Post by CaptainSlayer on Sept 15, 2014 11:44:17 GMT -5
After last week's report of an imminent acquisition of Minecraft developer Mojang, the news is now official. Microsoft has confirmed the news in a post on the company's internal Xbox blog.
In a press release, the company confirmed a purchase price of $2.5 billion, with an expected break-even in the current fiscal year. Microsoft has immediately put to rest any concerns about the continued availability of the game on other platforms. If you enjoy Minecraft on PlayStation consoles, PC, iOS, and Android, you'll be able to continue doing so.
Minecraft has been an enormous hit for the once tiny Mojang, and the title now has over 100 million downloads on PC. Microsoft reports that over 200 billion hours have been played on the Xbox 360.
As for the reasoning behind the acquisition, Minecraft experiences enormous loyalty. According to the press release, over 90 percent of paid PC users have signed in at some point over the past year.
As many expected, company founders, including Markus "Notch" Persson are leaving the company. On Mojang's website, the departures are confirmed. "The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving," the company says. "We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool."
“The ‘Minecraft’ players have taken the game and turned it into something that surpassed all of our expectations. The acquisition by Microsoft brings a new chapter to the incredible story of ‘Minecraft,’” said Carl Manneh, CEO of Mojang in Microsoft's press release. “As the founders move on to start new projects, we believe the high level of creativity from the community will continue the game’s success far into the future.”
In a press release, the company confirmed a purchase price of $2.5 billion, with an expected break-even in the current fiscal year. Microsoft has immediately put to rest any concerns about the continued availability of the game on other platforms. If you enjoy Minecraft on PlayStation consoles, PC, iOS, and Android, you'll be able to continue doing so.
Minecraft has been an enormous hit for the once tiny Mojang, and the title now has over 100 million downloads on PC. Microsoft reports that over 200 billion hours have been played on the Xbox 360.
As for the reasoning behind the acquisition, Minecraft experiences enormous loyalty. According to the press release, over 90 percent of paid PC users have signed in at some point over the past year.
As many expected, company founders, including Markus "Notch" Persson are leaving the company. On Mojang's website, the departures are confirmed. "The founders: Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving," the company says. "We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool."
“The ‘Minecraft’ players have taken the game and turned it into something that surpassed all of our expectations. The acquisition by Microsoft brings a new chapter to the incredible story of ‘Minecraft,’” said Carl Manneh, CEO of Mojang in Microsoft's press release. “As the founders move on to start new projects, we believe the high level of creativity from the community will continue the game’s success far into the future.”
[SOURCE: www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/09/15/microsoft-announces-acquisition-of-minecraft-developer-mojang-for-2-5-billion-notch-leaving.aspx]
Now that Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang is confirmed, the way forward for the studio and its founders is starting to come into focus. Since the announcement just a bit ago, we’ve known that Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft, is leaving the studio.
In a statement on his personal blog, Notch explains the reasons for his departure. Among them, he cites a recent incident about an end user license agreement with which he had no part.
"I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand," he writes. "I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter."
Notch says he’ll be leaving once the deal is finalized and return to smaller experiments and Ludum Dares. And if he stumbles upon another hit? We might never see it.
“If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately,” he writes. “Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.”
Notch stepped away from leading the Minecraft project in December 2011, but he is still seen by many as the face behind the blocky phenom. Along with Notch, Mojang co-founder Carl Manneh will also be leaving.
Notch closes with a promise to fans. "It's not about the money," he writes. "It's about my sanity."
In a statement on his personal blog, Notch explains the reasons for his departure. Among them, he cites a recent incident about an end user license agreement with which he had no part.
"I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand," he writes. "I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter."
Notch says he’ll be leaving once the deal is finalized and return to smaller experiments and Ludum Dares. And if he stumbles upon another hit? We might never see it.
“If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately,” he writes. “Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.”
Notch stepped away from leading the Minecraft project in December 2011, but he is still seen by many as the face behind the blocky phenom. Along with Notch, Mojang co-founder Carl Manneh will also be leaving.
Notch closes with a promise to fans. "It's not about the money," he writes. "It's about my sanity."
[SOURCE: www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/09/15/notch-on-mojang-departure-it-s-about-my-sanity.aspx]
