (and Carl) are leaving? I understand Notch's decision (as he has been doing his own thing), but I did not imagine Jakob or Carl leaving.

deleted 12y ago
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- deleted 12y ago
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citricsquid 12y ago

A copy of the blog post if the site is down: https://archive.today/TbJQh https://archive.today/TbJQh Xbox announcement: http://news.xbox.com/2014/09/games-minecraft-to-join-microsoft http://news.xbox.com/2014/09/games-minecraft-to-join-microso...

Joona 12y ago
And an image mirror (credit to @duncangeere on Twitter): http://i.imgur.com/Vcyx0Yx.png http://i.imgur.com/Vcyx0Yx.png

tyho 12y ago

>What about the other editions of Minecraft? Will they stop being developed? >There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. So what is happening to the Linux edition that has been fully supported since day 1?

barbs 12y ago
Haha! First thing I noticed as well!
- Tepix 12y ago
  They also didn't mention the free Raspberry Pi version.
  - jbrooksuk 12y ago
    Or the Toaster & Potato versions.
Joona 12y ago
So Linux is not PC anymore?
- seren 12y ago
  In a Microsoft press release, you have some rights to be circumspect on how 'PC' should be interpreted.
- dale-cooper 12y ago
  Thanks to Apple, PC is now an alias for Windows
- insertnickname 12y ago
  Mac is PC too.
larrydag 12y ago

octo_t 12y ago

I think the most significant part is that the founders at Mojang are leaving: > The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool.

scrollaway 12y ago

There goes all hope of Minecraft being released as open source. There was a blog post from several years ago from Notch saying that after he made enough money with the game, he would "probably clean it up and release it as open source". Oh well. Instead now we have the DMCA-infighting and an atrocious modding community that hosts their binaries on shady file upload sites, their "project page" in a forum thread, make their measly money from adfly-like sites and have never heard of Github. So much wasted potential. Anyhow, congratulations Microsoft.

JetSpiegel 12y ago
Infiniminer still exists, I bet Zach wouldn't mind that good PR.
- lawlessone 12y ago
  This is the first time i've seen the word infiniminer in 2 years, not sure i'll see it again. I think it already got the publicity it would out of minecraft, the game is already well enough known without MS.
ericcholis 12y ago
The .NET Compiler Platform and parts of the .NET Source being open sourced will hopefully tell a different story.
- Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
  The MS of 5 years ago, you'd have said it would never happen. The MS of today, it's not impossible (though it is unlikely).
- scrollaway 12y ago
  Microsoft has gained a lot of respect from me when they did that. However I doubt they would go out of their way to open source minecraft. But hey, who knows which of my words I might eat with gravy sauce?
- 12y ago

centizen 12y ago

Well, this will be an interesting ride. At least now Notch will have enough time and money to fund that Psychonauts sequel!

aaronbasssett 12y ago

Coming soon, Minecraft 2.0! Exclusive to Xbox One.

jacquesm 12y ago
That's my guess too. Or at least, released first on Xbox.
- saalweachter 12y ago
  I'd package it for free on Microsoft platforms - the solitaire of the twenty-first century - and keep selling it on other platforms at the current rate.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

DigitalSea 12y ago

Worse kept secret ever.Good for Notch and everyone else though, a well-deserved cash out and completely understandable. Notch never striked me as a guy who wanted to run a big company like Mojang in the first place.

