Notch sells Minecraft to M$ for $2.5 billion

[Machocruz]

So are all copies of Minecraft tied to servers? A lot of people seem worried that EA acquisition would affect the game they already paid for. Do even the console users not have access to the game files on their discs/HDD?

 

[profreshinal]

 

[Curious_Tongue]

He should spend that money to help revive bunch old strategy franchises like he did with Age of Wonders, maybe Lords of Realm and Master of Orion or maybe give money to Obsidian to finally make a proper RPG.

I would totally become an angel investor if I sold my company for $2 billion. Think of all the promising-yet-failed Kickstarters that you could breathe new life into with only a fraction of that money, with ultimate chances of profit as well.

I would absolutely NOT do what Notch is bound to do, which blow it all on houses, cars and mail order brides.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So are all copies of Minecraft tied to servers? A lot of people seem worried that EA acquisition would affect the game they already paid for. Do even the console users not have access to the game files on their discs/HDD?

Nope, you can play offline or on private servers. Not sure how feasible it is on the console versions, but on the PC it's pretty easy to modify the files.

 

[taxalot]

From open source java independant developer to closed platform AAA bullshit ? Nice, I like where this is going.

Also, lol @ Notch complaining that Oculus Rift sold to Facebook.

 

[A user named cat]

LIKE DIS POST IF YOU'VE NEVER EVEN PLAYED MINECRAFT NOR WANT TO

 

[Azrael the cat]

Surely even if this turns out to be false, something like this would have had to be in his endgame plan for a long time now. It grew way too big, way too quickly, for him to even come close to servicing and monetising it for a decent fraction of its true market value. He should have done this ages ago, as soon as the game's boom became incorporated into the IP's value. Ususally those deals involve paying the original owner a great salary to keep doing their old job for another few years (to ensure the non-compete clause doesn't get challenged, and to keep the fans/staff onside) - so it's like doubling up, the old owner gets more $$$ than he could have extracted himself, can immediately invest it and probably get a greater return over the next few years than he would have (or just take a large chunk of the purchase price in shares of the new owner, and profit from the new owner's greater capacity for expanding/marketing/collecting on the product), and then he gets an executive salary on top of that with a golden handshake when he leaves.

Brian Fargo must get grumpy as hell when he runs into guys like Garriott or the Bio-Docs: 'hey Fargo, isn't it neat how we all became insanely fucking rich as a direct consequence of selling our company to those souless behemoths - we didn't even have to finish our executive contract before getting our golden handshake because the morons closed the place 2 years later after realising we sold them a dud! Say, how many millions did you get - fuck, given what we were paid, you must have got a fucking ginormous payout, what with that Fallout IP and all.'

Fargo:

 

[Metro]

Microsoft is beyond retarded if they pay that much for Minecraft. That's all they're getting. Mojang has no value beyond that.

 

[Astral Rag]

LIKE DIS POST IF YOU'VE NEVER EVEN PLAYED MINECRAFT NOR WANT TO

Reported for brofist harvesting!

Also

 

[pakoito]

I can't see how microsoft could possibly make 2 billion by milking minecraft. You can't turn MC into an annual franchise or a free2play money machine without destroying what makes it so popular. I'm sure they could milk the fans for quite a bit of money that way, but not fucking 2 billions worth.

Now the figure can be raised to $2.5 billion, funny as the ceo was talking about how they turned down many buy outs to maintain their independence *edit CNBC talking it up Bloomberg following suit. Honestly I don't see the reason why they would buy that IP, but then again it never made any sense that Facebook bought Oculus for over $2billion when they could have bought the more casual friendly AR team for 1/8 that price. A more sane person would just make their own voxel game like the many that are out there, but then again knowing Microsoft's track record when it comes to games we cna see the comparison to EA games.

Facebook is trying to diversify outside the social network and has doubled their shit in a year.

 

[Dr Tomo]

So, Microsoft kills all it's lisenses (Microsoft is sitting in gold and don't give a shit to the things they already own and let them to rot or want them to be F2P cannon fodder.), some indie guy comes up makes a sandbox game on his spare time and Microsoft wants to pay 2,5 billions for it? This news must be false or it's the most retarded thing I saw a company doing. Doesn't Microsoft have a single soul that can make a multiplayer sandbox game with shitty graphics? If that is true, I don't know if I laugh or just be sad a company can get so creatively bankrupt like this.

No this is pretty typical as Amazon just too ka dive into the cell phone market when over the past year the data was showing the cell phone market being saturated and the sales of cell phones going down and even more players in the market. Rupert Murdoch years ago over payed for MySpace and he later sold it for a major loss (think he payed in the billions and sold for a hundred mill or something). Not sure how Microsoft is going to monetize the IP and if someone can enlighten please do as I was under the impression they were trying to avoid another Ballmer which is what we are seeing could happen.

Also, lol @ Notch complaining that Oculus Rift sold to Facebook.

He is basically a Phil Fish as he is a one hit wonder and not really original and he is of course going to sell out.

I can't see how microsoft could possibly make 2 billion by milking minecraft. You can't turn MC into an annual franchise or a free2play money machine without destroying what makes it so popular. I'm sure they could milk the fans for quite a bit of money that way, but not fucking 2 billions worth.

Now the figure can be raised to $2.5 billion, funny as the ceo was talking about how they turned down many buy outs to maintain their independence *edit CNBC talking it up Bloomberg following suit. Honestly I don't see the reason why they would buy that IP, but then again it never made any sense that Facebook bought Oculus for over $2billion when they could have bought the more casual friendly AR team for 1/8 that price. A more sane person would just make their own voxel game like the many that are out there, but then again knowing Microsoft's track record when it comes to games we cna see the comparison to EA games.

