The Microsoft Takeover of Mojang

With the recent news of Microsoft purchasing the indie game developers Mojang for 2.5 billion dollars, it is hard to ignore the wealth and power that these major corporations have. What once was a small indie game that few people knew about has become an international hit. But when a small company like that has grown in popularity it seems that it will end up in the hands of a major corporation. Is that the future of independent companies and game developers now?

                Mojang was a company that started out as a three man team in September 2010, but has now become a team of over twenty people that has developed one of the biggest games in the industry. With its humble beginning, it is safe to say that the developers have worked hard and diligently to get this game running and to where it stands today. However its popularity has also led to much negativity for the company. With the main developers and the boss of the company leaving, it is sad to say that they have lost interest in the game that they have created. With a game as large as Minecraft, it has led to many controversies and troubles for the game developers. These problems has led the game creator Markus “Notch” Persson to say , “ Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big.” Is this the dream of game developers? Is it their ambition to have the most popular game, or is it to create the game that will be truly loved and cherished by the community. That was the dilemma that Markus Persson faced as many people complained to him about miscellaneous charges and the lack of involvement in the game. These problems drove him away from the product he loved and it is sad to see him leave such a promising franchise.

                With Minecraft being sold to one of the largest corporation in the nation, what is in store for the companies’ future? With Minecraft’s policy of being an open source game with thousands of mods available, it is easily the number one game for user generated content. But with the acquisition it is now in the hands of a closed platform/ company that charges users for everything they provide. When Minecraft first came out on the Xbox360, it charged users for skins that would have otherwise been free on the computer version. Since Minecraft is already on Microsoft gaming platforms already I foresee a future where Minecraft will be slowly drained of the user generated content that users have been willing to provide and they will eventually have to go through Microsoft to provide these contents. That means that players will have to pay more for content they otherwise would have and it will limit the creativity that Minecraft have been praised for. It is sad to say but I think that the future of Minecraft is limited now that it has been acquired by Microsoft.

https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/09/11/microsoft-buying-minecraft-wont-somebody-think-of-the-children/
http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/