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[Official] Microsoft has Bought Mojang
You can also read the blog posts on the official Mojang site. Below the quote you can find a message from Notch posted on his personal blog.
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.
Owen – @bopogamel, Lydia – @lydiawinters, and the Mojangstas.
A Message from Notch
Below you can find a copy of Notch's blog post titled "I'm Leaving Mojang".
I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It’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’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’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’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’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.
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’ll probably abandon it immediately.
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.
I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’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’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.
It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.
nightmare scenario: open launcher, a LOGIN TO LIVE window pops up, then you log in there, then log in to the launcher with your account, then the mojang splash screen? now a microsoft splash screen. minecraft forum will have microsoft admins and representatives, bukkit will have all these microsoft developers and s#it, they will approve/deny apps. many servers will go out of business because of archaic, noose-style regulations. the realms feature will expand and become more microsoft based than ever. suggestions? yeah right, forget about those. all minecrosoft all the time.
To Mojang AB: Are you seriously allowing Microsoft to buy you out for those sinkin' $2.5B? I mean I get that you guys are very popular, and you can't handle all the suggestions and comments that are constantly thrown at you, but REALLY? And yes, I am aware that this was Microsoft's decision and not yours. But even so, why did you let it happen? I'm not trying to bash on you guys or anything, but I didn't see you guys and the creators of The Elder Scrolls getting along after the announcement of Scrolls due to a lawsuit. So unless Minecraft is released for Windows Phone in a few months, I don't see how you guys and Microsoft are gonna get along.
To all Minecraft Forums users: Do not be bashing on me because I voiced an opinion that nobody else probably agrees on. I simply wrote this post to explain my thoughts and opinions on this whole Mojang-Microsoft partnership, emphasis on THOUGHTS and OPINIONS! For the love of God and all things holy, have some common sense and respect others opinions and thoughts.
"Well, we decided to sack all the developers and staff from Mojang, and now Minecraft will have customizable loadouts. We're going to make the command blocks and mapmaking s****y in the next version that you'll have to buy because you need to pay for updates now, so we can make space for the s****y always-online multiplayer system we want to force on you. By the way, playing in creative mode costs $2.50 an hour, and if your device isn't hooked up to the internet then you're just f***ed anyway..."
(2.5 billion) As much as I wish I could be optimistic about this whole thing, with projects that have happened with this corporation in the past it's just too incredible.
Also, because of the money that Minecraft has raked in on a variety of platforms, Microsoft shouldn't do away with them. Honestly, they will probably keep them. Of course things seem a bit chaotic now, but after a few weeks things will start getting settled out and we can see what Microsoft is planning on doing.
For now, we should just sit back and enjoy the ride. Who knows what adventure we will end up on next?
Yet Alone. Do you want to be responcible for listening to the communities ranting about updates, issues here and there, and Something else they want that or even being blamed for "Taking" someone elses Idea from a mod and incorporating it into Minecraft? It was a task non of the Mojang team seen coming and they did not expect it to rise to a High number.
I personally will say I thank Mojang for putting in the deepest effort in making Mincraft what it is today and credits to Notch for actually beginning the new era of sandbox gaming. With all this effort, they should deserve the Least of our criticism and unsupportive attacks and in fact embrace that maybe they didn't make the right decision but made a choice that best fit Minecrafts Future by giving it off to a larger Company that Can handle this large scale Project.
Thanks To ALL Mojang for a great Kick-Off.