Microsoft has confirmed that Mojang and Minecraft will
join its ranks, but it’ll continue to make the game
available across iOS, Android and PlayStation as well as
on Xbox and PC, the company announced today.
Microsoft says that they started their conversation
around bringing the title to the Xbox console, and from
there witnessed their tremendous success and decided
to make the acquisition to help “diversify [its] game
portfolio.”
Founders Markus “Notch” Persson, Carl Manneh and
Jakbok Porser are leaving the company following the
acquisition, the team announced . Mojang’s official site
also confirmed the previously reported purchase price of
$2.5 billion. In their post, the Mojang community team
says that Notch shied away from controlling such a
globally influential company, and would prefer to work
on smaller projects. The decision sell was designed to
help Minecraft continue to grow while freeing up the
founding team to pursue their other interests.
Mojang makes no assurances about the specific future
plans in store for Minecraft, but says that for now it
should be business as usual. Microsoft says it “respect
[s] the brand and independent spirit” of Minecraft and
will continue projects like MINECON, the annual
convention focused on the game begun by Mojang back
in 2010.
Community response to this news is bound to be mixed,
and hardcore Minecraft fans who’ve been with the game
since its humble beginnings are likely to distrust its new
corporate owners, but reasoning behind the purchase is
sound. At the very least, we’ll get the chance to see if
Notch can repeat, and the next generation’s Lego
equivalent all over again.
No comments:
Post a Comment