If your children have the Minecraft bug, you’ll know all about the game’s blocky building charms across a host of devices, including PlayStation and Xbox consoles, PC and Mac computers, and iPhone, iPad and Android devices.
Big news today, then: Microsoft is buying Minecraft’s developer Mojang for a whopping $2.5bn, although the deal isn’t expected to ‘close’ until late this year.
As a parent, you may be wondering what this all means, especially since Microsoft makes the Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles – will the company stop working on Minecraft for other devices, for example?
No, says Microsoft. “Minecraft adds diversity to our game portfolio and helps us reach new gamers across multiple platforms,” wrote its Xbox boss Phil Spencer in a blog post today.
“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.”
One question is whether Microsoft will put more effort into the PC and Xbox versions than the others, in terms of adding new features. Only time will tell, but there’s such a large and enthusiastic community of Minecraft players on those other devices – children and adults alike – that there’ll be a big stink if it doesn’t.
Will Minecraft be the same under Microsoft’s wing? Well, the three co-founders of Mojang – including Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, its original creator – are all leaving the company. “We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool,” explained Mojang’s blog post on the deal.
That post was optimistic about the implications of Microsoft owning Minecraft, too.
“There are only a handful of potential buyers with the resources to grow Minecraft on a scale that it deserves. We’ve worked closely with Microsoft since 2012, and have been impressed by their continued dedication to our game and its development. We’re confident that Minecraft will continue to grow in an awesome way.,” it explained.
“Minecraft will continue to evolve, just like it has since the start of development. We don’t know specific plans for Minecraft’s future yet, but we do know that everyone involved wants the community to grow and become even more amazing than it’s ever been.”
In its separate announcement, Microsoft referred to “richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools, and more opportunities to connect across the Minecraft community”.
There’ll be some scepticism about all these promises – there always is when a big company buys a small company – but we’re hopeful that the Minecraft that’s entranced so many children (and plenty of parents) won’t be going anywhere in the near future. And hopefully it really will get even better.