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Microsoft's Minecraft Set To Launch Its Own Currency (bloomberg.com)
Minecraft's popularity shows no signs of slowing down. Microsoft, which acquired the game's maker, Mojang, in 2014, has recently launched the game in China and continues to market it well in the U.S. The next big step for the game is the introduction of a new marketplace and brand new currency -- within the game itself. What this does is it "[opens] up the opportunity for businesses to sell their original content and creations to tens of millions of the game's players for the first time," writes Nate Lanxon via Bloomberg. From the report: Set to go live in the spring, nine businesses will be selling feature packs within Minecraft -- such as new storylines, in-game activities or landscapes to explore -- with prices ranging between about $1 and $10 per creation. Other companies can apply to be allowed into the marketplace over subsequent months. Users wishing to purchase content will need to buy a form of new currency -- Minecraft Coins. A store within the game does already exist but is limited to only items created by the Minecraft development team. The change to allow third-party developers to sell their wares within the same ecosystem opens up an entirely new business model for independent creatives.
s/Second Life/Minecraft/g
Nothing ruins a game faster than in-game currency & micro transactions.
Fare thee well minecraft... it was fun while it lasted!
Nah. This is only for the Win 10 and Mobile versions (not the original java beastie). Who cares what they do with this?
"The next big step for the game is the introduction of a new marketplace and brand new currency -- within the game itself."
And let the scamming begin!
This will attract loads of scumbags who will pollute and game the system in order to steal money and accounts and whatever else they can get. It happens with every other kind of in-game currency and I guarantee that Minecraft will be no exception.
When Microsoft bought Minecraft they might as well have just renamed it "Minecrap".
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...