On this day 10 years ago, Microsoft acquired #Minecraft developer Mojang for US$2.5 billion.
https://minecraft.wiki/w/Mojang_Studios#History
In a blog post announcing the purchase, Owen Jones wrote: “Everything is going to be OK. <3”
http://web.archive.org/web/20140915131835/https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/
Ten years later, Mojang now has been part of Microsoft almost twice as long as it has been independent.
It’s interesting to look back at the original announcement video from Xbox as well:
https://youtu.be/lXNWchwDiG8
I still play minecraft nearly every day with my wife, siblings and soon my kids. I have no love for Microsoft but the team working on Minecraft IMO has done a great job expanding the game. The new terrain generation, mobs, mechanics are all fun additions and holy cow some of the new composers they have on the OST are brilliant.
Im sure things would be different if Mojang didnt sell out but who knows how. The game we actually have today is just as magical to me as it was in the early days.
Notch would be less rich but still relevant, so I’m good with Microsoft owning it. Notch is enough of a shitter that Microsoft basically scrubbed him from Minecraft and didn’t even invite him to the 10th anniversary celebration of the game, which should be telling.
Oh yeah absolutely, fuck that guy 110%
Oof that’s cold. Even Bethesda invites the fallout creators to events. What did Notch do?
He’s made comments over the years that suggest he is a white supremacist, a misogynist, and a Qanon-er. Microsoft removed mentions of him from Minecraft and didn’t invite him to the 10th anniversary, making a statement that his views do not represent those of the company.
Yikes