Microsoft to buy minecraft for 2 billion.

[Jodell88]

I think you guys are overlooking the fact they didn't buy the game, but rather the intellectual property.

In other words, in two years time they can release Minecraft 2 with a ton of new features (and not using Java) and sell it only on XBox, Windows, and Windows Phone. It's about getting diehard fans to shift to MS based platforms.

And then Minecraft will die.

 

[RampantAndroid]

They are putting 2.5 billion at high risk for this acquisition when it returns only 4 percent a year on invested capital. Assuming net profit stays the same and does not shrink.

The risk reward is really bad. This was another shitty Microsoft purchase that will end up being written off.

I think the investment here isn't money, but making a microsoft platform look more attractive than the rest. I mean, is no one here remembering how Halo was born? Under MS, Halo set some records (then broke those records later) for most sales of a game in the first day or two. I think Reach might still hold those records for a single platform game? IIRC, it took one of the COD games to finally beat that record which should speak volumes to how popular Bungie & Microsoft made Halo.

 

[Childs]

I think the investment here isn't money, but making a microsoft platform look more attractive than the rest. I mean, is no one here remembering how Halo was born? Under MS, Halo set some records (then broke those records later) for most sales of a game in the first day or two. I think Reach might still hold those records for a single platform game? IIRC, it took one of the COD games to finally beat that record which should speak volumes to how popular Bungie & Microsoft made Halo.

The problem in this case is that MS already said Minecraft will remain on the platforms its currently on, which is pretty much everything. I don't think an MS platform only Minecraft 2 would sell nearly as many copies. Part of Minecraft's appeal is that it runs on old or lower powered hardware, and the community creating mods. I don't think anyone would buy a Xbox One to play Minecraft 2, even if it looked better. And without the mods, its not that interesting of a game.

Limiting it to MS platforms would cut off a significant portion of the user base. Not just non-MS OSes, but older versions of Windows as well. More than likely they'd try to say Minecraft 2 would require the latest DX. I think the best MS could do is maintain the current user base, but thats not really additional revenue since those users already paid for the game.

I don't see how this can pay off for MS. They could have bought 6.25 million Xbox Ones, loaded it with free MS games, and given them away for free with that 2.5 Billion. Or bought 125 million copies of Minecraft for XB1 @ $20 each and gave it away with their Live Subscription. If they wanted to get Minecraft users on their platform, they could have spent a lot less by buying 50 or so million copies at a volume discount and give it away for free on the platforms they want to promote.

 

[Train]

Prolly why I said slowly.. and that 2.5B is 10% of their last quarterly earnings, so multiply that by your 10 statement and what would be 100%.

You keep buying out companies that amount to just closing up their doors a few years later and people will start to not invest anymore. Minecraft while it has an amazing following now will be on replaced by the next thing in the next few years.

I didn't say earnings, I said CASH.

Cash just sitting in the bank. Also referred to as the war chest. So much of it they can leave it sit in various banks around the world.

Last I heard they still shell out a pretty decent dividend from their earnings. Their stock price is the highest it's been since 2000. I don't think a 3% ding in their cash reserve is going to send any investors fleeing any time soon.

 

[JEDI]

I didn't say earnings, I said CASH.

Cash just sitting in the bank. Also referred to as the war chest. So much of it they can leave it sit in various banks around the world.

Last I heard they still shell out a pretty decent dividend from their earnings. Their stock price is the highest it's been since 2000. I don't think a 3% ding in their cash reserve is going to send any investors fleeing any time soon.

hey Train, there's a McD's thread about working there as a career.
maybe u can chime in since u were a GM at one point?

 

[TheSlamma]

I didn't say earnings, I said CASH.

Cash just sitting in the bank. Also referred to as the war chest. So much of it they can leave it sit in various banks around the world.

Last I heard they still shell out a pretty decent dividend from their earnings. Their stock price is the highest it's been since 2000. I don't think a 3% ding in their cash reserve is going to send any investors fleeing any time soon.

I thought we were talking about taxable money here?

Who ever said a 3% ding to their cash is the problem, it's buying rag companies that don't do anything for them that eventually catches up and will make people question their investments, Nokia and this joke just to name a few recent ones.

 

[Train]

I thought we were talking about taxable money here?

Also you still don't get it though, never did I state that this one purchase was going to make MS go out of business or even have financial issues. It's actually a bummer cause you are creating something of what I said into your own thing. words like slowly, layoffs and closing doors on those purchased companies should be your cliff notes.

