Microsoft Buying Mojang, makers of Minecraft

[Dragonbite]

I think I am more nervous about this than I was when Microsoft bought Skype! Probably because I play it just about every day (and Skype was once-in-a-while).

What I don't like is according to Mojang (https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/),

What about the other editions of Minecraft? Will they stop being developed?
There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.

Anybody else notice the absence of "Linux" in that list?

Normally I would take it with a grain of salt, but it is otherwise getting annoying that Linux is being ignored even though Android is (OneDrive, Office, Google Drive, etc.)

The deal itself, other than market-wise, seems strange to me in the first place anyway. It's written in Java, a competitor for their own .NET and another technology they will need to learn and/or move over to their own over time (like Hotmail was first on some *nix servers and early attempts to move to Windows servers failed enough they want back the *nix servers and ran with it for quite a while.)

I just the game to stick around for Linux so that I don't have to boot my Windows partition for anything.

What are your thoughts?

[kostkon]

I'm guessing the platform is PC/Mac (IBM compatibles in other words) and that includes Linux.

[Dragonbite]

I'm guessing the platform is PC/Mac (IBM compatibles in other words) and that includes Linux.

That's what I am (really) hoping it is.

Just don't like having to rely on Microsoft and it isn't a "Evil-Empire" type reason either. It's more that their definition of "cross platform" consists of "Major OSs" and sometimes Linux doesn't make the list of "Major OSs".

[sffvba[e0rt]

Minecraft is a java application, and as long as they don't change that then all you need to have it work on your platform is... java.

[Dragonbite]

Hope they don't change it to C#! Then it is whether it supports Mono or not.

Since Microsoft has become more chummy with Xamarin, who can handle making mobile apps in C# for iOS and Android, anything could (theoretically) be possible.

[EuclideanCoffee]

I don't Minecraft often, but it's a sad day indeed for independent games.

[sffvba[e0rt]

Some more perspective on the matter - http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/

[user1397]

Hope they don't change it to C#! Then it is whether it supports Mono or not.

Since Microsoft has become more chummy with Xamarin, who can handle making mobile apps in C# for iOS and Android, anything could (theoretically) be possible.

This:
Minecraft is a java application, and as long as they don't change that then all you need to have it work on your platform is... java.I really doubt they would take the existing java code which (as far as I know makes up most if not the whole game, and suddenly rewrite it all in C#

[Dragonbite]

This: I really doubt they would take the existing java code which (as far as I know makes up most if not the whole game, and suddenly rewrite it all in C#

The thing is that C# has for a long time been accused of looking and acting very similar to Java, in part to try and attract Java developers.

Oh, it would not be in the short term, if ever, but over time it could be slowly pushed that way as they start making the Java more C# friendly with each update. By that time, however, Minecraft may have lost it's appeal for something else.

Unlikely, but they've done more bonehead things before.. ;)

[Linuxratty]

I don't Minecraft often, but it's a sad day indeed for independent games.

It is indeed. I wish they had offered it to Canonical for less money, oh well.
Those of us who play Minecraft at LI (see sig) will be looking for alternative games to go on our server since we are suspicious of Microsoft..Anyway,time will tell how things sort themselves out.

[grahammechanical]

My take on this as a non-games person, is that Microsoft is doing what it has always done to keep the revenue coming. It would not be the first time that Microsoft has solved the problem of a competitor that It could not compete with by buying the competitor.

[mastablasta]

It is indeed. I wish they had offered it to Canonical for less money, oh well..
less money? how much less money? they were making over 100 million usd in profit a year and that is without merchandising. if you look at sales price that is actually reasonable. 20x the yearly profit and then there is other intelectual value hard to say how much that is.



Those of us who play Minecraft at LI (see sig) will be looking for alternative games to go on our server since we are suspicious of Microsoft..Anyway,time will tell how things sort themselves out.
there are other ehm independent servers out there...

I only play on LAN so I have not issue with this.

to me it is a bit silly. I mean how will they get all that money back? and how fast? they would need quite a bit of growth on this. but then again it's their problem I am sure they calculated it all and besides they have a lot of cash to use and don't really know what to use it for.

for example they have Sykpe but they also have Lync. why have two platforms? you need to maintain the two. servers for them, the application itself etc.

[Lars Noodén]

I mean how will they get all that money back? and how fast? they would need quite a bit of growth on this. but then again it's their problem I am sure they calculated it all and besides they have a lot of cash to use and don't really know what to use it for.

My guess is that is was mostly a defensive purchase, as most of theirs have been.

