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Microsoft confirms acquisition of Minecraft studio Mojang
Microsoft announced it's bought Minecraft studio Mojang for a deal worth $2.5 billion. The buyout will see Mojang founders Markus "Notch" Persson, Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser leave the Swedish studio. Both companies confirmed the acquisition this morning, with Head of Xbox Phil Spencer noting Microsoft's "long seen the potential of Minecraft." "At Microsoft, we believe in the power of content to unite people," Spencer wrote on Xbox Wire. "Minecraft adds diversity to our game portfolio and helps us reach new gamers across multiple platforms. Gaming is the top activity across devices and we see great potential to continue to grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise. "That is why we plan to continue to make Minecraft available across platforms – including iOS, Android and PlayStation, in addition to Xbox and PC."
New Minecraft EULA exceptions drafted to clarify monetization
The fact that Minecraft users can run their own servers has always been a bit of a double-edged sword - a blocky, low-res sword yes, but one sharp on both sides nonetheless. Players can do just about anything they want on these servers, which is great, but these players also sometimes end up breaking terms of the game's EULA, which gets developer Mojang in trouble. "Some privately run Minecraft servers do charge for in-game items, for xp boosts, for access to certain game modes. Some of them even charge quite a lot," Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson wrote in a new blog post yesterday. "I don't even know how many emails we've gotten from parents, asking for their hundred dollars back their kid spent on an item pack on a server we have no control over." To help protect from such accusations in the future, Mojang has created new rules regarding monetization. The rules have been detailed on Mojang's site, but what it boils down to is fewer restrictions on creating and selling in-game items and other monetized goods. Just make sure to communicate with your customers that you aren't Mojang, don't sell items that impact gameplay, and don't charge real-world money for in-game money. Oh, and one last thing, a request straight from Persson: "Herobrine is not real please stop asking." [Image: Mojang]
Minecraft PC surpasses 14 million sold
The original PC version of Minecraft has sold 14 million worldwide, a figure that takes the game's total sales past the 35 million mark, at the very least. That 35 million figure is based on numbers previously given by Mojang for other platforms, including the 10 mill for the mobile Pocket Edition - that was back in May 2013. In truth, the total sales are probably a million or two more. Bearing in mind Mojang still has lucrative PS4 and Xbox One versions in the works, we can only imagine creator Markus 'Notch' Persson has his own Scrooge McDuck-style money bin towering over the hills of deepest Sweden, with a giant, golden beard emblazoned on the front. If he doesn't, he is truly wasting his life. [Image: Mojang]
Notch turned down job offer at Valve to create Mojang
Back in 2010, when Minecraft was first starting to take off, Valve flew out Markus "Notch" Persson to its headquarters for "a cup of coffee." In an excerpt of the English translation of Daniel Goldberg's Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus 'Notch' Persson and the Game that Changed Everything, posted by AllThingsD, Notch explains that at the time Valve was either interested in buying Minecraft or offering Notch a job. It ended up being the latter. Notch visited Valve that September, took part in a programming exercise and even met Gabe Newell before being officially offered a job, which he ended up turning down. Despite being a dream offer for Notch, he was much more interested in starting his own company than working for Valve. Soon after, Mojang – which he co-founded with Jakob Porser – was formed. "Somehow, I felt that Minecraft was maybe my chance to create a Valve, rather than work at Valve." You can pick up Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus 'Notch' Persson and the Game that Changed Everything on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
0x10c may charge monthly subscription for ship ownership
In a recent interview, Mojang's Markus "Notch" Persson says he's thinking more and more that 0x10c, the Minecraft mogul's space-based PC title, may use a subscription-based monetization plan when it's ready to be sold. The idea's not cemented just yet, but Notch expects to have a multiplayer mode with the game called "the multiverse," and there will likely be cost associated with keeping all of the virtual ships running on a real server.Each ship will require a "generator" to keep it running, so Notch's current idea is that "one subscription gives you one generator." Presumably, he says, multiple players could run around inside one ship, so you may pay a subscription and then invite your friends to join you on your vessel. But someone will have to pay to keep the game going.Notch also talks a bit about how construction will work in the game: Players will likely build a ship's external features first, and then organize various components inside for different layouts or more options. And Notch says there will be "mining," in that players will have to find resources in the galaxy to use as parts, but he says it definitely won't be Minecraft-style. As Notch told us at PAX, work is definitely well underway, and we should see more very soon.
Minecraft creator Notch's 0x10c is aiming at a monthly subscription fee
Minecraft has had a substantial impact on gaming in general and MMOs in specific, which means that Markus "Notch" Persson's next project is going to be watched closely by a lot of people. So it's interesting to note that in a recent interview he discusses giving 0x10c a sort of shared living space in an MMO style as well as mentioning that the game may very well charge players a regular subscription fee. Notch freely admits that it's a matter of making money off of the game, and it's meant to be a flexible approach. If free-to-play is more palatable than a subscription model, he's willing to experiment with that as well. The interview talks extensively about keeping the game's playing field level regardless of the business model as well as potential actions in an almost-MMO space; if you're curious to see what the game might look like, head on over for all the details.
