There were speculations going on about Microsoft buying out Mojang and the rights to the Minecraft franchise. This would make one of the most popular independent games apart of the X-Box family.
Well today, the speculation became a reality. Microsoft bought out the rights to Minecraft, making them the sole owners of the franchise
Mojang has confirmed it's being sold to Microsoft for $2.5 billion.
The news was confirmed on the developer's official site,
in which it also went into some of the reasons for the decision. As has
previously been discussed, a large part of it centers on founder Markus
‘Notch’ Persson growing tired of working for such a big organisation.
He and the two other founders, Carl and Jakob are all leaving the
company following the deal.
"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," a
statement reads. "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."
First off, a special and hearty good luck to Notch and the gang following Microsoft's buyout. I hope your next project becomes a great experience for people to enjoy.
Second off, what does this mean? It means that now Microsoft owns the rights to Minecraft, they can do whatever they want, even if it means pulling the game from the Non-Microsoft stores like iOS, Android, and Playstation. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. I bet Microsoft wouldn't keep the other versions retroactive.
As had been reported, the PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4,
Vita, iOS, and Android editions will continue to be supported and
developed as they currently are, despite the deal. While the blogpost
promises things will continue to develop, it's unlikely to stop players
from making videos, mods or anything else that makes Minecraft so special today. The post concludes by explaining its unclear where this leaves other projects, like Scrolls, but it seems Minecraft is Microsoft's main focus.
*Jaw drops*
Okay. It appears I have been mistakened. It looks like Minecraft will remain in support throughout the year. Fans of Minecraft on any system right now will continue to support it. And believe it or not, a Vita version is still due out soon. But what will become of Minecraft in the future? Maybe a cameo by Halo's Master Chief, or a Bear and Bird crew from Rare?
Works Cited:
IGN
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