So, what if Microsoft hadn't bought Mojang?

Discussion in 'General Minecraft Discussion' started by ocelot3101, Apr 2, 2015.

  1. Even though the heat has died down since last September, I'm still going to make a thread on my theory of what would have happened.

    Mojang staying independent

    Not likely. It was a serious statement that Notch made, so someone would have said a big enough amount eventually. Whether that be Electronic Arts or Activision Blizzard, someone would have won. Probably.

    Electronic Arts route

    This would probably end up with Minecraft on Origin, but probably not with "128 Diamonds for £3.99!". While EA might seem quite stupid for some of their mistakes on managing releases (cough cough SimCity 5) , they aren't that stupid to lose an entire community that would have made them billions.

    Not very likely due to opinions back at Mojang on Electronic Arts.

    Activision Blizzard route

    Now I don't know much about this company apart from reading a wikipedia blurb, so someone else would have to do this.

    I still think that this gets a "Not very likely".

    ---

    Overall, this is why Microsoft ended up buying. All the other ideas weren't exactly suitable
    ShelLuser likes this.
  2. I like your theories but in the end I think it boiled down to only one thing: the size of the paycheck.

    Also noteworthy is that according to financial records Mojang was actually writing off losses and not making much of a profit. That could also have seriously undermined their monetary value, even though they did have a world wide known product.

    So if Microsoft wouldn't have bought Mojang then... who knows. They could just have well gone broke, especially if the whole EULA disaster was actually their own doing (I can't help wonder if they started to "enforce" the EULA merely to try and raise the company value a bit by making it more appealing for a takeover). Because if they did and Microsoft hadn't bought Mojang... Well... They basically "ticked off" a major part of the community, and not just any part but exactly the people who'd spend a lot of time and effort into Minecraft and by doing so making it even more popular (the modders and such). Without them (or at least a lot of them being angry over the whole thing) and whilst in a situation where they were already writing up losses?

    In that scenario I wouldn't have been surprised if they had eventually gone broke.
    FDNY21 likes this.
  3. Microsoft has basically right now, done something like:
    "Hey guys, do whatever you want with money. We are just putting the EULA on freeze for a while."
  4. If Microsoft hadn't bought Mojang (they didn't buy Minecraft), I think we'd be in the same exact place as we are now.

    Mojang still exists and appears to be operating independently of Microsoft (as expected). The takeover was likely only for the benefit of Microsoft, who now have a major game they can use for advertising.

    I'm not surprised that they were writing off losses considering most of the staff appear to spend more time playing their games than making them :p

    The microsoft acquisition would certainly put them in a much better position financially, so they would have been of benefit to them.
  5. If microsoft didn't take over we may of got a rainbow that rains down skittles in game. One can dream!
    f_Builder_s likes this.
  6. Thank you, I was literally only going to post just to say this >.<
    mba2012 likes this.
  7. Microsoft (it's a brand name) ;)

    It hasn't really affected Mojang or Minecraft at all. I do think that PR will probably be done better with Microsoft behind the wheel, rather than Mojang's Twitter feed and blog.
    RainbowChin and mba2012 like this.