jacquesm 12y ago

That's 2.5 Instagrams, or 0.33 Nokias. What do you feel, realistic, too much, too little? Personally I feel this makes (much) more sense than instagram, these guys have a very loyal following, a tremendously strong product and actually make money. Congratulations to everybody on the selling side in this deal, too bad it had to be Microsoft but with amounts like that there are not too many companies on the acquiring side. Does anyone know if this was stock / cash / a mix? edit: this Microsoft - Mojang deal will do more to get people into (games) programming than a million $ adspend by codecademy would edit2: right now (16:43 my time) microjang.com is still free Wonder how long it will take before that is a registered domain. edit: microjang.com is now no longer free. Registrant: Microjang Development (DR is US) PO Box 100439 NY, NY 10163-4668 US (UNITED STATES)

weavie 12y ago
A large majority of this very loyal following are still < 16 years old. If MS play things right and can retain this following in about 5 years time it will be a very loyal following with a huge reserve of disposable cash then this could become a very profitable move indeed.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  I see it mostly as a long term plan to move as many people as they can find into the Xbox ecosystem. edit: downvoted already, new record. At least I didn't suggest that Microsoft would now have to re-write minecraft in C# rather than in the Java that they love so much there.
  - dataminer 12y ago
    Noticing this aggressive downvoting trend quite alot on HN lately. Perfectly valid inoffensive arguments are downvoted just because the downvoter disagrees with them.
    - icebraining 12y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171

rcamera 12y ago

I have been trying to understand why Microsoft would buy Minecraft. Even though Minecraft is really important, and wildly successful, but the price tag for a game studio with one successful game is rather odd, considering it is unlikely Minecraft will sell millions of copies more (it is already the most sold game ever made). This is a long shot, but it may explain it: If Microsoft is trying to build its own Steam competitor (which given Valve's current strategy to make Linux an alternative gaming platform to Windows, makes sense), then Minecraft is the perfect acquisition to start it up, for a number of reasons. It is the best selling video game of all time, with over 15 million copies sold for the PC (54 million copies across all platforms), and it has over 100 million accounts registered. It is possibly the only successful indie game that has never integrated with Steam, and that has a very young userbase (based on my experience) which, given their ages, probably isn't part of Steam's userbase. All of these aspects make it a great strategic acquisition if Microsoft wants to make a new and successful game marketplace and platform for Windows. Anyone else has any other idea why the 2.5 billion price tag?

Joona 12y ago
I think Steam competitor idea is interesting, but forcing it on your playerbase is generally quite a bad idea (see Origin or Uplay). I'd love to see more competition though.
- Monk_NT 12y ago
  Steam was originally forced on users IIRC
  - rlu 12y ago
    Yep. HL2 was the first game to require it. You would buy the game at best buy and then you'd need to go download this strange program and tie the game to your account. A lot of people were super pissed. Gabe Newell said "I know, I know, but trust me: this is going to be AWESOME in the future" - boy was he right :)
    - 12y ago

mattdotc 12y ago

Very peculiar seeing this news after Notch was so critical of the OculusVR sale to Facebook. Seeing as I bought my premium Minecraft account on 8/1/2010, I must be due some sort of equity for supporting him at such an early stage. edit: Oh, and what do you think will become of the old alpha/beta/release builds? I'm thinking about going ahead and archiving them all in case access to them is revoked. Not sure if I'm being too paranoid, but I much preferred the simpler versions without all the distractions like XP, hunger, and those weird tall black guys.

jacquesm 12y ago
> Very peculiar seeing this news after Notch was so critical of the OculusVR sale to Facebook. That's a valid point. > Seeing as I bought my premium Minecraft account on 8/1/2010, I must be due some sort of equity for supporting him at such an early stage. I don't think that's a valid point :)
- cma 12y ago
  Notch said the Facebook deal was rotten because early backers on Kickstarters who weren't promised equity didn't get equity. Minecraft was one of the first early access games and likewise didn't promise or give equity.
  - magicalist 12y ago
    No he didn't, he was very specific on why he didn't like the deal: http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world/ http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-...
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
higherpurpose 12y ago
Everyone has a price it seems.

dageshi 12y ago

They'll probably create a market. Right now mods/skins are for the most part being given away for free. I think the obvious thing to do is allow mod creators to sell at a profit if they wish.

netcraft 12y ago

I look forward to a post from MS about their plans. I still believe that with a proper modding API minecraft could quadruple its current impact.

