Polygon - Microsoft buys Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5Bhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/42931/favicon.ico2014-11-06T10:42:02-05:00http://www.polygon.com/rss/stream/59160542014-11-06T10:42:02-05:002014-11-06T10:42:02-05:00Microsoft officially owns Minecraft and developer Mojang now
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<p>Microsoft's $2.5 billion acquisition of <i><a href="/game/minecraft/1816" class="sbn-auto-link">Minecraft</a></i> developer Mojang has officially closed, announced Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, <a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/530368089418784768">on Twitter</a> today.</p>
<p>"It's official, today we welcome Mojang to the Microsoft Studios family," said Spencer. "We're excited for the possibilities ahead w/the <i>Minecraft</i> community."</p>
<p>Microsoft <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6151559/microsoft-buys-minecraft-mojang">announced its purchase of Mojang</a> in mid-September. The company said at the time that it anticipated the deal would close in late 2014, and that it expected the acquisition to be <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6153497/microsoft-minecraft-2-billion-deal">break-even in its current fiscal year</a>, which ends June 30, 2015. As a result of the acquisition, Mojang's founders, including majority shareholder and <i>Minecraft</i> creator Markus "Notch" Persson, left the studio.</p>
<p>"It's not about...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/11/6/7167349/microsoft-owns-minecraft-mojang-acquisition-closesSamit Sarkar2014-09-18T10:00:02-04:002014-09-18T10:00:02-04:00Minecraft's composer discusses Mojang's unreleased game, Notch's departure
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<p>On Monday, Microsoft announced it would acquire the Swedish studio Mojang and their game, <i>Minecraft</i>, for a cool <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6152013/microsoft-buys-minecraft-mojang">$2.5 billion</a>.</p>
<p><i>Minecraft's</i> creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, has over these last six years grown from complete obscurity to become a major figure in the gaming industry. After the announcement of his company's sale he said he was leaving his work behind for very <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6151921/why-notch-left-mojang">personal reasons</a></p>
<p>The spotlight, it seems, had simply grown too bright.</p>
<p>But there were others that orbited at the edge of Persson's universe, contributors and collaborators who were, for better or for worse, brought along for the ride.</p>
<p>One of them was Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. He's the composer and sound designer for <i>Minecraft</i>. And on Monday he had an...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/18/6351607/minecrafts-composer-discusses-mojang-unreleased-game-notchs-departure">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/18/6351607/minecrafts-composer-discusses-mojang-unreleased-game-notchs-departureCharlie Hall2014-09-15T19:00:05-04:002014-09-15T19:00:05-04:00Minecraft's immense popularity, broken down by platform
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<p>With Microsoft's announcement this morning that it's <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6152013/microsoft-buys-minecraft-mojang">acquired Swedish developer Mojang</a>, there's been no shortage of numbers thrown around. First is the princely sum of $2.5 billion, which might seem like an awful lot of money for a studio with really just one game to its name. But that game just so happens to be <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="/game/minecraft/1816"><i>Minecraft</i></a>, something of a cultural phenomenon.</p>
<p>The second number being thrown around is 100 million, which is the number of downloads "on PC alone" the game has enjoyed since its 2009 launch, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=nOD%2FrLJHOac&mid=24542&u1=polygon&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2Fnews%2Fpress%2F2014%2Fsept14%2F09-15news.aspx" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener">Microsoft's announcement</a>. But <i>Minecraft</i> is available on no fewer than nine platforms, encompassing nearly every major software ecosystem from Google to Apple, from Sony to Microsoft.</p>
<p>Keeping up with the breakneck pace of...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6154437/minecraft-platform-xbox-ps3-ios-android-pc-mac">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6154437/minecraft-platform-xbox-ps3-ios-android-pc-macChristopher Grant2014-09-15T18:14:08-04:002014-09-15T18:14:08-04:00In the shadow of a $2.5 billion deal, one famed game dev slips away
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<p>The biggest gaming news of the day wasn't<a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6151559/microsoft-buys-minecraft-mojang" target="new"> the $2.5 billion purchase by Microsoft </a>of the studio behind massive-hit <em>Minecraft</em>, it was why the game's creator chose to sell and not stick around after he did.</p>
<p><span>And Markus Persson, known to his fans simply as Notch, isn't just leaving his studio Mojang and his game <i>Minecraft</i>, he's actively avoiding a repeat of that runaway success.</span></p>
