With one more major content patch on the way (Echos) Mojang has determined that they can no longer support their strategy card game, Scrolls.
Scrolls released three years ago while Mojang was still under independent operation. Since being purchased by Microsoft in 2014 the focus for the developers have been almost entirely on the billion dollar hit sandbox game Minecraft.
Mojang will have to move on from this project as it has been underwhelming — esepcially relative to Minecraft.
“The launch of the Scrolls beta was a great success. Tens of thousands of players battled daily, and many of them remain active today. Unfortunately, the game has reached a point where it can no longer sustain continuous development.”
The game will continue to be operational and available for purchase, but in July 2016 the game’s servers will cease.
“We’ve had a great time working on Scrolls, and appreciate every last player who’s downloaded our game. Extra big thanks to the most dedicated members of our community; some of you have logged in almost every day since release and dedicated a large portion of your time to dominating the leaderboards and taking care of new players. We salute you, honourable scrolldiers.”
Starting on February 4th, the millions of Minecraft fans will be given the option to change your in-game name for anyone with a mojang account.
Players will be able to choose any untaken name or make any modifications to their current name. After making the change players will have a 30 day wait period before they can change their name again.
For those still sticking to the first unpaid usernames before Minecraft was available to purchase, their names will not carry over and will be open for selection to new players. Mojang is encouraging anyone with the unpaid names to officially register.
Check out the Mojang account page once the new feature is available.
While the popularity of Minecraft is certainly not something to underestimate, even the developers of the sand-box game were astonished to see the numbers triumphing every other game right now.
Longtime developer, Nathan Adams (@Dinnerbone) expressed his own astonishment on twitter earlier as the team working on the game was able to get their first look at just how many players play.
Even at a typically very low player-density timeframe there are over one million players at one time. The number exceeds that of every game on the incredibly popular PC gaming platform by Valve — Steam.
Some also suggest that Minecraft’s multiplayer mode is much more popular as well, but it seems that isn’t true as Dinnerbone pointed out the divide between a solo experience and the online one is split about 50-50.
The news may be surprising to many, but Microsoft is standing very confidently with the expansive multi-demographic attracting IP in their hands after their recent $2 billion acquisition of the game’s developer, Mojang.
Developed by the newly Microsoft owned, Mojang’s Scrolls IP has finally gotten its launch trailer after being announced three years ago.
Scrolls attempts to merge strategy game elements with typical card game qualities. Each player establishes their own unique army as they play, and attack the five “pillars” on the opposing team. The first to take down three of these pillars wins the game.
The game is filled with gameplay intricacies and a variety of game modes to play through — whether it be against the A.I. or a real person.
An epic deal has been reached between Microsoft and the flourishing young company just a short five years after Markus “Notch” Persson released the original alpha stage of Minecraft to the public in 2009.
Minecraft’s evolution over the years has been massive and it’s popularity grew rapidly from it’s early simplified days of just digging and placing blocks, to the newest iteration of the game with intricate machines, CPU villages, and magical elements all creating a game that goes beyond just the creativity the user has alone.
Markus Persson has always said the price of Minecraft would be high — even jokingly mentioning that he wouldn’t settle for anything south of $2B in a tweet from 2012. But Microsoft seems confident in their acquisition of Mojang not just for Minecraft the game itself, but also for the demographics that are attracted to the game — which is virtually everyone. While kids seem to be flocking to the game in droves the charm of 16 bit world is loved from gamers of all ages.
The news for Microsoft is exciting, but the future for Minecraft on Playstation Vita and Playstation 4 is questionable. Mojang’s official statement on the game’s future doesn’t solidify anything as they leave the future of the company to Microsoft, but no imminent major changes are to come as of yet.
“There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.” (Mojang.com)
The future for the founders also remains unknown, though they have attempted other projects they have struggled to have the games gain as much traction as they would have liked and Mojang’s other developing projects (Scrolls and Cobalt) don’t quite have a definitive future right now.
What’s happening to the other Mojang projects, like Scrolls?
“We don’t know yet. We’ll share any news as soon as we do.”
Notch and the other Minecraft founders (Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser) will surely appreciate the extra $2 billion in their pockets after the sudden burst of extreme popularity and they’ll enjoy being able to step out of the spotlight now.
“I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.
It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.” – Markus Persson