DanBC 12y ago

Be interesting to see how MS deal with YouTubers. Shutting down Etho, Yogscast, etc is likely to lead to hordes of 13 year olds hating MS for ever. Maybe there'll be an MVP programme for YouTubers? </s> I just hope MS can sort out modding: a sane mod interface would make many people very happy.

Mithaldu 12y ago
Why would this lead to those channels shutting down? Did i miss something in the posts?
- DSMan195276 12y ago
  I presume the assumption is that with Microsoft now owning Minecraft (and presumably the copyright over it, among other things), they could leverage that to get videos of Minecraft pulled off of Youtube. Personally I doubt it extremely, but you never know.
  - Someone1234 12y ago
    Microsoft hasn't done that with any of their other properties in the gaming division. Now Nintendo has quite a few times.
- DanBC 12y ago
  MS is a big organisation. Imagine one part of MS submitting stuff to YouTube for ContentID, and including the Minecraft music. Suddenly you have a bunch of people struggling to put content online.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  MS presumably now own the intellectual property (IP) surrounding Minecraft and could choose to demand payment from people using the Minecraft TM commercially - eg to run a YouTube channel. If those channels are offering tips on circumventing MS's lockdown (yes I'm pessimistic about what MS will do) then MS will use IP initially to shut them down I imagine. The Minecraft EULA has the standard "we can change this without notice" clauses. I will be fascinated to see what changes come to it.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

Perhaps Microsoft has a similar project in the works, and instead of fighting over IP and copyright, they just bought the company. Like Intel or Cisco buying innovators to avoid patent litigation.

knd775 12y ago
I very much doubt it. The two companies have been working closely on the Xbox version. I don't think for a second that Microsoft has any intention of making a game similar to Minecraft.
- toupeira 12y ago
  Well, Project Spark certainly looks at least inspired by Minecraft.
  - knd775 12y ago
    Have you used Project Spark? I don't think it was.
    - _random_ 12y ago
      Can you elaborate: better/worth? To me it seems impressive, the way remixes remind git forks etc.

turshija 12y ago

I hope they won't ditch cross-platform and go for Windows + Xbox only. Or try to make "Minecraft 2". Damn

mattdotc 12y ago
I'm thinking this is an almost-certainty at this point. I doubt they can really do anything about existing builds of Minecraft on non-Microsoft properties, but a Minecraft 2 XB exclusive is the obvious way to get a healthy ROI on the Mojang acquisition. I obviously don't know the whole picture here, but I see the purchase of Mojang as a strategic move to strengthen the Xbox One platform. They're banking on Minecraft being a strong property for the next few years; they could easily sell a few hundred thousand units holiday season 2015 if they have a exclusivity on Minecraft 2.
TheRealDunkirk 12y ago
With Microsoft, I think Minecraft 2 is a given. You didn't expect Disney to NOT release another Star Wars trilogy after acquiring the franchise from Lucas, did you?
- Avshalom 12y ago
  To be fair Lucas had been planning on the third trilogy since Empire Strikes Back.

LERobot 12y ago

The skype effect is near

pinaceae 12y ago

Did Minecraft ever take on any VC money? I think not, so this 2.5b is very, very different than the stuff you see here. Not comparable to Instagram in net profit for the founders.

merrua 12y ago
2.5B is a lot of money anyway. But your right. I dont think you need to half it for the founders (+company people)

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

blueskin_ 12y ago

>There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future. Translation: MS hasn't killed them yet, but probably will soon.

n09n 12y ago
Just like they killed Skype and Office on iOS and Android?
- Crito 12y ago
  Probably more like they killed Skype on linux: Keep it on 'life support', much like "sloth" in Se7en.
- tensor 12y ago
  Most opinion seems to be that Skype has consistently gotten worse after the takeover.
  - n09n 12y ago
    That's subjective. An objective fact is that it still exists on non-MS platforms, it's interoperable across platforms, and there hasn't been a "Skype 2" to replace it on MS platforms only. If that same holds true for Minecraft, that allays most of the largest fears people have.

tehwebguy 12y ago

No one has mentioned merch or licensing yet here. I would offer an educated guess that Minecraft is/was the single most valuable indie game IP outside of actual game sales.

knd775 12y ago

This makes me sad. I see that there is the potential for good to come from this, I don't think it will happen. At least Jeb is staying. There might have been some pretty big problems for Minecraft if he didn't stay.

