kreatious.net

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is in talks to buy Swedish game developer Mojang, best known for its block-based zombie survival building game Minecraft. Citing a "person with knowledge of the matter," the purchase would value the developer at more than $2 billion.

The purchase would be a surprising one. Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson has been critical of Microsoft, claiming that Windows 8 could be "very very bad" for indie developers. When Facebook bought VR goggle company Oculus earlier this year, Persson cancelled development of a virtual reality version of Minecraft, saying that "Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts."

The price is also remarkable. Minecraft is the only Mojang game that's reasonably complete. Card strategy game Scrolls is currently in beta, and planned space-based sandbox game 0x10c was cancelled in 2013.

If the sale goes through, Mojang will join the likes of 343 Industries, new developers of the Halo series, Turn 10 Studios, developers of the Forza series, and Rare, developers of the Kinect Sports series, as part of Microsoft Studios.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/report-microsoft-to-buy-minecraft-developer-mojang-for-2-billion

Its maybe happening..
hopefully not, and notch hasn't sold before and acts like he doesn't want to, he still may.
Not sure how much this would affect minecraft overall

IF this does happen and with knowing how Micro$oft is (i.e. anything free is evil), there more than likely won't be anymore GNU licensing for bukkit or variances, or anymore free access to the vanilla server download. I can see only "pay to access" servers coming out of this, and a lot of cease and desists, legal threats being handed out to the pirated/non-compliant servers. I wouldn't put it past them to make it PC/XBOX exclusive for future updates.

If this does go thru, I can see alot more bad than good coming of it

EDIT: Update...

http://sourcefed.com/microsoft-on-the-verge-of-acquiring-minecraft-creators-mojang/

A report came out yesterday that Microsoft is looking to purchase Swedish game developer Mojang for $2 billion dollars, and now a rumor claims that Mojang founder Markus “Notch” Persson will likely leave the company once the sale goes through.

Sources reportedly close to the deal claim that the purchase by Microsoft was first discussed several months ago, with Notch reaching out to Microsoft first. The Bloomberg report, which announced the sale, stated:

“The two companies quickly agreed on a framework and approximate price and have been working out the details since. Persson will help out with the transition, though he is unlikely to remain beyond that”.

The deal woulve be the largest deal struck since Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella took over in February. Nadella has reportedly been shifting the company’s focus towards web-based services and cloud computing. Now, it appears to be renewing its push towards the gaming market first starting with Mojang. Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowen & Co. in New York, said of the company:

“It’s one of the greatest success stories in gaming over the last 10 years. They’ve sold a lot of copies of Minecraft over the Xbox.”

Both companies have yet to comment on the potential purchase or Persson’s role should the sale go through.

Sale Confirmed:

https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-bei ... microsoft/

Notch's Goodbye:

http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/

https://games.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-announces-purchase-minecraft-creator-130152436.html

Microsoft today announced the purchase of Mojang, the Swedish-based development studio behind massive hit Minecraft.

Confirmation of the $2.5 billion deal comes a week after rumors hit that the two companies were in talks over an acquisition. In a press release, Microsoft officials said they expect the acquisition to be "break-even" in Fiscal Year 2015, which ends June 30, 2015, on a GAAP basis. The deal is expected to close in late 2014.

The founders of Mojang, including Markus "Notch" Persson, will all be leaving.

"Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year," said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. "Minecraft is more than a great game franchise - it is an open world platform, driven by a vibrant community we care deeply about, and rich with new opportunities for that community and for Microsoft."

Microsoft promises to respect the brand and independent spirit of the game and carry on the tradition of innovation. The company also confirmed that Minecon will continue next year. Mojang said in a prepared statement that there is "no reason for the development, sales and support" for the other versions of the game to stop.

Shortly after the news was confirmed, Minecraft creator Persson tweeted that he would probably share his personal thoughts soon. He also linked to comments from Mojang.

In explaining why they sold Minecraft and the studio, Mojang's Owen Hill wrote that the title has grown from a simple game to a "project of monumental significance."

"As you might already know, Notch is the creator of Minecraft and the majority shareholder at Mojang," Hill wrote. "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."

The decision to go with Microsoft, he wrote, was driven by their belief that only a handful of potential buyers had the resources to grow Minecraft on a scale that it deserves.

https://games.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-announces-purchase-minecraft-creator-130152436.html

I seriously doubt there will ever be a 1.8 bukkit update now.

dinnerbone, grum and Jeb said Mojang will update bukkit. Since Mojang bought Bukkit...

The Sale of mojang to microsoft is not expected to effect bukkit updating since most the Dev team will be staying on with Mojang throughout the transition.

https://storify.com/lukegb/the-tale-of- ... ecraft-1-8

Neko92 Wrote:dinnerbone, grum and Jeb said Mojang will update bukkit. Since Mojang bought Bukkit...

The Sale of mojang to microsoft is not expected to effect bukkit updating since most the Dev team will be staying on with Mojang throughout the transition.

https://storify.com/lukegb/the-tale-of- ... ecraft-1-8

I had read that story when everything originally started blowing up over there at bukkit. The thing is, that was all posted before the Micro$oft stuff. Since M$ bought Mojang, they now own bukkit too. M$ will be making the decision to make an official bukkit update, or have their employees switch focus to any other direction. We can only hope M$ will work for the community, and not their pockets.