Confirmed: Microsoft to buy Mojang for 2.5 billion.

[Max King of the Wild]

Minecraft is not worth 2 billion dollars though. This could be incredibly wrong, but I read somewhere that Minecraft has only made about a billion dollars in profit lifetime with only 130 million being from last year. The amount of money to make is declining.

Minecraft 2, joking out the brand, and using it to push platform sales could possibly turn things around and directly/indirectly generate Microsoft billions in profits over the next decade, or they could very easily kill the brand and not make and not even make back what they put in. There is a huge amount of risk, and IMO the potential reward is not great enough. I mean the probability of the Minecraft venture being truly successful and becoming the next lego is incredibly low. Even if it did become the next lego, it'd only be generating about a billion a year. For a potential fad like Minecraft, that'd still make it hard to make a good return on their initial investment.

I'm not sure how it could be a billion in profit. 55m sold with lots going for 7 dollars for phone and more going at 20 dollars for ps360 than 27 dollars for pc. Probably that billion figure is revenue if anything

[the-pi-guy]

Mojang : 200 million in assets, 209 million in revenue, 114 million in profit. 
I converted 2013 SEK in to 2014 US. 
Or something. 

[Shinobi-san]

Minecraft is not worth 2 billion dollars though. This could be incredibly wrong, but I read somewhere that Minecraft has only made about a billion dollars in profit lifetime with only 130 million being from last year. The amount of money to make is declining.

Minecraft 2, joking out the brand, and using it to push platform sales could possibly turn things around and directly/indirectly generate Microsoft billions in profits over the next decade, or they could very easily kill the brand and not make and not even make back what they put in. There is a huge amount of risk, and IMO the potential reward is not great enough. I mean the probability of the Minecraft venture being truly successful and becoming the next lego is incredibly low. Even if it did become the next lego, it'd only be generating about a billion a year. For a potential fad like Minecraft, that'd still make it hard to make a good return on their initial investment.

I'm not saying its not risky at all, I just think it's less risky than spending it on new dev teams and new IP.

Also, i dont think MS is expecting direct returns from Minecraft, although the possibility is definitely there. I see this move as a general strengthening of the MS gaming platform. In that regard its a big win, despite the price.

[Max King of the Wild]

I'm not saying its not risky at all, I just think it's less risky than spending it on new dev teams and new IP.

Also, i dont think MS is expecting direct returns from Minecraft, although the possibility is definitely there. I see this move as a general strengthening of the MS gaming platform. In that regard its a big win, despite the price.

they've already stated it stays multiplatform. Which makes sense. But if that's the case then it foes nothing to strengthen their platform compared to the others out there.

[Legend]

If this is true and is happening, do you think the announcement will come with NPD tomorrow?

It'd be great at getting some good attention on Microsoft and away from Sony.

[BananaKing]

MS is not a gaming company, it is not a core focus of there's, so it really doesn't make sense for them to invest in new internal studio's and take risks on new IP in a manner similar to what Sony is doing. Sony has stated that gaming is a core sector of their business and are putting major focus on it...so its makes sense for them to invest more and build a solid IP library with a host of dev teams.

In this regard, i think buying Minecraft and the studio that creates it, is probably less risky than putting together internal dev studios and asking them to create new IP.

I think Minecraft 2 will be successful regardless of the quality of the game. It will sell on the name alone. Minecraft 3 however will not be so lucky should Minecraft 2 be a pile of shame.

@bolded: i see dont get that. if MS is not a gaming company and dont want to act like one, then dont get into the gaming industry, at least, if you want to sell more than the competition it is. if MS isnt going to do what is necessary for it to be regarded as a highly competitive gaming company, then you are going to lose. and they are. building a stable of strong first party devs is good business for the long term, yes, its risky, but if the entire industry is risky. if they dont want to act like a gaming company, then why the hell are they in gaming?

@italic: you do realize, that from what we heard from these reports, that notch is leaving, right? notch created the game by him self, he was the heart and sole of the game, the team that was founded was founded to help him manage the game, they had nothing to do with its creation and nothing to do with the vision and concept. the team wasnt assembled to create minecraft, it was assembled to manage it. the sole person who was responsible for the success, is leaving.

@underlined: it will, but will the game have continued success like CoD, or will it be another Wii sports/Wii fitness?

[Shinobi-san]

@bolded: i see dont get that. if MS is not a gaming company and dont want to act like one, then dont get into the gaming industry, at least, if you want to sell more than the competition it is. if MS isnt going to do what is necessary for it to be regarded as a highly competitive gaming company, then you are going to lose. and they are. building a stable of strong first party devs is good business for the long term, yes, its risky, but if the entire industry is risky. if they dont want to act like a gaming company, then why the hell are they in gaming?

@italic: you do realize, that from what we heard from these reports, that notch is leaving, right? notch created the game by him self, he was the heart and sole of the game, the team that was founded was founded to help him manage the game, they had nothing to do with its creation and nothing to do with the vision and concept. the team wasnt assembled to create minecraft, it was assembled to manage it. the sole person who was responsible for the success, is leaving.

@underlined: it will, but will the game have continued success like CoD, or will it be another Wii sports/Wii fitness?

To your first point, i think theres multiple ways of going about it. Building inhouse capacity is one way, however that takes time and investment. They can be as effective by buying existing studios with existing and established IP. Imo both approaches can work. As for why they are in gaming? Because it puts a MS product in peoples living rooms as a center piece of tech - lots of things can be achieved by doing this. Xbox, has generally been a positive investment for MS, perhaps not financially, but it puts MS into peoples living rooms and it gives them options and experience with hardware going forward.

Yeah i get that notch is leaving. Minecraft is still selling though and has a growing and vibrant community. As for sequels or other IP from the studio, we dont know what they have to offer in this regard.

@last point - yes that is the question, however every franchise faces this problem. Minecraft though hasn't showed any signs of becoming a wii sports/wii fitness. But this could  change very easily. As I said, its not that i dont think this move is risky - it comes with its own set of risks.

[the-pi-guy]

Microsoft will unveil a $2.5 billion deal to buy its owner on Monday, according to a source briefed on the matter.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0H72EV20140912?irpc=932

[Max King of the Wild]

2.5b Dollars. Bet investors love that.

[ethomaz]

Mother if God the deal upped.

[Legend]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0H72EV20140912?irpc=932

Hey Microsoft,

Want to buy VizionEck too?....

2.5 BILLION!

[ethomaz]

Hey Microsoft,

Want to buy VizionEck too?....

2.5 BILLION!

You just need to sell 50m+ copies before :-D

[7H3]

If this is true and is happening, do you think the announcement will come with NPD tomorrow?

It'd be great at getting some good attention on Microsoft and away from Sony.

gamasutra had a report on this as well, so now i'm more likely to believe this to be true than ever. Also the rumor is it was initiated by the CEO of Mojang himself rather than MS

[Max King of the Wild]

Hey Microsoft,

Want to buy VizionEck too?....

2.5 BILLION!

now now... Just sell 500k and take 25m

[Gooch_Suplex_Hold]

Hey Microsoft,

Want to buy VizionEck too?....

2.5 BILLION!