Pyrodogg 12y ago

Well, there goes a ton of support for the current Forge-related modding community. "Take care everybody. rm -rf .minecraft MS free for 20 years. Not starting now!" https://twitter.com/minecraftcpw https://twitter.com/minecraftcpw

diltonm 12y ago

I'd feel much better if they would clarify the term PC. As a long time Linux user and Minecraft fan; I'd hope the Linux client continues to thrive similar to the way the Skype client has after the Microsoft acquisition. The fact that the list uses the term PC instead of spelling out "Windows,Linux,etc." worries me some.

morganvachon 12y ago
Unless Microsoft moves the game away from Java to some other language, I don't see how that would happen. The "Linux client" is just the raw .jar that is wrapped by the Minecraft.exe Windows executable. They both pull down the same assets and Java bits and pieces before running the main process.
- Aaron1011 12y ago
  I'm worried about that too - the real issues is the platform-specific "natives" folder.
  - deniska 12y ago
    For now this folder consists of opensource libraries (lwjgl).
  - hornetblack 12y ago
    That's mostly lwjgl. So they would need to move away from that before that goes away.

programminggeek 12y ago

$2.5 billion and the founders get to walk. That is impressive. No golden handcuffs.

Pxtl 12y ago

So, MineCraft 2 will be an X-Box/Win8 tablet exclusive made by a AAA development studio, I suppose.

jccalhoun 12y ago

One thing that needs some explanation is the fact that because Minecraft predates Mojang, at one point Mojang was only licensing the Minecraft trademark from Notch (even though Notch was the majority owner of Mojang). (If you look at the bottom of minecraft.net you will see: "Mojang © 2009-2014. "Minecraft" is a trademark of Notch Development AB") I hope that MS's lawyers were smart enough to make sure they were actually buying Minecraft and not just a license...

seanflyon 12y ago
I'm sure they were smart enough to know what they were buying and I assume they bought "Minecraft" as well Mojang.

illumen 12y ago

Ludumdare is bigger than Y combinator now.

Fastidious 12y ago

Next steps: - Replace Mojang/Minecraft account with a Microsoft Account, use it to login - Minecraft installer comes with Bing - Minecraft ported to C#, Java version discontinued. Name changed to Microsoft Minecraft 1.0 - Minecraft servers can only be run in Azure, legally

romanovcode 12y ago
>Minecraft servers can only be run in Azure, legally I wouldn't mind if it would use Azure Cloud CPU farms for some bad-ass physics and other cool stuff. Not very likely though.

worklogin 12y ago

> There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future. Linux is absent, but I wonder if they lump that in with "PC".

danschuller 12y ago

I think this just demonstrates the power of the internet/social networks and an increasingly interconnected world. Notch creates a small game on his own, improving on Infiniminer, it catches the imagination of an entire generation. Without the internet and social networks this would have never happened. Without this game having a multiplayer mode added (which happened fairly early on) it wouldn't have happened. I wonder what it would be like it Doom was first released into a similar environment but maybe it's a little less universal. People in their bedrooms recording themselves playing video games speak as loudly, or more loudly than traditional media. PewDiePie has 30 million subscribers - he can make any game just with a mention. It's interesting now our networks are concentrating and distributing influence, power and wealth. Nothing I could have predicted and I'll enjoy seeing what comes next.

