Minecraft is one of those iconic games that has gained one of the most passionate followings around. Now Microsoft has bought the company who produced it, Mojang, along with the rights to the game itself. That isn’t a good thing.
When details of the Xbox One came out, it was pretty controversial. Microsoft had chosen to limit a number of popular features, such as the ability to swap or share games. Even the Xbox 360 has some pretty serious limitations through Xbox Live that have caused annoyance in gamers.
The problem comes down to money. One of the company’s biggest cash cows is their innovative gaming console and platform, which continues to draw in more profit than most of their current flagships. With the gaming industry growing by billions every year, it is understandable why they would want to exploit it.
Mojang released Minecraft as an indie game that hit it big. You have to buy it, but user generated content is a major part of its existence. One of the reasons people love it so much is the endless number of mods offered by fans.
You can bet that this practice will begin to curb now that Microsoft has taken the reigns. But paid packages and expansions are sure to follow, as they have always been really big with paid content.
This was a great move for Microsoft, as well as Mojang, which hasn’t done a whole lot with the game for the last couple of years. It is the users who were keeping things new and interesting.
But it is bad news for fans of the game, which many seem to recognize. It doesn’t seem very likely that Microsoft will stay with the grassroots of the following, and not run it into the ground like they always seem to do.
Still, you can’t blame Mojang for the move…$2 billion is a lot of money, and they did what was best for the expansion of their brand. It is just a shame it came at such a cost.
So, what do the gamers here think? Will Microsoft’s acquisition manage to surprise us all and be a good thing? Or is this the end of the game as we know it, the end of an era that will have to be taken with a new one in the mind’s of some unknown developer out there?
Source: Microsoft
