We’ve already heard what passionate adult Minecraft fans think of Microsoft acquiring their favorite game for $2.5 billion earlier this week. But what about the millions of children who also share that same fervor for the extremely popular title?
We sat down with some of Seattle’s geeky kids to find out. It was fascinating to hear the children describe why they like Minecraft, and also interesting — and equally impressive — to watch them sound off on Microsoft acquiring the game.
Their feedback is particularly interesting because it’s clear that Microsoft was thinking about education and the next generation of technologists when it paid $2.5 billion for Mojang, the indie gaming company that developed Minecraft.
“To me what Minecraft represents is more than a hit game franchise,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on Monday. “It’s this open-world platform. If you think about it, it’s the one game parents want their kids to play.”
Nadella, who was speaking at an annual Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce annual luncheon, said he woke up on Monday morning and his 10-year-old daughter asked him if he knew about Microsoft buying Mojang — a comment that drew laughs from the audience.
“If you talk about STEM education, the best way to introduce anyone to STEM or get their curiosity going on, it’s Minecraft,” he said. “So I think what this open-world phenomenon will mean to the community at large, for people who builders, is pretty big, and we are very excited about the acquisition, obviously.”
Check out what the kids had to say above.