joemaller1 12y ago

I'm trying, but I just don't see any good coming of this. The comments from Mojang seem incredibly naive, everything is going to change. First people to make money on this will be lawyers. There's going to be a blizzard of copyright takedown notices going out to every unlicensed (most all) Minecraft merchandise and spinoffs. The offline fan ecosystem is going to get slaughtered. Mostly I'm just sad for all the kids. They love Minecraft, and this won't end well.

zanny 12y ago
Hopefully enough people wake up and realize that projects like Minetest exist to pivot to. Yeah, you have to redo a lot of work (since it was all in Java anyway) but the core game is there, and it is much healthier to do it all open source and open collaboration.
cLeEOGPw 12y ago
Same thing was said when Facebook acquired Oculus Rift. We have yet to see the horrible "downfall" and "messing around" with Oculus by Facebook. I think sometimes people are exaggerating the perceived damage acquisitions cause.
- tensor 12y ago
  They haven't even shipped a product. It's way too early to tell how hands off Facebook is going to be.

gokhan 12y ago

For people without children, here are some quick notes on the situation in kiddieland: - My son is 7. We bought iPad edition first, shelled some more for PC edition last month, and I'm sure I'll be forced to buy more in the future if MS puts a price tag on it. - I spend a fair amount of time during weekends for deciphering the modding world, trying to find something called CraftBukkit, learning to mod, finding launchers, finding maps shown on some Youtube video etc. because the son is mad about it. BUT, he's spending hours trying to learn JS (ScriptCraft on Bukkit) just to make an exploding arrow. I truly believe this is analogous to C64 days back then. - School started today, he's moved to another school this year. The first thing he asked to his news friends was about Minecraft. Then he advertised how PC version is superior to the one on iPad. - My 2 yo daughter knows what Minecraft is, tells she'll play Minecraft when she grows up. - While we were shopping for school supplies last week, saw two people asking for Minecraft licensed school bags for their kids. - We live in Turkey.

sireat 12y ago
What is interesting is how Minecraft has been pretty much the only game that people actually pay cash for in the Eastern Europe. This is pretty amazing since most games and software are pirated. Of course, people can and do pirate it, but it has a fantastic sell-through that no other game has achieved outside first world. The popularity among 5-15 year olds is very high.
- thesz 12y ago
  If Russia counts for Eastern Europe, then the whole Steam catalog is pretty much the only games that are paid for here. http://www.steamfirst.com/worldwide-steam-sales-by-region-some-impressive-stats/ http://www.steamfirst.com/worldwide-steam-sales-by-region-so... Keep in mind that Russians has much lower income than Western Europeans.
  - zyx321 12y ago
    But aren't prices in Russia less than half of those in EU/US? I remember that region locking controversy a few years back, where people bought the cheap eastern European boxed copies over the Internet and found that they wouldn't be able to redeem them from a US IP.

shmerl 12y ago

TL;DR: We don't know Microsoft's plans. But don't worry, everything will be fine. Yeah, right. It's MS we are talking about. MS don't even hide their mindset here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/sept14/09-15news.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/sept14/09-15n... > Minecraft fans are loyal, with nearly 90 percent of paid customers on the PC having signed in within the past 12 months. That's MS for you. DRM to be expected.

Thimothy 12y ago
Minecraft has DRM. You have to register with Mojang and enter your account in the game to play.

smoyer 12y ago

Is this the first product Microsoft will own that's written in Java? They support it on Azure but I'm not aware of them selling a software product that's based on Java.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago
Interesting, I know it was released on PS4 and Xbox One. I imagine it was re-written in C++ or, at least, a non-Java language. Porting from Xbox to PC seems trivial if Mojang wants to replace their Java version. My guess is that there will be a new Windows version with a sane mod system and written in C# or C++ soon as MS's first hand-out to fans. The broken mod system and the performance issues need to be addressed and getting off Java is the best way to do this.
- makomk 12y ago
  The console/mobile ports were a C++ rewrite, I think. The mobile version and previous-generation console releases definitely were.
SixSigma 12y ago
J++, but that didn't work out so well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_J%2B%2B http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_J%2B%2B.
slackgentoo 12y ago
They are selling Hadoop (based on Java) via HdInsight. http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/hdinsight/ http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/hdin...

