Assuming ofcourse all of this isn't just a baseless rumor and this deal does indeed go through. Microsoft is threading on thin ice.
A good business plan is not to let a player base buy a game once and play it for YEARS adding free mod based content. A better business plan is to release mod packages for the game that you can sell to your extant player base.
from a financial standpoint many of us have gotten a heck of a deal from our original purchase of vanilla minecraft.
For Mojang, this is probably the best deal they'll ever get. An instant line of cash for $2 billion is much more than they'd make over the course of several years.
They could then pull back from Microsoft and restart on their own (unless signed agreements state otherwise). That said, they have previously mentioned they don't *need* the cash. So while $2 billion is a ton of money, if they already have more money than they need its not going to be much of an incentive.
The better question is, how many of us would've gone as far as buying these mod packages if they were supplied that way.
Its the "better" business decision in theory, but the reality is that not everyone would've been willing or even able to pay for the content.
Part of the success comes from the fact that many of us got such a heck of a deal out of it. Priced higher, and it might never have come to this.
A more expensive or more widely monetized Minecraft would not have reached this large an audience.
Any subsequent changes they might make to try and get a slice of the pie, will likely result in (a part of) the community drawing back from Minecraft.
If the "big personalities" pull away from Minecraft (assuming they can afford to do so), the subsequent widespread fame Minecraft has among the young audience would diminish or even fade entirely.
The "Minecraft is the next Lego"-argument relies on the fact that all of these kids remain interested in the IP.
And thus directly relies on keeping the IP affordable and interesting.
Cutting down on modding to obtain revenue or turning "mods" into "DLC" would also result in losing customers (though they might not care as anyone who doesn't bring cash into their register ultimately isn't a "loss" to them either...)
While Minecraft has a massive target audience spread across many platforms. If a "Minecraft 2" were created, they'd lose out on a lot of initial content.
If they mess with the formula based on "good business decisions", I suspect that a lot of people would suddenly become a LOT less interested in the IP.
An exclusive XBone launch for "Minecraft 2" wouldn't get 50 million people across all platforms to suddenly buy an XBone. Hell, I doubt most of the PC players that are into modding would EVER move to XBone, neither will the mobile audience.
Even a PC release of an upgraded Minecraft would likely mean an increased pricetag and subsequent monetization. Aswell as stricter rules around modding and streaming/recording.
Microsoft doesn't have a habit of letting their consumers have free reign with their IP's.
So unless that stance changes... There will be consequences for us as players.
I think the most interesting turn of events would be the Playstation release and any deals made with Sony.
I'd imagine that it'd be a great marketing move for Microsoft to get a title as popular as Minecraft out on Sony's devices, and then get a cut out of EVERY sale that Sony makes.
Microsoft would suddenly benefit from sales made on their competitors platform(s). Between that and merchandising, there's a lot of potential for Microsoft.
I just wonder if all of that will be enough for them not to want to tamper with the PC formula.
Or if they'd even continue to generate content for vanilla Minecraft on PC.
