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I can see MS opening a Minecraft Themepark and stuff like that. It really is a brand that has transcended video games.
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Sep 15, 2014 15:54
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Yeah, this deal obviously has everything to do with Minecraft and selling Minecraft things to its existing install base of literally everyone and nothing to do with Mojang itself.
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Sep 15, 2014 16:03
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Based off my 6 year old sister and her friends all playing Minecraft, the install base is waaaay bigger than most people really think.
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Sep 15, 2014 16:06
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I still have my doubts about Minecraft being that transcendental, but we'll see. Part of my skepticism, admittedly, comes from the ridiculous amounts of money MS has been wasting elsewhere and how their XBox/games division is now legitimately in at least some trouble. Also I should totally post in this thread more often.
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Sep 15, 2014 16:07
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Studio posted:Based off my 6 year old sister and her friends all playing Minecraft, the install base is waaaay bigger than most people really think. Yeah my cousins are ~15 and they, and all their friends, are totally saturated with Minecraft. It's real big. It has led them into exploring other kinds of games though! One of them was telling me about how she and her friend played through all of Fallout 3 together and how awesome it was. 
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Sep 15, 2014 16:16
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Studio posted:Based off my 6 year old sister and her friends all playing Minecraft, the install base is waaaay bigger than most people really think. Oh, I know it's absolutely, freakishly huge, but that's a big part of my skepticism - I'm not certain how much forward momentum it has. Mojang made ~110 million last year, if Microsoft doubles its yearly success it will still take them like 12 years to make their money back.
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Sep 15, 2014 16:24
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This is less about Mojang's ability to make games going forward (unproven at best) or Minecraft's current financial success (good but not enough to justify this purchase price) and more about buying the Super Mario Bros IP in 1987, but across a MUCH larger audience. They're buying the mindshare from an entire generation, if not two, of kids at the prime time of cementing nostalgia and ability to growth with an IP.
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Sep 15, 2014 16:57
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Chasiubao posted:What's Microsoft's endgame here Your average 12 year old kid (and their parents) is not going to know who made Minecraft 2, they're just going to buy it.
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Sep 15, 2014 17:04
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devilmouse posted:This is less about Mojang's ability to make games going forward (unproven at best) or Minecraft's current financial success (good but not enough to justify this purchase price) and more about buying the Super Mario Bros IP in 1987, but across a MUCH larger audience. They're buying the mindshare from an entire generation, if not two, of kids at the prime time of cementing nostalgia and ability to growth with an IP. I might be more sanguine about such a prospect if I had any confidence in Microsoft's management to actually capitalize on the opportunity they've tried to buy. 
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Sep 15, 2014 17:06
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devilmouse posted:This is less about Mojang's ability to make games going forward (unproven at best) or Minecraft's current financial success (good but not enough to justify this purchase price) and more about buying the Super Mario Bros IP in 1987, but across a MUCH larger audience. They're buying the mindshare from an entire generation, if not two, of kids at the prime time of cementing nostalgia and ability to growth with an IP. I would have called that risky move if the leadership at Nintendo was leaving, as well. Super Mario Bros. 3 needed to happen for Mario to become an absolute cultural icon. And again, Angry Birds seemed to be in a very, very similar position in 2009 or 2010. I STILL see kids wearing Angry Birds stuff.
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Sep 15, 2014 17:27
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Chasiubao posted:What's Microsoft's endgame here Buying the game that every child wants to play all day every day and if you let them would do just that? Like... you can get minecraft tea towels, lego, papercraft sets. Christ, there's a minecraft paperset going in Sainsbury's right now that's like... £20.
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Sep 15, 2014 18:02
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I doubt that, given the price they paid, that they expect to actually recoup it in sales of Minecraft. That's never really been their strategy anyway. I think part of what they're trying to do is capture the younger demographic on Xbox, since that's an area that both Sony and MS lack an iconic franchise for at the moment, and to boost their mobile platforms.theflyingorc posted:I would have called that risky move if the leadership at Nintendo was leaving, as well. Super Mario Bros. 3 needed to happen for Mario to become an absolute cultural icon. And again, Angry Birds seemed to be in a very, very similar position in 2009 or 2010. I STILL see kids wearing Angry Birds stuff. But, again, I don't think that really matters. OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Sep 15, 2014 |
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Sep 15, 2014 18:51
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I was thinking minecraft merchandise alone will make so much money.