LeicaLatte 12y ago

Mojang's new roadmap starting next sprint - Minecraft kart racer, brawler, side scroller, kinect game, store.minecraft, themed COD maps, Forza tracks, minecraft 2 pre-order beta access

MartinCron 12y ago
I know you're joking, but if anything could get kinect to take off, it might be a really great Minecraft implementation.
- LeicaLatte 12y ago
  Agreed
readerrrr 12y ago
Monthly subscription for online play. ::shiver::

drivingmenuts 12y ago

Well, it was fun while it was lasted. Being on OS X, I'm not going to pretend that Microsoft will support us for any longer than they have to.

Chronic29 12y ago
You won't be missed. Bye.

aabdocker 12y ago

> The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool.

talmand 12y ago

All I can say is that my daughters are so lucky that Games for Windows Live is dead and won't be integrated into Minecraft.

calewis 12y ago

Seems to me like the most sensible tech purchase in a while, PE ratio is a bit more normal and it has massive and sustained traction amongst young people. It remains to be seem if M$FT will fuck it up, but that's a different question.

xedarius 12y ago

I find it amazing that there wasn't a clause tying Notch and the other founders to the company, at least for a transitional period. Usually when you buy a games company it isn't the product you buy so much it's the creative talent. But to counter my own argument, few games companies have a product as strong as Mojang.

Havvy 12y ago
Notch and the founders haven't been driving Minecraft for awhile now. They hired from the community, and basically let them run things. And really, Notch doesn't have much creative talent w.r.t to content. He did build a nice framework though.

eric_cc 12y ago

Minecraft 2: now with Micro-transactions, Achievements and More!!

insertnickname 12y ago
Minecraft already has achievements.
- eric_cc 12y ago
  Gross
  - recursive 12y ago
    Don't worry, you can ignore them.

cptskippy 12y ago

I could see this being a huge play for young developers by Microsoft. They have been positioning themselves as a platform agnostic services provider, investing in or purchasing cross platform development frameworks, and opensourcing a lot of their technologies (e.g. C#, .NET, Rosetta, OWIN). Now all they need are developers to adopt their technologies. Minecraft has a huge modding community and a lot of first time coders are getting into the scene because they love Minecraft. Imagine Microsoft ports Minecraft to C# or possibly C while maintaining full support for all existing platforms. Then go about developing a great API/SDK for modders and making it incredibly easy for anyone to download Visual Studio and the Minecraft SDK. They just introduced an entire generation of developers to MS technology.

Rapzid 12y ago
Don't forget ASP.NET vNEXT project will run their testing suite against mono as well:) I made a similar comment. Confirmation bias tells me your on the ball :)

georgehaake 12y ago

Very interesting that my 8 and 10 year old sons two weeks ago declared Minecraft boring after 3-4 years of all that they could consume play.

malloreon 12y ago

That Mojang is worth 62.5% of Star Wars is a testament both to Minecraft's value and how much Lucas destroyed Star Wars in the last 20 years.

KhalilK 12y ago

First thing to do: ditch Java; port the game to C#.

_random_ 12y ago
That would be awesome! But I doubt they would do it, some people might become unhappy and also it means extra costs.
raptormissle 12y ago
Why would they down port it to a shitty language like C# that's slower than Java?

outside1234 12y ago

One of the things you need to understand about these deals, and deals like it (Nokia), is that Microsoft is using trapped overseas cash to make these acquisitions. (If they repatriated this cash to the US instead they would lose something like 40% of it to taxes) Its a good time to be a foreign (to the US) company.

betabob 12y ago

Think Microsoft-VR. Billions in VR-device/console sales secured via platform exclusivity. See Halo(Bungie)/Xbox etc. Games dictate console sales. Minecraft will actually be a lot more effective. Massively popular among every demographic. Smart move and good timing. Hats off to New-Microsoft.

