As evidenced by Amazon's $1 billion purchase of Twitch, the livestreaming service popular with gamers and virtually unheard of outside of that world, big companies are catching on to the value of owning the technology powering gaming communities. What's still unknown is how those communities will react, in the long run, to suddenly finding themselves in the hands of a major corporation -- and what Microsoft will do to try and keep them. For many, the Minecraft-Microsoft deal will become the canary in the redstone mine.
Fan reaction has been mixed so far. Some concentrated on making tributes to Markuss "Notch" Persson, the Minecraft creator who will leave Mojang, the company behind the game, once the purchase is final. Others were outraged at what was widely read as Mojang "selling out" to a big corporation that has a mixed history with its earlier indie acquisitions.
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