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Sep 15, 2014 19:16
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They will obviously recoup their money from Scrolls sales.
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Sep 15, 2014 19:19
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OneEightHundred posted:I doubt that, given the price they paid, that they expect to actually recoup it in sales of Minecraft. That's never really been their strategy anyway. I think part of what they're trying to do is capture the younger demographic on Xbox, since that's an area that both Sony and MS lack an iconic franchise for at the moment, and to boost their mobile platforms.
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Sep 15, 2014 19:30
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Yeah, this is isn't about buying a company. It's about buying a gaming generation.
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Sep 15, 2014 21:32
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theflyingorc posted:That makes a lot of sense - the complete lack of Killer App on any of the new consoles is certainly a problem, and Microsoft needs to do something to distinguish themselves. What they'll get with that is the usual young adult male demographic, which is fine, but that's all they'll get. There's an opening to capture a larger demographic, especially since the Wii U is doing poorly. Losing the talent doesn't seem good though. I've lost count of how many times an IP buy followed by a talent exodus has led to a powerful competing product being introduced to the market within a few years. OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Sep 16, 2014 |
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Sep 16, 2014 02:11
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OneEightHundred posted:Losing the talent doesn't seem good though. I've lost count of how many times an IP buy followed by a talent exodus has led to a powerful competing product being introduced to the market within a few years. Also, Larian Studios put out a fantastic Divinity: Original Sin writeup. Required reading for anyone that's gone or wants to go independent. Also goes into the danger of taking on investors / 3rd parties, which is surprising. You'd figure that Larian Studios should have had the clout to get at least a halfway decent deal, and even they talk about how much it cost them.
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Sep 16, 2014 05:05
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Man, every time I app for a position I think "No sweat, if I don't get it I don't get it," but that's never true. Even for an unpaid internship that would just kill time while going to school I fret 
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Sep 16, 2014 10:14
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Minecraft wasn't exactly a technical feat of heroism. It was a relatively trivial technical and design task that happened to manifest the Lego of the digital-age. That's an awesome achivement, but while I'm positive they're all fine people and competent developers, Microsoft has an army of those. The value in Minecraft is the IP/mindshare, not the people.
Unormal fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Sep 16, 2014 |
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Sep 16, 2014 16:57
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Unormal posted:Minecraft wasn't exactly a technical feat of heroism. It was a relatively trivial technical and design task that happened to manifest the Lego of the digital-age. That's an awesome achivement, but while I'm positive they're all fine people and competent developers, Microsoft has an army of those. The value in Minecraft is the IP/mindshare, not the people. Add to this that it essentially started as a clone of another game. I've become convinced that Minecraft is a story of developer marketing and integrating consumer feedback. And affirmation that I just don't understand YouTube culture.
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Sep 16, 2014 17:49
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I think calling Minecraft a clone of Infiniminer is overstating it a bit. Its less of a clone than Unreal is to Quake.
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Sep 16, 2014 21:14
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xgalaxy posted:I think calling Minecraft a clone of Infiniminer is overstating it a bit. This x1000. It wasn't some technically perfect gem and I think Notch will freely admit that, but it did get the gameplay he was looking for and that gameplay was meaningfully unique. It's actually a fun question to ask on design tests: establish two games in the same genre that the person you're interviewing is familiar with, then press them on the differences in systems and why those differences matter. A lot of times some revealing answers fall out that help you make your decision.
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Sep 17, 2014 05:42
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edit: nevermind
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Sep 17, 2014 07:20
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A fun thing I heard about the Minecraft buyout - because of how taxes work in Sweden, apparently Microsoft basically just gave 2 billion dollars to the Swedish government?
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Sep 17, 2014 07:25
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Chasiubao posted:What's Microsoft's endgame here Also having control of an IP that is naturally popular (as opposed to, say, Angry Birds incredible brand offensive). In time I've no doubt they will pivot XBOne as the "Primary" format that gets new stuff first, which will drive sales. I mean, this is the only videogame schools ACTIVELY put in front of kids and will probably do so for at least the next academic year. Such free advertising! My big concern wrt Minecraft is in a decade when all these new graduates are pitching their collaborative creative games and I'm stuck being an old fogey who grew up playing twitchy stuff like Sonic and Quake and I don't "get it".
