Haven't read most of the thread, so apologies if I'm saying what others have said. Some analysts reckon MS is buying the user base "aka good will" as much as the IP. Apparently the user base skews young, which is a user base that MS has had a hard time attracting. It also seems like their plan for Minecraft is morenoriented to phone / tablet than to xbox. And of course windows phone is the one place Minecraft doesn't exist. So the strategy seems clear: bring a unique Minecraft experience to the mobile windows platforms thereby brining young'uns to the windows mobile platform early in life and get them hooked onto Windows. As the cigarette companies used to say "get them while they're young and you have a customer for life."
Sounds like a good strategy in theory. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. So many people already have Minecraft on one or more devices. It is a big ask to get them to buy another device just for, in effect, exclusive DLC.
If there's going to be a Minecraft 2 then that might pay off being exclusive to windows and Xbox. But it better bring something very new to the table. Mojang also was planning a new games, Scrolls, which may actually be the big prize. Being new and different, but hopefully with the Minecraft magic, could bring in a lot of new customers.
I think it's a 50/50 move. It could pay off big, or it could end up being another bad acquisition that has to get written down in a fee year's time.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
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