| Soundwave said: It's easy to talk principals behind a keyboard. My guess is you'd dance too if someone put a $2.5 billion dollar cheque in front of your face. Honestly you'd be an idiot not to. Minecraft made $133 million last year, saying it would be a shoe-in to make billions is silly. It could easily collapse into a nothing franchise in 2-3 years. Angry Birds is already fading out. The reason MS is paying this much is because they are going to turn into a mass marketed IP ... Minecraft 2.0? Sure. Minecraft Go-Kart Racing. Yup. Minecraft Fighters? Probably. Star Wars Minecraft? Yup. Disney Minecraft? Yup. Lord of the Rings Minecraft? Yup. Halo Minecraft? You bet your booty. Minecraft McDonalds Happy Meals? Minecraft The Movie 1/2/3? Go, go, go. Minecraft toys, t-shirts, etc. If anything now Notch can make 100 different weird indie, edge hipster games now if he wants. If I was him I'd laugh all the way to the bank. |
You're a fool if you think any of those ideas would make money XD
Seriously though, toys, t-shirts, and other physical merchandise I could see since they already exist and don't try to make Minecraft something it isn't, and maybe a movie, since Minecraft does have a story, but that other bullshit?! HA! Hilarious! But I have a feeling you're being sarcastic, so I'll let it go.
And yeah, Minecraft made $133 million, but a full new release of 2.0 could make billions over it's lifetime. That's where Microsoft will make it's money, if at all. Microsoft isn't so stupid as to try any of those other ideas you mentioned. Notch most certainly would NOT be an idiot to refuse Microsoft here. He has a lot more to gain from Minecraft than Microsoft does.
And no, Notch can't make 100 different weird indie games now. He can make precisely 0 of them, because he's just the owner of the company, except now he's not. Mojang will make precisely 0 indie games as well, because they're owned by a corporation and will be subject to corporate politics and corporate thinking, and that does not lead to indie games, it leads to safe bets, especially in today's gaming industry. Mojang will do one of three things now: 1) Make safe, AAA games that do nothing new, 2) Make Minecraft 2.0, except taking less risks and generally making the game less than it could have been, or 3) make shitty, soulless mobile games that exist to nickle and dime consumers to death. The likelihood of those things happening are 1) 0%, 2) 100%, and 3) 99%, barring Minecraft 2.0 being so unsuccessful that Microsoft gives up on Mojang (not likely). This is the fate of Mojang now, there is no escaping it.
