The Minecraft Purchase and the Difference Between Riding the Wave and Crashing it

So Minecraft is now owned by Microsoft.




The world hasn’t quite exploded yet.



Mojang was purchased by Microsoft for 2.5 billion several weeks ago making the founders filthy stinkin’ rich but also sending the gaming and online community into a nervous wreck. After all, Microsoft has destroyed companies here and there during its run towards the top of the entertainment industry. In the gaming spectrum, Microsoft still hasn’t been fully forgiven for what they did to the once-gigantic Rareware. So now Microsoft owns the money-making machine known as Minecraft and the question is what it means going forward with the franchise and the company associated with it.

Well Microsoft can take Minecraft in two directions: ride the wave of success and continue collecting the profits that the game continuously delivers; or gamble and make it an Xbox/Windows exclusive and potentially crash the wave.

Microsoft can continue making it available to all platforms, all systems (besides Nintendo of course—even though it would make a great condensed 3DS game), and all computers—and cash in on the billions it has made over the past few years thanks to sales, merchandise, expansions, etc. Or they can decide to make the next variations and versions exclusive to the XBox, the Windows computers, and the Windows phones. Although you would lose some profits since the product isn’t as widespread, it would potentially add lots of value to your own products. Can you imagine the potential of Forza or Halo Minecraft? Can you imagine special patches involving Microsoft exclusive franchises?

Microsoft can also allow for those YouTube channels featuring Minecraft playthroughs and creations to continue to grow and flourish and not attempt to harm them. After all, Minecraft started out with no publisher and managed to grow into a powerhouse because of the Twitter Era. Or Microsoft can scan around and try to stop the videos and creations much in the way Nintendo stupidly attempted to go after the Let’s Play entourage of Nintendo games.

The point is, Microsoft has purchased a company that made gold out of dirt, and now the ball is in their court. The Windows Phone market share in the smartphone industry is a bare 2.5%. The XBox One is dead last, even trailing the critically-panned Nintendo WiiU. Apple continues to dominate the tablet and PC industry. Mojang could be the indie, low-budget solution that Microsoft desperately needs. Nintendo has first-party glory that has remained unmatched for two decades and will keep them afloat for as long as the circle of developers continue to stay in the radius. Sony has a pure stranglehold on the indie gaming spectrum, as it now has the top online service amongst the Big 3.

Outside of a great online program that is slowly losing out to Sony and the few remaining exclusive franchises, what does Microsoft have left? Titanfall, Forza, and Dead Rising have not moved hardware, and then we have Halo peering more and more behind Call of Duty’s shadow---which is also a franchise in the Sony side. Mojang can be that solution. Look at all they pulled off with one simple indie video game. So the question is do they want to use Mojang and Minecraft as one of their playing cards to keep? Or keep Mojang as the same likable indie company much in the way Disney lets Pixar run its own course (supposedly)?

I might be making a big deal out of this, I really might be. But at the same time I was a strong supporter of 90s Rareware and watching its downward spiral in the early 2000s was almost as bad as Sega’s. Microsoft needs to learn from them as opposed to try to take advantage of their new purchase. At the same time however, if Microsoft wants to truly profit they would allow the continuing success of Minecraft and not do a single thing to change it. Expand the company, keep it indie, and allow them to work their magic with a larger budget. Who knows what creations can come from them? And who knows if their upcoming projects can turn the XBox around? Sometimes all it takes is one game to dominate a generation: just ask Wii Sports, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Bros., and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

One thing is certain: Mojang is doing everything right while Microsoft is still trying to get back on its feet in the Console Wars. Learn from them----do not change them. This was a mighty good purchase as long as you don’t attempt to alter their ways.





That 2.5 billion can pay off significantly-----as long as Microsoft allows it to.

Super Smash Brothers WiiU: Nintendo's Biggest Game in Nearly 10 Years

Hear me out, and this is the truth:



Super Smash Brothers for the WiiU is the most important video game in Nintendo’s long history since Wii Sports. The entire future of Nintendo is riding on the success of this game---which is shaping to be potentially the biggest triumph since Mario Kart Wii’s 32+ million rundown back when the Wii was king and Nintendo was raking profits like there was no tomorrow.

We all know that Smash Brothers will become a success, but the question is just how much hardware can it move? Can it make the WiiU more relevant and push it towards the crown currently being held by PS4? Can it remove the bad stench of the WiiU’s slow start (and seemingly constant denial from Nintendo)? Just what exactly can Smash Brothers accomplish? Nintendo is banking everything on this one game, with the 3DS counterpart being its sneak preview (which will also deliver plenty of sales, especially with the cool-looking Smash 3DS coming out).

Want more proof of Nintendo’s pure and utmost dependency on this game? Namco is working on this, and Nintendo rarely ever allows third-party companies to work on their first-party franchises—even though I have mentioned how this strategy should be explored more often. They took a proven company that has a popular and successful fighting franchise to lend their touches on what is now the top fighting franchise in the entire game industry. The amount of third-party characters has even increased, as Pac-Man, Mega Man, Sonic, and maybe even Snake will make an appearance. You can make your very own character to use in the game. Over six different composers have worked on the soundtrack, and the CD is available for free as long as you register your two Smash games.

The controllers that are being issued. You can use the Wiimote, use the Wii Pad, use the Virtual Console controller, and then we have a special Gamecube throwback controller being sold prior to the game’s release. We already have tournaments on this game and it’s not even out to the public yet. The game seemingly has taken note of every request fans have made, from customizable characters to new third-party characters, to enhanced online system, and even a (sort-of) ranking system.

The marketing. Nearly every week there are new announcement and updated news about the game, and Nintendo is usually extremely hush-hush about their projects. It has had its own Nintendo Direct conferences online to maintain the exposure in the gaming world. It had a tournament in the middle of E3. The upcoming game is also tied to downloadable content specials that are being shown in the WiiU and the 3DS. You cannot escape this game. If only Nintendo applied this amount of marketing to its other games.

So the question, what is left? Nintendo’s final step has to be bundles---lots and lots of bundles. We are talking bundling Smash Bros. 4 with WiiU systems in different colors, with different features, different memory sizes, and maybe other options like music CDs, Gamecube controllers, etc. Nintendo needs to guarantee that you can’t breathe the WiiU life without having the game close to you. Smash Brothers is notorious for reviving franchises (See: Earthbound, Fire Emblem, Kirby, and to a lesser extent even Metroid) so it would be extremely beneficial for new owners to have this game to see the different gaming worlds Nintendo usually offers. Who knows, maybe Mega Man can once again rise to the prominence it used to have in the NES/SNES days.

Everything is being thrown to make Smash Brothers 4 a success. Depending on the impact it makes this holiday season will determine whether or not the WiiU can ever churn out Wii-like profits, and whether or not Nintendo has to re-evaluate the way it makes and distributes games. It all boils down to this game, this holiday, and the world’s reaction.

Smash Brothers 4 will determine whether the WiiU can go down the path of the 3DS (slow start, ferocious run) or the Gamecube (sustains minimal sales, with few hits here and there).