Facebook is trying to diversify outside the social network and has doubled their shit in a year.

Still doesn't change my opinion of wtf Zuckerberg is thinking with dropping $2 bill for the IP, which I agree with most of the analysts that he did it as a knee jerk reaction to Google's interest in the company. Many people already question the image problem that Google glasses is getting from the main stream and it would be no doubt that OC Rift would suffer the same problem if not worse. I just can't see the rift as nothing more then a niche product unlike the AR tech which kind looks like Google glasses and you can draft off Google marketing push to make their glasses more appealing. Plus the group that is working on the tech you can pay < $100 mill.

 

[Spectacle]

The Facebook/Oculus thing is pretty obvious: they both want to build the Metaverse. Oculus has the technology, and Facebook has the users and the resources.

 

[pakoito]

The Facebook/Oculus thing is pretty obvious: they both want to build the Metaverse. Oculus has the technology, and Facebook has the users and the resources.

On a non-released product with less than 2 years of development. Blowing scope way out of proportions.

 

[Sam Ecorners]

My 6 year old son fucking loves minecraft. In fact he loves watching bunch of fags playing that shit on youtube than playing it. I need to make him get back to playing humongous games.

 

[Metro]

BRB calling child services. Maybe you'll be a better father after two years in the joint.

 

[Renegen]

Riot Games was sold for $400 million and it's the biggest game in the world, Microsoft has to be pretty crazy with the Minecraft dreams to think they can milk the IP for at least $2 billion in profits. This is beyond video games, Notch would do the right thing to just leave the circus that's about to follow and just count his money, and maybe buy himself a princess too.

 

[pakoito]

Riot Games was sold for $400 million and it's the biggest game in the world

I would like some salsa for that, please.

 

[Renegen]

For one it has by far the biggest subreddit subcriptions, even more than Minecraft. And I won't get into anything else, I'm sure we don't want the thread to turn into this debate.

 

[Psquit]

Lol cant wait for phil fish autistic tantrum.

 

[tuluse]

Riot Games was sold for $400 million and it's the biggest game in the world

I would like some salsa for that, please.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...lly-becomes-most-played-pc-game-in-the-world/

 

[Dr Tomo]

Riot Games was sold for $400 million and it's the biggest game in the world

I would like some salsa for that, please.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...lly-becomes-most-played-pc-game-in-the-world/

*source (some randome site) *source (Reuters) *source (Bloomberg)
Tencent, the giant Chinese Web holding company, has bought Los Angeles-based Riot Games for about $400 million.
It’s yet another big-dollar buyout for the game industry, which has been in an M&A frenzy for about a year, and one of the biggest investments by a Chinese company in an American digital property.

The transaction was first reported by Bloomberg, and Riot confirmed the deal to VentureBeat, though neither outlet has the financial details. Here’s how they break down, according to people familiar with the transaction:

• Tencent, which had already invested in the game maker, will pay “just south” of $400 million to buy out other investors, primarily Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital, which along with angels had put approximately $18 million into the company.
• The company’s management team will receive some portion of that buyout themselves, but will also retain an equity stake; some will receive “stay packages.”
• The total investment values the company at $472 million.

The chief appeal of Tencent is Riot’s League of Legends game, which is free to play but encourages players to pay for extra goodies via micro-transactions. (Thanks to readers who educated me about what you can and can’t buy with real-world money in the game.)

In that sense it’s like Zynga’s FarmVille and other popular social games. But it’s a much more sophisticated game, with arcade-style action: Think of World of Warcraft, on steroids and amphetamines.

The deal follows a string of Web-based game deals in the last year. Among the more notable ones: Walt Disney purchased Playdom, Electronic Arts purchased Playfish and DeNA purchased Ngmoco.

Mine is in reference to them be acquired by Tencent which also did the same for Epic games for undisclosed sum. Also Tencent acquired Riot for dirt cheap considering that S. Korea it basically is the dominant e-sport in mobas (possibly in general) and Taiwan and China hasn't been heavily tapped as it was in the west. This also doesn't include markets in other parts of Asia and Africa as well.

They possibly could get their money back if they wanted to sell consoles with Minecraft in China? Still no clue the point of purchasing this IP in particular unless they planned on expanding it outside the western market.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I haven't seen mention of a Minecraft 2.0 anywhere. Why do people assume MS gives a shit about version 1.0?

And does anyone know if they reported how many people brought Minecraft on consoles? Because I'm getting the impression it was a big success on those platforms.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I don't think Microsoft cares about the studio, they just want the IP. And I think 2 billion is reasonable for an IP like Minecraft. I don't think people realize how big Minecraft is among young kids. Kind of like how "The Sims" replaced Barbies for tween girls, Minecraft is replacing Lego for younger kids. A large corporation could milk the shit out of a franchise like Minecraft for years. They could even make themed Minecraft DLC packs, kind of like how there are LEGO versions of basically every major franchise out there. Think, for example, of Minecraft Star Wars. Or Minecraft LOTR. I personally wouldn't play it, but I think a lot of people would.

I suspect that Microsoft sees it as a potential, perennial, gaming franchise like the Sims.

 

[pakoito]

Riot Games was sold for $400 million and it's the biggest game in the world

I would like some salsa for that, please.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...lly-becomes-most-played-pc-game-in-the-world/

According to a new list provided by DFC Intelligence in conjunction with Xfire

Anyway, onwards with the discussion on whether 2014 MC is worth 5 times 2011 LoL, because that's comparable apparently.

 

[dryan]

Imagine how much cake that fat fuck will be able to buy with all this dosh.

 

[Konjad]

The forest of cake.