Minecraft sold for $2.5 Billion to Microsoft

I have to say I’m terribly disappointed that Mojang sold Minecraft to Microsoft. While I’m happy for Notch and the rest of the gang for their rags to riches story, I truly believe this is the death knell for Minecraft. It may not happen tomorrow, or next week, or even within a couple of month, but I firmly believe that Microsoft is going to strangle the life out of Minecraft. I don’t see them continuing the Java development nor do I see them continuing their cross-platform development. Microsoft isn’t a fan of Java so turning Minecraft into a C# app seems the next step. This of course will kill it off the Mac version and derail any future iOS development. I’m sure Microsoft has no interest in keeping the Android development going. It seems like Minecraft will be developed for the desktop with all the bloat that comes with .NET development. Additionally, Minecraft will be pushed to the Xbox One and Windows Mobile.

I don’t think for a minute that any of the devs are going to stick around. Notch has already switched off the lights and has gone home. With that sort of money they’re just handing over the keys and walking away. I think development as we know it is dead. I just don’t see Microsoft adhering to the spirit of what made Minecraft and Mojang so damn great. They reveled in the low resolutions graphics, the paltry system requirements, the mods, the random servers, the community based support. In fact, this is everything Microsoft stands against. In many ways this acquisition doesn’t make any sense. I hope Minecraft has a long and prosperous life under it’s new overlords, but I have a feeling it won’t make it past it’s first birthday.