So, Microsoft just bought Minecraft for like 2.5 Billion...

[CarThief]

Normally i dont post all that much lately but this is probably something people want to hear about. (Not sure if Anything Goes is the right place, instead of Gaming Discussion, but its about MC being bought, not played, so...)

So yeah it's been rumored for a while and now i've read it here.

I suppose this means alot of pirating, people making backups, and illegal clients which avoid whatever evil nickle & diming/microtransactions/mod-killing updates Microsoft is bound to try and throw at it. Or just plain horrible overpriced DLC things.
Like for all we know the game's gonna end up with the player massively nerfed and oh, you've having trouble? Why not buy Iron Armor for 50 cents? Or replenish your hunger for 10 cents.

God forbid they're gonna (try to, anyway) kill off modding, so they can push out their own premium priced stuff rather then the rare but free good ol updates of old. Or maybe they'll turn current or future accounts from pay-once to 5/10/15 a month subscription-only, depending on what they can get away with legally...

Just consider, they're gonna have to find SOME WAY to earn that 2.5 Billion back....
Oh this is gonna suck... Hm, perhaps they're gonna try and earn money off of the (normally) free online play, too.
Ah well its all just theories and rumors, so far, but remember, they gotta earn 2.5 Billion somehow. I expect some very unwelcome changes.

[Ceridran]

I doubted it, but then I found this on the Mojang site.

Like for all we know the game's gonna end up with the player massively nerfed and oh, you've having trouble? Why not buy Iron Armor for 50 cents? Or replenish your hunger for 10 cents.

Okay, now you're just taking it too far.

[Yuri Sakazaki]

There's also this goodbye message from Notch.

Seriously though, I don't think Microsoft will try and kill off Minecraft like that, they bought it for a reason and trying to kill off what makes it popular the moment they got their hands on it would be just plain stupid.

Besides, Phil Spencer is a smart man (New head at Xbox division and main guy behind this deal at Microsoft, I believe) I don't think he will let it go to waste.

[MusashiAA]

Now people can keep pirating Minecraft and feel like they're actually sticking it up to the man, and not just some poor sap who came upon this decade's gaming gold.

Like with Skype, Minecraft is going to go down the shitter, even more than it already was since it was made for Java and was turned into Youtube bait.

EDIT: Oh, Notch leaving Mojang? Those 2.5 billion dollars already cleared him out for life? Minecraft ded, finally.

EDIT2: Reminder that Microsoft buys game companies for this:

EDIT3: Ok, maybe this a bit reactionary. Maybe we shoud just wait...you know what? Maybe not, maybe we shouldn't wait for anything. This has already happened with other previously-independent software companies and Microsoft: it's ogre.

EDIT4:

Besides, Phil Spencer is a smart man (New head at Xbox division and main guy behind this deal at Microsoft, I believe) I don't think he will let it go to waste.

The problem is what "not letting it go to waste" means at the industrial level Microsoft is, which is pretty much what CarThief is suggesting: it's actually truth. For good and bad, Minecraft was an indie game, and in this era of gaming, it was tame and humble when it came to moneygrabbing. In the hands of Microsoft tho, the moneygrabbing will trascend into pay-to-win microtransactions (because that's how you make a game "profitable" nowadays), and will attempt to shoehorn its "other IPs" into it and viceversa, and the moment exposure doesn't work out for Minecraft to help Microsoft make up those 2.5 billion dollars, it's gonna throw it away like a bad habit while keeping all the "profitable" aspects in it because "it's gotta make us something".

Phil Spencer is a smart business man. I don't think he'll let Minecraft "go to waste", and that's exactly the worrying issue here.

[CarThief]

Well, admittedly it would be utterly stupid of them to actually do any of the things i've described, but as goes with all the major AAA companies, they're so greedy it blinds them and they make stupid moves like that, regardless. Though i suppose i'm being a tad cynical here, but given all the shit i've seen companies trying to pull off...
(Edit: Like the whole XBoxOne backlash, oh the terrible ideas they had in store...)

Hm, one can only wonder how far they're willing to take it, before serious repercussions from the gaming community occur, or do the logical thing, the utter last resort, pirate that shit. :P
Hm, suppose they're not that blind to push it that far, atleast.

And some do say Microsoft has a habit of ruining the companies/games they buy. We can just be thankful freakin' EA didnt buy Minecraft, oh God... They would have disabled modding, nerfed players, added microtransactions, enforced subscriptions, and force people to pay for multiplayer within a month, or less!

[Ivory]

You really need to stop being such a doomsayer all the time. Whenever you return to Cutstuff, it's either to update your utility or to make a topic/post on how _______ happened and the end of _______ as we know it will follow.

[CarThief]

Honestly, i dont recall doing any doomsaying besides this, and its not a very unrealisic view i'd say, they gotta earn money somehow.
At best there's the occasional GVH-related post or minecraft stuff when there still where servers around, but that seems to have died off for now. So i have to say that statement about doomsaying all the time is hardly accurate. At best it's occasional ranting... :P

Hm, well i'd say something on-topic but there isnt any futher information going on right now. Its all rumors and doomsaying as far as i'm aware.

[Orange juice :l]

Minecraft was already dead, the only things keeping it going were trite mods like hunger games and the like. This will either revive Minecraft with actual content (and hell, maybe a functioning engine) or beat it back into its grave with a shovel if they disable fan-made mods or "tax multiplayer" (Because we all know that Mojang didn't already do that MINECRAFT REALMS). And, you know, with 2.5 billion going in, I'm pretty sure they have an actual plan besides siphoning a dry well.

Figured I'd at least mention Terraria is going to be receiving an update in the next month or so

[SmashTheEchidna]

I still don't know how I feel about this. All I can do is just hope for the best.

But 2.5 billion? Good lord. There's no way you can spend that kind of money without some kind of plan in mind.

[Dr. Crasger]

Oh boy, I can't wait for the ensuing fiasco.

[Zero1000]

Oh yeah, i remember seeing this on another forum i'm into with the same username. Here are the related topics if you all want to see it:
 http://forum.pixbits.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=24118
 http://forum.pixbits.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=24210
However, if you all don't want the new things that microsoft will put on minecraft, "just don't update".