Minecraft turns 1.0, digital building blocks in beta no more
Minecraft mania has been in full swing for a while now, though lately, the hullabaloo surrounding the game was about its arrival (in somewhat neutered form) on both Android and iOS. However, fans of the full Minecraft experience can jump for joy because Mojang's title has officially left its beta days behind and has turned the big 1.0. The announcement was made by none other than Mr. Minecraft himself, Markus "Notch" Persson, at the first ever MineCon event, and the update is available now. Well, what are you waiting for? Your digital utopia won't build itself.
Bethesda tells Mojang to lay down its virtual guns, lawyer up for a trademark battle
Time was, men could settle their disputes with glinting swords at the ready and their honor on the line. Nowadays, only the cosplaying and Comic Con attending folk alike are likely to burnish (elvish) blades, although they're rather inapt to sully them with enemy blood. Well, unsurprisingly, Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson's modern day offer of a Quake 3 Arena simulated duel -- his proposed method of extralegal recourse -- was shot down by Bethesda, the company suing the Minecraft creator for use of the word "Scrolls" in its unreleased card game. As these are apparently sue-happy times, both parties are headed to court to battle it out, with Mojang facing the terrible repercussion of a forced product name change. From the looks of the defendant's Twitter feed, however, it doesn't appear the impending litigation's breaking this Swede's stride.
Notch explains why Minecraft has yet to get Steam'd
Minecraft has been widely available for quite some time in various forms (alpha, beta), but when it fully launches this November, it won't be available on Steam. "Being on Steam limits a lot of what we're allowed to do with the game," Mojang president and founder Markus "Notch" Persson explains in a post on his Tumblr blog. "We (probably?) wouldn't be able to, say, sell capes or have a map marketplace on minecraft.net that works with Steam customers in a way that keeps Valve happy," he adds. Notch worries that inclusion on Steam would divide the PC/Mac market of Minecraft users, rather than offer more to existing players. It's not as though there's any animosity though, with Notch kicking off the post by lavishing a paragraph of praise upon "the best digital distribution platform I've ever seen." He also notes that Mojang "are talking to Valve about this" to try and make things work for everyone, but, understandably, "We just don't want to limit what we can do with Minecraft." [Image credit: Steam forums]
Minecraft creator challenges Bethesda to deathmatch for the word 'scrolls'
While Samsung, Apple, HTC and others battle it out in court with lawyers and expansive patent portfolios, one man seems to know how real geeks settle disputes -- with a deathmatch. Markus "Notch" Persson, the man behind Minecraft and head of Mojang, has decided the best way to put the trademark squabble with Bethesda to rest is two rounds of three-on-three Quake 3 Arena action. The Elder Scrolls developer is sticking with the same tactics that have made smartphone companies our new least-favorite corporate citizens, but Notch thinks ownership of the word "scrolls" can best be determined with BFGs and railguns. With any luck this will catch on and, when Steve Jobs and Larry Page lead their forces into battle in Team Fortress, we're gonna have to put on our money on the Mountain View crew.
Minecraft hits 3 million, Notch buys us all
In January, Minecraft passed its first major sales milestone: 1 million downloads. Three months later, in April, it clocked another cool million. And today, just five days into August, the game has surpassed its 3 millionth paid user -- every four months, eh? Smells like a trend! Those 3,000,961 folks (as of this writing) make up over a full quarter of all accounts at 26.24 percent. At around $22 per purchase, that's quite a bit of dough -- and with no publisher to pay. We imagine Mojang Specifications head Markus "Notch" Persson will be investing a good chunk of that dough in the upcoming MineCon, which kicks off the official launch of Minecraft on November 18. [Thanks, Matias.]
Minecraft's 'MineCon' convention set for November 18 - 19 in Vegas
Rather than setting its convention in the icy grip of its home country's chilly November, Sweden-based Minecraft studio Mojang Specifications is holding what it dubs "MineCon" in Las Vegas. "For me, MineCon is about celebrating the full release of Minecraft," Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson told PC Gamer this week. Apparently the delayed title will see its full launch in grand style, with Notch "getting up on stage and pushing the button to upload the final build." When he first spitballed the idea back in May, voters overwhelmingly responded, "No, definitely not" when asked whether they'd attend such an event. That said, the minority's 42,000 votes were assuredly enough to convince him of demand for such an event. Speaking of, Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino will host MineCon on November 18 and 19, and the ticket registration site is set to go live next week -- apparently Notch will announce as much on his Twitter account, so keep an eye out. That is, if you can tear yourself away from building that to-scale replica of Hogwarts. Update: This year marks the second MineCon.