<p><span>In his</span><a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6151921/why-notch-left-mojang" target="_blank"> farewell note to gamers</a><span>, Persson writes that he doesn't see himself as a "real game developer" and that if in working on new, small game projects he does happen to ever make something that seems to gain traction he'll probably abandon it immediately.</span></p>
<p><span>The game industry is notoriously bad at preparing its super stars for fame. And as gaming grows in popularity...</span></p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6154541/notch-leaves">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6154541/notch-leavesBrian Crecente2014-09-15T16:10:22-04:002014-09-15T16:10:22-04:00Microsoft's checkered history of gaming acquisitions, from Bungie to Minecraft
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<p>pour one out for ensemble</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6153109/microsoft-minecraft-acquisitions">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6153109/microsoft-minecraft-acquisitionsJustin McElroy2014-09-15T15:40:02-04:002014-09-15T15:40:02-04:00From solo Minecraft dev to startup to $2.5B acquisition in less than six years
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<p>Microsoft today announced the $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, the company behind the world's most popular computer game <em>Minecraft</em>.</p>
<p><span>With such a big number involved it might be easy to forget just how simply this game started and how incredibly quickly it grew.</span></p>
<p><i>Minecraft </i>started as a pet project by developer Markus "Notch" Persson in 2009. He wanted to make something incredibly simple that featured only fun mechanics and felt both "<a target="_blank" href="https://minecraft.net/game">accessible and emergent</a>." The result was <i>Cave Game</i>, but...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6152925/who-is-mojang-minecraft">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6152925/who-is-mojang-minecraftBrian Crecente2014-09-15T15:04:13-04:002014-09-15T15:04:13-04:00No, Microsoft isn't saying Minecraft will make $2.5 billion in a year
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<p>When Microsoft says it expects to break-even in over the current fiscal year on its <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6151559/microsoft-buys-minecraft-mojang" target="_blank">$2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang</a> and its powerhouse franchise <i>Minecraft,</i> it's not saying it expects to make $2.5 billion on the series in that span. It's more like $25 million.</p>
<p>That's because Microsoft couched the "break-even" portion of this as <a href="https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=nOD%2FrLJHOac&mid=24542&u1=polygon&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2Fnews%2Fpress%2F2014%2Fsept14%2F09-15news.aspx" target="_blank" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener">"on a GAAP basis."</a> That means "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generally_accepted_accounting_principles" target="_blank">generally accepted accounting principles</a>."</p>
<p><q class="right">"Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP basis."</q></p>
<p>They're not fudging the numbers — this is "generally accepted" by accountants, investors, bankers, regulators and the like — but analyst Michael Pachter has pointed out that it means something totally different from what laypeople are assuming.</p>
<p>Essentially,...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6153497/microsoft-minecraft-2-billion-dealOwen S. Good2014-09-15T12:00:02-04:002014-09-15T12:00:02-04:00Here's the video that made Notch question his connection to Minecraft's fans
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<p>Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of <i>Minecraft,</i> <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6151921/why-notch-left-mojang" target="_blank">said today</a> that he was selling that powerhouse property, and the studio he co-founded, because the game had made him into "a symbol," something he never wanted to be. He came to that realization after watching this video about the indie games developer Phil Fish.</p>
<p>The video, by <a href="http://innuendostudios.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Innuendo Studios</a>, was released to YouTube on June 16. Four days earlier, Persson became enmeshed in a controversy over users hosting <i>Minecraft</i> on private servers and selling access and items in them. A change to the game's end-user license agreement now prohibited that. Persson said he had nothing to do with the change, but as the public face of <i>Minecraft</i> he <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/18/5819274/mojang-multiplayer-servers" target="_blank">faced a storm of anger</a>, much of it coming over social...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6152423/notch-sell-minecraft-microsoft-phil-fish-video">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/15/6152423/notch-sell-minecraft-microsoft-phil-fish-videoOwen S. Good