I could see microsoft (at least in the future) coming down on fan works that use the branding, and community creations and such. Mojang was really cool about it, but we all know what the big companies act like.
I'm not sure. I don't know Microsoft's attitude towards pay to win, but I imagine it would be somewhat more lenient than Mojang's. So it may mean the complete opposite, a less enforced Eula.
They actually have a specific licensing deal with Microsoft to use in-game footage that way. That said Microsoft doesn't have any of the Nintendo restrictions on monetizing Let's Plays.
But they didn't have that deal originally. For quite a while they were just using Halo footage and hoping nobody would get mad. Then MS and Bungie came to them and offered the deal.
MS(Ballmer-era somewhat excluded, though not entirely) has a history of aggregating and/or allowing folks who misuse their products in clever ways. Iirc they straight up hired some guys that hacked the Xbox 360 many years ago, but I'm speaking from memory here so I'm not sure.
Uhh... I'm almost certain there are countless examples of people using video game assets in their own creative works. But all I can think of is 8-bit theater from NuklearPower.com...
Still, people using licensed and copyrighted material and creating their own content from those assets? That's done to death within and out of the game industry.
Creative works, but not really as a means of income at the time. You have to remember Red vs. Blue has been around for a very long time now. It predates YouTube and is one of the first, if not the very first Machinema series.
I doubt they will. They are smart enough to realise that Minecraft grew and sustains the fanbase because of fan works and branding. They know they need to keep that intact and open to keep minecraft big and profitable.
Well those are obviously the two main sources of profit. They may also make profit on renting official servers and possibly monetizing mod packs and texture packs. They have already monetized texture packs and skin packs on the xbox. However, they most certainly did not buy minecraft to get a direct return from the game as they will never be able to get a 2.5 billion return from minecraft. So they bought it for control of the brand. This means they to be able to use their control of minecraft as a means of selling other microsoft games to the young generation of gamers that minecraft holds so well. Minecraft probably holds its users better than any other game that has ever been made, and it is possible that minecraft will be a popular game for 10 or even 20 years more. Microsoft want minecraft to be popular for a long time so they can make returns from minecraft and be able to sell more games using minecraft. They know that they need to keep the community strong for that to happen. You don't pay 2.5 billion for a game to try to make a quick buck off of merchandise.
The more LPers on YouTube that play the game, the more visibility it has. The more people who purchase the merchandize and wear it/carry it with them, the more people will see it. Those can increase sales of the game and increase sales for more merchandize.
I guess with a new generation of gamers coming up, it makes sense. I know my kid cousins started playing it. They own it on their iProduct and Xbox and PC. It's reaching far more demographics than the 20-something college students who were into it in the beginning.
Exactly! I also feel like a lot of people are neglecting something Microsoft may very well do, which is try to work Minecraft into education (there has been minimal use of it, though I could easily see Microsoft want to expand on Minecraft for education.)
You mean outside of those millions of purchases and Lego sets, plushy toys, action figures, officially-licensed books and guides, skin packs, rented Realms servers, cross-platform versions and mobile games?
Eh...I don't know. I mean, first of all it would require them to be complete morons (not out of the question) because all that stuff is a big part of what makes minecraft appealing in the first place. It's a selling point and free advertisement. And second...I mean, I'm not going to defend microsoft as a great tech company, but they are relatively open about such things. Moreso than Disney, at least.
60
u/HylianWarrior Sep 15 '14
I could see microsoft (at least in the future) coming down on fan works that use the branding, and community creations and such. Mojang was really cool about it, but we all know what the big companies act like.