In this case, in 2012, Persson was talking about waiting until sales were going down and then putting the game out as open source. Then many tens of millions of kids would then be getting what is from their perspective to be the coolest game in the world suddenly as open source. They would be introduced to open source in a way that would make them very thoroughly stoked. That and they would be around the age start to program. Thus introduced, many would have taken to open source like ducks to water and even those that didn't would still be positively influenced by their friends that did. And they'd talk to their parents, and so on. Even a small fraction of Minecraft users would be a large number in absolute terms. IMHO MS would have paid even more than a paltry $2.5bn to stop that and ended up with a relative bargain.

[Linuxratty]

Well,we just like having our own server. We welcome other Linux users of course.
I'll be curious to see if Microsoft will let Ubuntu players play. I don't see why they wouldn't, since that's more money for them. I also see this as a long term strategy and a golden goose egg for them.

[Dragonbite]

Well,we just like having our own server. We welcome other Linux users of course.
I'll be curious to see if Microsoft will let Ubuntu players play. I don't see why they wouldn't, since that's more money for them. I also see this as a long term strategy and a golden goose egg for them.

I'm working on trying to set up a home server as a LAN server for Minecraft (not open to the public... yet). Is Ubuntu Server good for installing it on, or is there another distro that may work better?

[user1397]

I honestly didn't even know minecraft was still so popular, I thought it had started dying since everyone I knew that played it has pretty much stopped playing it, but I guess it's the opposite if microsoft is willing to pay so much for it.

[ELD]

Well personally I think it's great for the owners. They are richer than they ever dreamed possible, and Notch can go back to having a quiet life.

It remains to be seen what MSFT do with Minecraft though, but I doubt they would ever remove Linux as a platform. It's Java after-all it would serve no purpose to remove Linux support, so if you have read anything about them removing Linux support then ignore it as FUD.

[Dragonbite]

It remains to be seen what MSFT do with Minecraft though, but I doubt they would ever remove Linux as a platform. It's Java after-all it would serve no purpose to remove Linux support, so if you have read anything about them removing Linux support then ignore it as FUD.

At least for a couple of years. Can't predict the future much beyond that.

Yeah, Minecraft is still very popular at least with the middle-school kids I know (and myself). My kids LOVE it when we build the world together. They do alright when they are a lone, but they like working together so much more. I think part of it is that while my son is a wiz at making up these redstone "circuits" and bring a little more architectural bend to the locations and my daughter loves helping me decorate the place!

[mastablasta]

At least for a couple of years. Can't predict the future much beyond that.

Yeah, Minecraft is still very popular at least with the middle-school kids I know (and myself). My kids LOVE it when we build the world together. They do alright when they are a lone, but they like working together so much more. I think part of it is that while my son is a wiz at making up these redstone "circuits" and bring a little more architectural bend to the locations and my daughter loves helping me decorate the place!

yeah I too play it with my kid (the youngest one is not old enough to get the concept of computer mouse ). he likes to build towers, killing zombies and villagers. I created some simple slides with tracks and also some "jumping holes" - long decorated halls that end in a pool of water.


My guess is that is was mostly a defensive purchase, as most of theirs have been.

In this case, in 2012, Persson was talking about waiting until sales were going down and then putting the game out as open source. Then many tens of millions of kids would then be getting what is from their perspective to be the coolest game in the world suddenly as open source. They would be introduced to open source in a way that would make them very thoroughly stoked. That and they would be around the age start to program. Thus introduced, many would have taken to open source like ducks to water and even those that didn't would still be positively influenced by their friends that did. And they'd talk to their parents, and so on. Even a small fraction of Minecraft users would be a large number in absolute terms. IMHO MS would have paid even more than a paltry $2.5bn to stop that and ended up with a relative bargain.

if that is really the case, then I wonder what will happen with the opensource minetest which is progressing quite nicely. still needs a few things, but it's already quite playable.

[Linuxratty]

I'm working on trying to set up a home server as a LAN server for Minecraft (not open to the public... yet). Is Ubuntu Server good for installing it on, or is there another distro that may work better?

As far as I know,we are using Ubuntu,but I can find out if you want.
Quite a few people are looking at Minetest and similar games,at least Linux users I see round about are.We are doing the same thing and when I get my higher powered 'nix box set up,I'll be testing some we might want to add to our server.

[Dragonbite]

As far as I know,we are using Ubuntu,but I can find out if you want.
Quite a few people are looking at Minetest and similar games,at least Linux users I see round about are.We are doing the same thing and when I get my higher powered 'nix box set up,I'll be testing some we might want to add to our server.

That will be awesome if they work side-by-side. For comparison purposes as well as to help migrate over.

While my son is awesome with building things (redstone circuitry can get rather complex at times) his friend is all about the mods, so getting him to change to Minetest is not likely.

[Linuxratty]

They have the equivilant to redstone..No dangerious mods yet though afaIk.

[Dragonbite]

As long as we can do worldwide mass destruction with TnT we'll be happy! :)