Notch doles out more details on Minecraft for 360, Kinect functionality
Markus "Notch" Persson is in a bizarre position, especially given his usual openness about his studio's first creation, Minecraft. "There's going to [be] actual marketing for the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft, so I've agreed to be slightly less transparent than usual when it comes to that version," he tells IGN in a recent interview. But don't despair! Notch still offers a handful of new details, saying that the Xbox 360 version (announced during E3 2011) will have "completely different" crafting, and that the Kinect functionality will include a mode where "you wave your arms around to mine and use items" -- "it's just too silly not to include," he adds. Hilariously, rather than respond to a question about console exclusivity and the possibility of Minecraft coming to PS3/Wii U, Notch simply draws the ridiculous (and admittedly adorable) sheep you see above. He also reveals that the upcoming Xperia Play version of Minecraft will cost $7 when it drops sometime "this fall," and that it was programmed "in a way that will make it easy to port to all sorts of mobile phones."
Minecraft Adventure mode coming in update 1.8, game launch delayed by a week
Mojang Studio's next update to Minecraft, 1.7, promises the addition of pistons (seriously!), thus allowing for the creation of mechanical objects. Rather than include it as planned in the 1.8 update alongside Adventure mode, creative lead Markus "Notch" Persson and partner Jens Bergentsen instead chose to drop it in with a handful of bug fixes in 1.7. No solid release date is given for 1.7 (or 1.8 for that matter), but the former will be released "soon" while the latter "might be a long wait." Persson also notes that, after update 1.8 is released in the coming months (Adventure mode and all), the team at Mojang will "start crunching for the full release," though it seems that the official launch may not make its intended November 11 date. "The release date is almost certainly changed to sometime the week after 11/11/11, and we're working hard on setting that up," Persson explains. And following that, after years of laboring on Minecraft, Persson and Co. get some much needed vacation time. After that? "I'll start working on the first post-release update," he adds with a grinning emoticon.
Minecraft for Kinect is an XBLA title, ported by 4J Studios
More details have begun to trickle out on Swedish developer Mojang Studios' first Xbox 360 title, a Kinect-enabled port of indie hit Minecraft. Beyond the fact that it'll be some form of indirect port and that an unnamed developer other than Mojang was at the helm, few other details were known, but as Minecraft creative lead Markus "Notch" Persson revealed on his Twitter feed last night, Scottish devs 4J Studios are apparently in charge of this holiday's world-builder. If you, like us, are unfamiliar with 4J, a cursory Wikipedia'ing reveals work on a wealth of ports, not to mention a handful of not-so-well-known original games. Hopefully any worry you have in the studio's confidence is abated by the fact that Notch will remain a game designer on the project, presumably retaining creative oversight.
Minecraft on 360 'won't be a straight port,' not developed by Mojang
Never one to shy away from community interaction, Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson answered fan questions yesterday about the just announced Minecraft on Xbox 360. While he'll remain attached to the project as a game designer, the port is being handled by a separate, unnamed console dev. Notch notes "the programmers have done several console games before," but adds that he can't reveal what studio it is just yet. He also revealed it "won't be a straight port, though it's unclear what that means just yet. He also spoke to the Kinect functionality, saying the game is of course playable without the motion peripheral, but "with the power of Kinect you will feel closer to your game than evar [sic] and it also saves kittens." Kittens! While we aren't sure that he's being entirely genuine with that final statement, we're just gonna take the statement at face value. We really like kittens, after all.
Minecraft documentary gets a 20 minute preview, needs you to chip in for the finished product
Do you love Minecraft? Wait, don't answer. We know the answer. Well, we know how you feel -- and so do the folks at 2 Player Productions, the documentarians that brought you the extra-special chiptune film, Reformat the Planet. The scrappy team of filmmakers has once again gone back to work, this time focusing their attentions on the gaming phenomenon and its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, in a project entitled Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. 2 Player has taken its project to the streets (and by streets we mean internet) by posting a 20 minute teaser of the forthcoming documentary, and asking for funding via Kickstarter. Just think, you could be your very own Hollywood mogul. There are all kinds of goodies for those who lay down the cash; for instance, if you pledge more than $2,500, you'll get an actual pick axe mounted on a stand signed by the Mojang team. And for $10,000? You get an Executive Producer credit and your own profile page on IMDB. The project is aiming for $150,000 of funding, and has already scored $22,048 (at the time this article was written) with 32 days to go. If you were serious about what you said earlier when it comes to Minecraft, you owe it to yourself to put your money where your virtual mouth is. You can also take a look at a teaser clip after the break -- and that won't cost you a dime.
