Microsoft buys out MinecraftEdu

TEACHERS in thousands of schools in dozens of countries use the video game Minecraft to teach subjects from maths to computer programming through MinecraftEdu. They use a modified version of the game first made in 2011 by an independent group of teachers and computer programmers.

Microsoft is validating their work by turning MinecraftEdu into the centrepiece of its own business plans for Minecraft as an educational tool. But MinecraftEdu’s creators are not coming along for the ride.

Now Microsoft is buying the MinecraftEdu franchise.

School foothold

Microsoft is excited to gain a foothold in schools. Since Minecraft is considered both educational and fun, the company sees a big opportunity.

The move also marks the closing chapter on one of Minecraft’s most notable usermade modifications. So-called mods are a huge part of Minecraft’s appeal.

Since Microsoft bought Mojang for $2.5 billion (R41.7bn) in late 2014, modders have been looking for signs that Microsoft plans to rein in this freewheeling culture in the name of more control and higher profit.

People have continued to make mods unmolested by Microsoft since the acquisition, and Deirdre Quarnstrom, the head of Minecraft Education at Microsoft, had nothing but positive things to say about TeacherGaming, the start-up that made MinecraftEdu.

“They’ve done an amazing job,” she said. But she added that it was always unlikely that MinecraftEdu would continue to exist independently.

Joel Levin, a computer teacher at a private school in New York City, began work on a modified version of the game in 2011 for use in his classroom. He then teamed up with Santeri Koivisto, a Finnish entrepreneur, to start TeacherGaming to develop their customised version of the game. It let teachers run a Minecraft for classrooms off their own servers and set parameters for their students.

The two men got Mojang to give them a licensing agreement so they could sell MinecraftEdu to schools.

TeacherGaming charged $41 for teachers to set up the server, then about $15 for each student licence. Now 7 000 schools in about 40 countries use MinecraftEdu. This was enough for TeacherGaming to turn a profit and it even began to develop other products to bring videogames into schools.

“When Microsoft came in it wasn’t clear what was going to be allowed,” Levin said. “We had been working with this funky independent Swedish game studio and suddenly we’re working with one of the world’s largest corporations.”

Subscription

Letting a 12-person start-up continue to run the operation of Minecraft in schools did not make sense for Microsoft.

Microsoft’s new version, called Minecraft: Education Edition abandons the one-time fee in favour of a $5 subscription per student per year.

Levin said the deal left TeacherGaming with the resources to develop other lines of business bringing games into schools. – Bloomberg