Like Nokia? MS got what they wanted from Nokia. Kept the patents & the top talent, cut the fat.

 

[TheSlamma]

Like Nokia? MS got what they wanted from Nokia. Kept the patents & the top talent, cut the fat.

And now what do they have? a phone that still doesn't sell for shit

 

[Ruptga]

I think you guys are overlooking the fact they didn't buy the game, but rather the intellectual property.

In other words, in two years time they can release Minecraft 2 with a ton of new features (and not using Java) and sell it only on XBox, Windows, and Windows Phone. It's about getting diehard fans to shift to MS based platforms.

And then Minecraft will die.

Never underestimate the power of a very well-financed ad campaign.

Besides, they did it with Halo 4; MS took that franchise from being a dead horse to being a zombie horse. The people that were there from the beginning (both developers and fans) all agreed that it's pretty much over and time to move on, but MS didn't care and neither did the hordes of sweaty 14 y/os that ate it all up, and now we're getting a Halo 5 next year.

 

[Train]

And now what do they have? a phone that still doesn't sell for shit

Which proves what exactly? The Lumia is actually a bad ass piece of hardware. It's just that no one wants WP7

If the whole Minecraft dev team gets laid off, you can say I told ya so.

 

[TheSlamma]

Which proves what exactly?

It's just that no one wants WP7

"well technically, you said it" <-- that's in reference to the surface 3 commercial

 

[Train]

WP7 didn't come from Nokia.

 

[TheSlamma]

WP7 didn't come from Nokia.

Who said it did?

 

[Skel]

Which proves what exactly? The Lumia is actually a bad ass piece of hardware. It's just that no one wants WP7

If the whole Minecraft dev team gets laid off, you can say I told ya so.

It's on WP8.1 to be picky

 

[Train]

Who said it did?

Nevermind. You are just content with going as far off topic as possible.

 

[theeedude]

If you are a CEO and have no clue what to do with the company's money, there is no shame in paying a dividend or repurchasing shares. No need to go buying random companies that have next to nothing to do with your business.

 

[SandEagle]

good. hopefully they'll ruin it and people will stop playing it. the sight of minecraft sickens me.

 

[TheSlamma]

good. hopefully they'll ruin it and people will stop playing it. the sight of minecraft sickens me.

well we can't have that! you matter more to the planet than anyone else

 

[bbhaag]

I have to say I don't really blame Notch for selling out. The guy never wanted the attention that it brought to him and a cool $2.5 BILLION is hard to turn down for anyone whos heart is no longer in the project.

This a copy and paste from the home page of the minecraft forums.

A Message from Notch
Below you can find a copy of Notch's blog post titled "I'm Leaving Mojang". posted September 15, 2014

I don&#8217;t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it&#8217;s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don&#8217;t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don&#8217;t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it&#8217;s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It&#8217;s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.

A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development. Jens was the perfect person to take over leading it, and I wanted to try to do new things. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges, I&#8217;ve had so much fun with work. I wasn&#8217;t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.

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&#8217;t understand. I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn&#8217;t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I&#8217;ve become a symbol. I don&#8217;t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don&#8217;t understand, that I don&#8217;t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I&#8217;m not an entrepreneur. I&#8217;m not a CEO. I&#8217;m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.

As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I&#8217;ll probably abandon it immediately.

Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don&#8217;t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won&#8217;t feel a responsibility to read them.

I&#8217;m aware this goes against a lot of what I&#8217;ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I&#8217;m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I&#8217;m not. I&#8217;m a person, and I&#8217;m right there struggling with you.

I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can&#8217;t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it&#8217;s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.

It&#8217;s not about the money. It&#8217;s about my sanity.

*mic drop*

 

[Ns1]

Missing from that text:

*mic drop*

 

[ImpulsE69]

No..it's about the money. He can at least be honest ffs. It is about the money. Otherwise he could have said no and gave the business to someone else to run. It's about the money. No respect for someone who pretends it isn't. No one would blame him. BTW here's some money back for making me 2 bill..oh...wait....psych!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I was thinking, I wonder how much of that money he actually realistically gets though, does that get taxed the hell out of or is it actually clear cash right in his bank?

 

[ImpulsE69]

I was thinking, I wonder how much of that money he actually realistically gets though, does that get taxed the hell out of or is it actually clear cash right in his bank?

He won't get taxed up front, but MS will get sales taxed on it, or probably not with all the loopholes corps get. He'll have to pay it as income tax at the end of the year, and even so...interest alone will set him and his ancestors for some time if he does it right.