Saturday 20 September 2014

Will Minecraft help Microsoft or will Microsoft help Minecraft.


A few days back Microsoft agreed to pay 2.5 billion dollars for Mojang  and the Minecraft franchise . That is a lot of money. People are wondering about two things, the first,'Will Minecraft change under Microsoft ?' and the second,' Why did Microsoft buy Minecraft ?' I will cover both those topics here.

So the first question:

Will Minecraft change under Microsoft ?

Yes, it will. But not necessarily for the better. I seriously doubt that Microsoft will want to keep that kind of game play for long. Graphics will be improved, like a lot better. But most people play the game because of its simplicity. Its like the holiday world of serious, hardcore gaming.Depending on trends and the way Microsoft handles Minecraft, it may be a good descision or not. Its too early to decide.

There are 4 modes in this game: Multiplayer, Survival, Creative and Adventure. If you think about it, all those 4 modes describe Microsoft's future with Minecraft. Let me explain.

1)Multiplayer

People will react to changes, sometimes they have a positive feedback to it or sometimes not. How Microsoft develops  Minecraft will decide whether people will still want to play the game or not.

2) Survival

I feel its going to be tough for Microsoft to survive the first few years with Minecraft, its going to depend on whether they change Minecraft as soon as they get it or not not.

3)Creative and Adventure

I am pairing these two together because they compliment each other. To explain in one sentence: 
If Microsoft is going to change the game, they have to be creative, and if they are creative then that means going on an adventure, which could end badly or not.


54 million copies of Minecraft have been sold worldwide, a huge amount no doubt and currently the game is at its peak, but the question remains whether Microsoft can extend that peak?


Now moving on to the second question:

Why did Microsoft buy Minecraft ?

"Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP basis." 

Overhead transmission? No problem, let me explain.

To tell it in 4 words, ' Full profit, no loss '.

What the above statement tells us is that Microsoft plans to equal out the amount they spent on buying Minecraft. No, not equaling out the 2.5 billion but more like 25 million as explained by Michael Patcher in a talk at Games Beat 2014. When Microsoft keeps 2.5  billion dollars in the bank, it generates an interest of 25 million. So what they mean by equaling out is making enough sales to meet the 25 million mark.

Now another reason why they bought Minecraft is because of the boost it will provide to their PC and Xbox divisions. Usually its the small kids who want to  play minecraft. When Minecraft was released on Xbox, the adult gamers who didn't have an Xbox did not go out and buy one just to play the game. But the young ones are another matter entirely. By acquiring Minecraft, Microsoft has assured its place in the future of gaming.  Kids  will start playing on Xbox has it will have some advantages over the other platforms( Excluding Microsoft Windows) has its owner also owns Minecraft. Now lets say that Minecraft dies out maybe after a decade or so. True, that Minecraft loss will bring some losses to Microsoft. But it will not harm Xbox sales because not many people like changing their consoles.

So from this we can gather why Microsoft bought Minecraft.



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