tdicola 12y ago

The thing I can't wait to see is how Microsoft intends to recoup the cost in FY2015 like they say they will. From what I read Mojang only made ~$300 million off Minecraft last year, so where is the other $2.2 billion going to come from in the next 9 months? I will be surprised if there isn't a big write-down on this purchase come July.

neves 12y ago

Hope they don't decide to bundle it with Windows. My kids will have zero productivity for their whole life.

psykovsky 12y ago
Install some *nix flavour on their computers and problem(s) solved....

spacecadet 12y ago

Notch went from having trouble with Paypal over a poultry $750k to being a Billionaire. That's awesome.

redstripe 12y ago
How did he run afowl of paypal?
- spacecadet 12y ago
  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103385-PayPal-Freezes-750K-in-MineCraft-Devs-Account http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103385-PayPal-Free... Back in 2010 when Minecraft was very young.
- spacecadet 12y ago
  "Because it's a struggle for me to scrape together 750 bucks" - NOT anymore! So awesome.
- merrua 12y ago
  paypal tend to be weird
  - spacecadet 12y ago
    I've used PayPal for many years with no problems. While I don't defend what they did to Notch- Any bank would have.

wiremine 12y ago

I like this quote from Gruber: "It’s almost impossible to overstate just how big a deal Minecraft is for my son and his friends." [1] My son is 8, and he and his friends are CONSUMED by the game. I wonder how Microsoft is going to leverage this fact for reaching new users... [1] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/25/minecraft http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/25/minecraft

keypusher 12y ago

Not clear to me exactly what Microsoft is buying here. As far as I know the development studio Mojang is tiny, maybe a few dozen people. Minecraft itself has a huge community, and made a lot of money, but it's not clear how Microsoft leverages that into anything other than goodwill.

p1mrx 12y ago

With $2.5 billion, you could buy 3 blocks of gold: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cubic+meter+of+gold http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cubic+meter+of+gold == $765 million.

maljx 12y ago

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

alyandon 12y ago

I can't see this being a good thing for anyone that cares about Minecraft at all. I wonder how long it'll be before: 1) The older Minecraft binaries suddenly become unavailable for download which will effectively kill many launchers, mods and modpacks 1a) Microsoft aggressively uses DMCA notices to kill off the modding community when the modding community tries to work around #1 by hosting the binaries themselves 2) Microsoft adds unnecessary integration with the win32 API via JNI to Minecraft in order to make it Windows-only despite the fact Minecraft is written in Java 2a) More aggressive DMCA usage to kill off the community attempting to work-around #2 Those are just off the top of my head but I'm sure I can come up with more not too far-fetched scenarios.

Already__Taken 12y ago
MS have open projects and code up on github now. I know it's inconsequential but the old rules don't quite apply.

mindstab 12y ago

Ran some math with friends. Minecraft is from 2009, so it's 5 years old. https://minecraft.net/stats https://minecraft.net/stats says it's sold ~16M pc and mac copies and the front page says at $27. That's about $432M in its entire life [assuming everyone paid full price, which they didn't, there have been loads of deals over the years]. Now that doesn't take into account mobile and console. For android the $7 pocket version is reporting 5M which is $35M. I don't have numbers for iOS and console but I can't really imagine they come close to PC and Mac. And as my friend reminded "Well I'm one if those 5m and I paid $0.10 [for the android version]" I have a hard time understanding where they get the $2.5B valuation considering its revenues. Another friend thought advertising: " heck, even brand recognition - if they put "Microsoft Minecraft" on the title, I'm sure that's comparable to a few superbowl ads &tc" So we ran that math. "the average cost of a 30-second advertisement was around $4 million" - wikipedia [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_advertising https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_advertising ] "Super Bowl XLV, played in 2011, became the most-watched American television program in history with an average audience of 111 million viewers " - wikipedia. 16.7M people have bought minecraft [mincraft.com/stats pc and mac] + 5M for android. That's still a fraction of a super bowl ad (like 16%) or ~$670,000 value in super bowl advertising terms. Except I suspect anyone actually in advertising would say the value of a finely crafted 30 second video advert massively beats your company name under a game title. Regardless of quibbles, the advertising potential seems off by many orders of magnitude. also as was mentioned: "Is brand recognition something ms has a problem with?" So where is the $2.5B coming from? Especially when the gamesutra article [ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225611/Minecraft_studio_Mojang_has_been_bought_by_Microsoft_for_25B.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225611/Minecraft_studio_M... ] has them saying they think they can recoup the full value in 1 year!

