Microsoft buys Mojang Truth: aims to strengthen mobile business

The Monday issue of the Wall Street Journal Web page said that Microsoft announced in Monday that it was buying Mojang, the developer of the popular game "Minecraft" at $2.5 billion. Industry insiders pointed out that in the "Minecraft" the founding team announced that the departure, Microsoft in the development of the "Minecraft" process will face many difficulties, and Microsoft's acquisition is mainly to strengthen its mobile business. The following is the main content of the article: Microsoft hopes that a video game with a large number of loyal fans will help the company solve real world problems. However, the original team of the game is not going to stay at Microsoft. Microsoft gained a powerful gaming asset after announcing the acquisition of the Minecraft developer Mojang at a price of 2.5 billion dollars. Loyal fans will dress up as characters in the game, upload the game guide via YouTube, and register their summer camp with the theme "Minecraft" very crazily. The source said Microsoft had tried to acquire Mojang before, and Microsoft acted quickly after other potential acquirers expressed interest in Mojang. Two companies signed an exclusive agreement this July. Microsoft is optimistic about the popularity of "Minecraft". In this game, players use a Lego-like building block to build their digital world. Microsoft hopes the game will bring users to the Windows smartphone ecosystem and attract young users and software developers. "Good content can drive the sales of Microsoft's platform and extend its platform to new devices," says Kent Wickford Kent,wakeford, Kabam chief operating officer of the Games, such as Kingdoms,of,camelot. "For a cash-rich company such as Microsoft, the acquisition will not have a significant financial impact." But the acquisition by Microsoft CEO Satia Nadra Satya,nadella is still a gamble, and the question is whether the Minecraft remains attractive and Mojang can break through Minecraft's single brand. "Minecraft" was launched in 2009 and has so far sold more than 50 million copies via PCs, Smartphones and Xbox hosts. Through licensing, the game also spawned best-selling books from Scholastic, Lego Toys, and Warner Bros. movies. In addition to official announcements, a Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment on the acquisition. However, Microsoft needs to move forward with the Mojang founder, including the 35-Year-old Marcus Persen (Markus,persson). Another two founders of Pearson and Mojang said they would leave the company and engage in new projects. Microsoft has not unveiled a new plan for Mojang's office in Stockholm. The office has about 40 employees. Pearson many times that he had never expectedCopy the success of the Minecraft. In recent months, it has become clear that he no longer wants to manage Mojang to meet the increasingly demanding demands of his fans. "Thank you for bringing Minecraft to the current scale, but you have too many people and I can't be responsible for such a large group of users," he said on his personal website. "This Monday, Pearson declined to be interviewed. After losing Mojang's founder, Microsoft may struggle to maintain the game and continue to nurture its community. Some fans have protested the acquisition of Minecraft by a large company such as Microsoft, which they believe will undermine the independence of the Minecraft. Fille Spencer, head of Microsoft's Xbox business, phil,spencer that Microsoft will take all possible steps to safeguard the Minecraft's loyal player community. "Minecraft" is one of the most popular games on the Xbox platform, Spencer said. Microsoft CEO Barnard has previously said that the Xbox is not Microsoft's core business, but remains a valuable asset. The acquisition of Minecraft will give Microsoft a chance to strengthen its smartphone business. After taking office this February, Nadra has positioned the mobile business as the center of Microsoft's strategy, but so far Microsoft has yet to make a major breakthrough in this area of business. "Minecraft" is one of the hottest mobile apps on the iphone and Android phones, and Mojang has said that developing "Minecraft" for the Windows,phone system is not much of an attraction because the system has a low share of the smartphone market. Microsoft has not yet announced plans for Mojang, but Microsoft may develop a specific version of "Minecraft" for windows,pc and smartphones. "We think the acquisition does not show that Microsoft plans to strengthen its Xbox business," said Rick Cherende, an analyst at Nomura Securities, Rick,sherlund. Microsoft is just trying to better solve the problem of mobile business on a cross-platform basis. "The biggest risk for Microsoft is that the popularity of the Minecraft is only a temporary phenomenon," he said. Games like Rovio "Angry Birds" and Zynga's "FarmVille" have sprung up, but as players ' interest shifts, these companies are also slipping. Many fans of the Minecraft say the game's lifespan is longer than other fast-growing video games, and they don't see any signs of a recession at the moment. The acquisition will not have any impact on Microsoft's financial position. Microsoft's one-month cash flow last year was enough to support a takeover of Mojang. Such acquisitions, however, could make investors question Microsoft's investment strategy. Many shareholders are still complaining about Microsoft's 9.5 billion dollar deal to buy Nokia's mobile phone business. Nadra's predecessor, Ballmer (STEVE,BALLMER) approved the deal, but Nadra now needs to take advantage of Nokia's help in the development of Microsoft's smartphone business. "Minecraft" last year's annual revenue of 2.07 billion Swedish krona (about 290 million U.S. dollars), less than Microsoft's annual revenue of 1%. Microsoft said the Mojang acquisition is expected to be completed within the year.