With news breaking today that Minecraft-maker Mojang has officially sold to Microsoft, the first question that comes to my mind is what this might mean for Mac and iOS users.
Microsoft now has the ability and probably much incentive to make future versions of Minecraft Xbox and or Windows-only and, unfortunately, its statement on the topic isn’t reassuring to say the least. Here’s the statement from Mojang on development for various platforms:
There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.
We’re extremely proud of all editions and the awesome things you have achieved through playing together.
That’s far from a promise that Microsoft will indeed keep the game alive on all platforms, and also up in the air is where the company’s current employees and projects will end up after the deal. For now, versions of the game are still available to download for Mac and iOS.
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This is why Open Source is better for everyone.
And by Open Source I mean the Dr. R M Stallman definition; not the dubious other versions including the Google interpretations…
Dear microsoft,
Please don’t turn minecraft into a sales/advertising platform.
From
Every minecraft player ever
Well, at least that Herobrine virus urban legend can finally become a reality.
Minecraft (the non-mobile version) is developed in Java, which runs on every platform. So as long as Microsoft doesn’t decide to completely rewrite Minecraft, I don’t think Mac development will stop.
I was gonna say that. Java is for all desktop platforms. Who wants to rewrite it? I mean native C is smoother than Java….
2.5 BILLION – the creators take the money and run. This was a big community/social buy for Microsoft, hence the large price tag.
And WRT to the topic of this article, it would be extremely foolish for MS to kill off any of the platforms – that’s just eliminating community, the only value acquired in this deal.
Probably more EXCLUSIVE content either by platform or just by one month before it’s released on other platforms. Similar to how DLC works on gaming consoles.
Maybe Microsoft is more open to having Minecraft available on all platforms as oppose to Facebook making the Minecraft purchase for Oculus exclusively?
From engadget:
Don’t panic: Microsoft says it “plans to continue to make Minecraft available across all the platforms on which it is available today: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.”
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/microsoft-buying-minecraft/
They did not mention Mac :O. It is the end of Minecraft for Mac :(.
If you go by Halo/Bungie, yes. If you go by Skype, no. What will they do…
The thing that scares me, though, is that there’s already an X-Box One version of the game that doesn’t require Java obviously. The X-Box One uses an x86-based architecture so that cross-platform development between Windows and X-Box is easier. I’m sorry to say this, but it’s very easy and feasible for them to decide to kill off all support except for Windows and X-Box One. This could end up being very similar to Bungie’s Halo after the acquisition in 2000.
Yeah I don’t think Microsoft is stupid enough to kill the cash cow that is iOS. Minercraft is consistently in the tops 10 paid apps, currently at #3, and that is without ever having a discount. Their largest installed base is probably on iOS devices. This is not Halo that never ended up shipping on the Mac – this is something that has been on iOS and the Mac for a while now. Microsoft didn’t buy it to kill it, they bought it to grow it. There are WAY more people using it on iOS than on Xbox One and Xbox 360…