pohl 12y ago
I don't have a complete answer, but the other day I popped into a local Target and was surprised to see Minecraft-themed clothing (shirts, hats) and toys (foam pixel-swords). Maybe the merchandising deals are a big piece?
JacobAldridge 12y ago
Mojang reported profits last financial year of $128 million (approx, allowing for conversion rates to USD). Microsoft is trading today on a P/E multiple of 17.6. That means, in super simplistic terms, that $128 million in extra profit increases Microsoft's market capitalisation by ($128 x 17.6 =) $2.2528 Billion. Given those profit figures are 6 months old, and the negotiating team would have access to current data, $2.5B is about on the money. Recoup full value != recoup the $2.5B in profit.

worklogin 12y ago

He's a bit disingenuous. Don't care about the money at all? Open-source it and let it thrive. Care about the money a bit, but really want the game to survive? Want the community to have faith in its future? Sell it to Valve for $25m or something on the condition that an API gets built. If it's worth a fraction of its sell price, Valve would have jumped on it. But instead, it got sold to a company devoted to closed source software and killing its game purchases. And Notch got a fat check for it. Listen, I can't judge him, and I won't. The game is great, and he built it. But every action in this says it's about money, while none of it shows a care for the game. We'll see how it pans out, but history tells us to be suspicious.

Florin_Andrei 12y ago

> Everything is going to be OK. Yeah, with $2.5 bil in the bank, I'm sure it will.

tomrod 12y ago

More power to you, Mojang employees, and may you see many happy returns.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Immortalin 12y ago

I hope that a clr port of minecraft would be out soon. Modding minecraft with java is not an option for me as it is way too verbose. I am trying to use clojure but getting it to work with the gradlew custom buildscripts used by minecraft forge is very painful. Modding minecraft with F# sounds fun....

stickhandle 12y ago

I keep reading the lego comparisons but i think that's staying a little too inside the box. Block for block, if you will. A better comparison is "Minecraft is the digital equivalent of playing in the sandbox".

rurounijones 12y ago

Ok, everyone here is bashing Microsoft and making doom and gloom predictions but let us think about what the possible benefits could be: * A bigger development team that could optimise and speed development of minecraft improvements * Maybe actually make an official, well-designed, modding API. I agree that the scope for them screwing it up is huge, but lets try to think at least a little bit positive.

easytiger 12y ago

>There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android Confirmation that the Linux version has been killed then

jiggy2011 12y ago
There never was a Linux "version" , it is built entirely in Java.
- easytiger 12y ago
  just because it is java doesn't mean there isn't critical code in there to make it work on Linux. Filepath code for instance is often platform specific in java.
  - jiggy2011 12y ago
    It's pretty straight forward to write platform agnostic filepaths in java. More likely Linux is just a subset of "PC" here or this press release was hastily written.
    - easytiger 12y ago
      I think considering that was something most people were worried about before the purchase it would have been a pertinent time to clarify.
      - jiggy2011 12y ago
        Linux installs are unlikely to be more than a couple of percent of their customers. Even so I doubt that they would have a reason to ditch Linux support and keep up support on other platforms unless there was a technical reason to do so.
        modsequalfags 12y ago