Microsoft Reveals $2.5 Billion Acquisition of Mojang

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bourgeoisdude

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I'm usually the one who sticks up for Microsoft, but I'm not sure how anyone this planet outside of those receiving a piece of the $2.5 billion pie believes this is a good idea, for Microsoft or consumers (ultimately even for Mojang). Even if there is some super-secret project underway that will be MS exclusive, some Project Spark integration, or other such things--no I still can't figure out what is going on.
 

someguynamedmatt

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...as much as a lot of people don't want their favorite game to be bought out by another company, we're talking about a LOT of money here. I'd rather have it be Microsoft than a lot of other people, and you can't tell me you'd turn down two and a half billion dollars if it was offered to you for a game which you'd put probably six years or so into - that's almost a $420M annual income.
 

Afrospinach

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I am ambivalent. On the one hand I kind of think Mojang's relevance is done and dusted for the most part, on the other I can't really see how MS is going to do anything productive with MC.

If I were them I would just take the money.
 

FrodoSwaggins

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2.5 billion for a one hit wonder? Notch was really lucky with Minecraft, and the game itself was a copy of an already existing game. Not to mention that it was poorly optimized, and he just gave up and never bothered trying to fix it after making monumental amounts of cash.
 

ezorb

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How about a windows native client with hardware rendering and crazy long view distances so i can uninstall the java cancer from my computer
 

Urzu1000

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@FrodoSwaggins , the optimization has greatly improved as of the last update.

Also, I feel that Mojang made a good game. I feel that a lot of these comments are people acting like Mojang owes them something. Yeah, they're an indie company. We all love indie games. And yes, they did make an awesome game. And yes, we do for the most part, hate giant mega-corporations like Microsoft.

But come on. They don't owe you anything. They gave you a great game for a fair price. If they want to live the rest of their lives without financial worry, who are any of us to say they can't?

And you know what? Be optimistic. Thankfully it isn't EA offering to buy them.
 

wmalinowski

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After see what happen to Rare after microsoft bought, I'm not optimistic at all about this deal. It is PC owners that will screwed in the deal.....
 

ethanolson

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What WP has going for it:
-Lumia phone design is very nice and sturdy
-Lumia cameras are excellent... especially my 1020
-Battery life is amazingly good
-HERE Maps offline maps are very useful
-Driving Mode is slick and automatic
-Cortana... might be better than Siri or Google Now, but I haven't found that to be the case yet.
-Custom ringtones are super easy

What Android has going for it:
-Microsoft's OneNote is better on Android than on WP
-Microsoft's Remote Desktop app exists on Android (not on WP) and works really well
-Pretty much everything else is better on Android... including the fact that Microsoft has more apps for Android.

What iOS has going for it:
-Security is much better than on Android
-The user interface is happier than WP or even many Android implementations
-The most touch-usable version of MS Office ever is available on the iPad
-The most apps of any platform that people actually like and want

Conclusion is that Microsoft should probably work on implementing what's good on WP into Android and iOS and even sell some slick and durable Lumia phones running Android all Microsofted up but not all tiled up. Android needs live icons not live tiles.
 

dstarr3

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If I had a hobby of making little indie games, and one day someone offered me $2.5 billion for one, I would be a colossal idiot to turn it down.

$1m can support a small family comfortably for about six years. Which is to say that $2.5b can comfortably support a family for 15,000 years.

WHY WOULD YOU TURN THAT DOWN.
 

InvalidError

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Don't forget the tax-man's share.

If I received 2.5G$, I would try my best to bury most of it in tax-deductible investments and expenses to avoid paying a ridiculous amount of taxes in the first year.
 

bluestar2k11

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"$1m can support a small family comfortably for about six years."

Only 6 years? Seriously??
I figure 1m$ would support a family of 4 for about 15 years if you figure buying a house, a car or two, and furnishing said house, and upgrading to modern technology, before figuring a yearly income, which is around 42k/yr, not counting any additional income from a job.

But why would i turn down 2.5B$?
Because i have absolutely zero faith that the purchasing company would do anything but destroy the brand i created, I'd rather take my income from selling said brand and keep ahold of the title I saw grow to a hit in the industry, and put extra into making a sequel that would do even better and be more of what the fans seek, and make all of that all over again.
 
I wonder how much they could do if they invested half a billion in developing something good.
Unfortunatelly big companies are unable to make good changes by their own... all we get is Windows 8.
Another company that will bite the dust eventually.
 

rokit

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Mojang wins but Mikes loses badly. Even though i don't like MS this actually makes me feel sorry for them. On the other hand i'd like to have so much money that i could waste 2.5 billions like its nothing.
 

Urzu1000

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Articles I've read indicate that Microsoft intends to break even on the deal by June 2015. They don't clearly state how, but I'm thinking Minecraft 2.

 
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