Confirmed: Microsoft to buy Mojang for 2.5 billion.

[Legend]

im editing this out for ya all. im the super awesome bananaking.
New OP:

Yes, we're being bought by Microsoft

Yes, the deal is real. Mojang is being bought by Microsoft.

It was reassuring to see how many of your opinions mirrored those of the Mojangstas when we heard the news. Change is scary, and this is a big change for all of us. It's going to be good though. Everything is going to be OK. <3

Please remember that the future of Minecraft and you – the community – are extremely important to everyone involved. If you take one thing away from this post, let it be that.

We can only share so much information right now, but we've decided that being as honest as possible is the best approach. We're still working a lot of this stuff out. Mega-deals are serious business.

Why did you sell Minecraft?
Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we're massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch's intention for it to get this big.

As you might already know, Notch is the creator of Minecraft and the majority shareholder at Mojang. He's decided that he doesn't want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance. Over the past few years he's made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang. He'll continue to do cool stuff though. Don't worry about that.

There are only a handful of potential buyers with the resources to grow Minecraft on a scale that it deserves. We've worked closely with Microsoft since 2012, and have been impressed by their continued dedication to our game and its development. We're confident that Minecraft will continue to grow in an awesome way.

Minecraft means many different things to millions of people across the world, and to each and every Mojangsta. We feel that this is the best way for everyone – you guys included – to benefit.

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. Of course, Microsoft can't make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.

We're extremely proud of all editions and the awesome things you have achieved through playing together.

Is the game going to change? Will we still be able to make videos, mods, awesome builds, and all the cool stuff we've created over the past few years?
Minecraft will continue to evolve, just like it has since the start of development. We don't know specific plans for Minecraft's future yet, but we do know that everyone involved wants the community to grow and become even more amazing than it's ever been. Stopping players making cool stuff is not in anyone's interests.

What about the Mojang staff? What's happening to you guys?
Though it's too early to confirm which of us will continue working on Minecraft or other projects, we predict that the vast majority (if not all) Mojangstas will continue to work at Mojang for the time being.

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.

What's happening to the other Mojang projects, like Scrolls?
We don't know yet. We'll share any news as soon as we do.

Will you still be able to tweet about features and interact with the community on a personal level, just like you've done over the years?
Yes! That's not going to change.

How much money was the company bought for?
Microsoft acquired Mojang for a smooth 2.5 BILLION dollars.

Thanks for reading everybody.


source: https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/


OLD OP:

Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

Microsoft Corp. is in serious discussions to buy Mojang AB, the Swedish company behind the popular "Minecraft" videogame, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The deal would be valued at more than $2 billion and could be signed as early as this week, this person said.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/micro...aft-1410300213

[Xevross]

Oh snap. Xbox is saved

[the-pi-guy]

MineCraft is ruined!!!

[Legend]

I don't know how I feel about this.

One thing for sure though, it sounds realistic.

[Max King of the Wild]

Makes no sense to drop that kind of money on a possible one hit wonder.

[DD_Bwest]

yea this deal could end up seriously biting them in the dog if mojang doesnt have something up its sleeve for something else..    the next gen minecrafts are bad ports,  with basically no new added content, mods, and a whole bunch of other stuff...    are we going to see a minecraft 2?

[Legend]

Yeah I could see Microsoft making a Minecraft 2 instead of continuing development on the current version.


It's really the only way the deal would be worth 2 billion.

[Xevross]

Yeah I could see Microsoft making a Minecraft 2 instead of continuing development on the current version.


It's really the only way the deal would be worth 2 billion.

This is what I thought. But how would a Minecraft 2 work?

[Legend]

This is what I thought. But how would a Minecraft 2 work?

It'd just be like a mod, except its own game.

Like Minecraft 2. Now with all these new features!

[DD_Bwest]

2 billion for minecraft 2..     think about how many new IPs they could have funded...   

just goes to show MS still doesnt get it..  they want to throw money at the problem..

[Legend]

Basically they'd just want a way to force everyone to buy the game all over again.

Instead of doing that with Minecraft 2, they could do that by making the windows 8 version need to be repurchased. Anything's possible.

[Max King of the Wild]

yea this deal could end up seriously biting them in the dog if mojang doesnt have something up its sleeve for something else..    the next gen minecrafts are bad ports,  with basically no new added content, mods, and a whole bunch of other stuff...    are we going to see a minecraft 2?

even if we did then it would need to be just as popular as the first one on less platforms to make that kind of dough back. Those kinds of "losses" (I can't really consider this an investment) are just asinine. It would take more than a generation to recoup if ever

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

Microsoft is a parasite the needs to go.  They'll ruin this company just like all the others they've bought before it.

[the-pi-guy]

2 billion for minecraft 2..     think about how many new IPs they could have funded...   

just goes to show MS still doesnt get it..  they want to throw money at the problem..

Uncharted 2 was supposed to cost $20 million.
They could fund 100 Uncharted 2's instead of this. 

[ethomaz]

That is the reason.

Got an email from microsoft, wanting to help "certify" minecraft for win 8. I told them to stop trying to ruin the pc as an open platform.

— Markus Persson (@notch) September 27, 2012

MS doesn't accept a NO.