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Sep 17, 2014 08:24
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theflyingorc posted:A fun thing I heard about the Minecraft buyout - because of how taxes work in Sweden, apparently Microsoft basically just gave 2 billion dollars to the Swedish government? Not sure how Swedish taxes work, but since the majority of Microsoft's cash is overseas in foreign currency, they're saving a huge amount on US taxes by using that money (for whatever portion of the terms are in cash, anyway).
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Sep 17, 2014 09:38
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I work on valuations for a lot of foreign acquisitions for the company I work for (not gaming related at all) and remittances can be pretty heavily taxed in some markets too. Basically taking a huge amount of cash out of Europe into the US costs money anyway.
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Sep 17, 2014 10:08
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MissMarple posted:My big concern wrt Minecraft is in a decade when all these new graduates are pitching their collaborative creative games and I'm stuck being an old fogey who grew up playing twitchy stuff like Sonic and Quake and I don't "get it". e: Given where we are, I guess I need to start investing in the great JRPG revival coming in 10 years. 
OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Sep 17, 2014 |
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Sep 17, 2014 14:21
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xgalaxy posted:I think calling Minecraft a clone of Infiniminer is overstating it a bit. Minecraft's debut really was a severely feature reduced version of infiniminer. It took a while for the minecraft-ness of minecraft to actually manifest in the game.
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Sep 17, 2014 14:27
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfJnRXDRz0 A preview of our game. It's super fun to play, and work on. It only gets better than this XD
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Sep 18, 2014 03:34
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I think calling Minecraft a clone of Infiniminer is pretty legitimate given how people use the term. That said, I think most people would balk at calling it an Infiniminer clone because most people use the term morally and not technically.
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Sep 18, 2014 03:55
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ceebee posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfJnRXDRz0 That's awesome, I bet that's been a joy to work on. Did you get to work on borderlands(2) as well?
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Sep 18, 2014 04:36
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le capitan posted:That's awesome, I bet that's been a joy to work on. Did you get to work on borderlands(2) as well? I wish! I joined the company less than 3 months ago but so far it's been an amazing place to work. Especially compared to my last two companies. I'm finally in an environment where creativity is fostered instead of hampered by dumb politics and lovely management. But I hope I get to work on Borderlands 3  Just an FYI too, the Borderlands: Pre-Sequel is coming out soon, next month I believe. If you guys like the Borderlands series it's definitely a title to check out, the 2K guys in australia have done an amazing job. I've played a bit of it but I'm waiting till it's out to the public to play with friends. It's 10% off if you own the previous Borderlands too, I think! ceebee fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 06:43
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ceebee posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfJnRXDRz0 Mate this looks awesome! Did you work on the characters? The game art looks great. Oh Ceebee, could I pick your brains some time on the effects in this game? If that's not like breaking NDA or something. I'm in the early stages of working on a game and I really want toon special effects like your game has. Do you know how they were created? They look a bit like hand-drawn animated sprite sheets worked in to a particle system but I'm guessing it's more complicated than that? concerned mom fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 08:49
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ceebee posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfJnRXDRz0 Congrats dude! I'll be playing it on release for sure. Definitely keep an eye on the readability of your combat. Some of the scenes in the trailer have me worried, but it's also still quite a ways out so I know it's all work in progress. Brackhar fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 18:30
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If I'm working on a game that is unusually seizure inducing, do I have an ethical imperative to quit or at least reduce the  as much as possible? Where does the line get drawn when you're fairly confident that it will kill someone if it gains traction in the marketplace?Will Apple even allow an app that flashes the whole screen different bright colors at 30/second for a few minutes? (This is not hyperbolic it is literally what the application specifications state to do.)
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Sep 18, 2014 20:28
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Add a warning.
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Sep 18, 2014 21:02
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Seriously reconsider how much 'epic flashing' is required for your game to provide as satisfactory experience of: Completing/Failing game mechanic => Visual feedback. Have you tried demo'ing your game to someone who wouldn't traditionally play the genre and seeing if they can even play it with your visual effects?
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Sep 18, 2014 21:10
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Bongo Bill posted:Add a warning. Just one warning.
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Sep 18, 2014 23:46
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