14 DAY TRIAL // The deal between Microsoft and Mojang to acquire the company and all rights to Minecraft has been officially confirmed and the leadership of the company has chosen to offer an explanation to the large fan base in order to make sure that they understand why the move is good for the future of the firm and the title.
The official site states that, although the change can be scary, the end result will be a positive one even if at the moment the details that can be offered to the public might be a little limited.
The reaction states that Minecraft has grown bigger than anyone initially envisioned and that founder Markus Persson no longer wants to be in charge of it.
Mojang explains that Notch “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.”
Microsoft collaboration started in 2012
The two companies have been working together for a long time and the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is second to only the PC one in terms of sales.
There are at the moment no plans for any of the other versions of the indie game to stop being updated, although there’s a suggestion that the situation might change in the future.
Mojang adds, “Minecraft will continue to evolve, just like it has since the start of development. We don’t know specific plans for Minecraft’s future yet, but we do know that everyone involved wants the community to grow and become even more amazing than it’s ever been. Stopping players making cool stuff is not in anyone’s interests.”
The founders of the development team will leave and will probably open a new studio, and their new project Scrolls is probably in limbo at the moment.
Microsoft now has a new audience of millions
The transaction means that Microsoft can now directly work with the huge audience that Minecraft has managed to create over time.
The company has not made any official announcement about the future of the experience yet, but more details will be delivered in the coming weeks.
It’s unclear whether the fan base of Minecraft will accept the sale or if they are planning for a mass exodus away from the title.