微軟將斥巨資收購熱門遊戲所屬公司大綱

Microsoft agreed on Monday to buy the company behind Minecraft, the world-building computer Game, for $2.5 billion in a cash deal meant to add the immensely popular title to its stock of content.
本週一，微軟同意斥資25億美元（約合人民幣154億元），收購《我的世界》(Minecraft)所屬的公司，以便把這款炙手可熱的遊戲收入囊中。

Last week, Microsoft was reported to be in talks to buy the company to ensure that the games was available for its family of devices.
據報道，微軟上週進行了收購該公司的會談，以確保該遊戲可以登陸微軟的各種設備。

As part of the deal, employees of Mojang, the Swedish developer that created Minecraft, will join Microsoft Studios, which already publishes games like the blockbuster Halo.
該交易的內容之一是，《我的世界》的瑞典開發商Mojang旗下員工將加入微軟工作室(Microsoft Studios)；後者已經發行過一些遊戲，比如大熱的《光暈》(Halo)。

Yet Minecraft looks little like Halo and its Hollywood-level graphics. Its worlds look blocky, like pixelated Legos. But the gameplay — focused on building elaborate virtual structures — has drawn a huge and dedicated following around the world.
然而，《我的世界》看上去和《光暈》及其好萊塢級別的圖像效果相似度極小。它的世界看起來很斑駁，如同像素化的樂高積木。但是其玩法——側重於構建複雜的虛擬結構——已經在全球吸引了大批忠實粉絲。

Games remain one of the biggest categories of apps, including those for mobile devices. Adding one of the most popular offerings could help bolster Microsoft’s Windows series of devices, including phones and tablets.
遊戲仍然是各種應用中最大的類別之一，包括移動設備上的遊戲應用。提供一款時下最爲流行的遊戲，有助於提振微軟的Windows系列設備，包括手機和平板電腦。

In a news release, Microsoft said that its cloud and mobile offerings would help add more sophisticated worlds, development tools and ways for players to connect with one another.
在新聞發佈會上，微軟表示，它的雲計算和移動服務將有助於添加更復雜的構造、開發工具和途徑，讓玩家可以彼此連接。

“Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Minecraft is more than a great game franchise — it is an open world platform, driven by a vibrant community we care deeply about and rich with new opportunities for that community and for Microsoft.”
“遊戲催生了大量活動，從PC和家用遊戲主機，到平板電腦和手機，人們每年花數十億小時在遊戲上，”微軟首席執行官薩蒂亞·納德拉(Satya Nadella)在一份聲明中說。“《我的世界》不僅是一款極爲出色的遊戲——它還是一個開放世界的平臺，擁有一個充滿活力的的社區，我們非常看重這個社區；對於微軟及其社區來說，《我的世界》都蘊含着豐富的新機遇。”

One person who will not stick around to see what changes lie in store for the game, however, is Minecraft’s creator, Markus Persson. Mr. Persson — better known by his gamer tag Notch — wrote in an unusually candid blog post exactly why he would leave Mojang after the closing of the deal, which is expected late this year.
但是，《我的世界》的創造者馬庫斯·佩爾鬆(Markus Persson)不會留在公司，親眼看着它發生變化。佩爾鬆——他在這個遊戲中的代號Notch更加廣爲人知——寫了一篇異常坦率的博文，解釋自己爲什麼會在擬於今年年底完成的交易結束之後，就離開Mojang。

Rather than engage in fist-bumping or writing a missive to users about how selling his baby will only expand Minecraft’s horizons, Mr. Persson sounded as if he were having a large tumor excised from his body. He described the pressures of being the figurehead of such a big and influential game as too much for him to bear.
佩爾鬆的文中沒有指責誰，也不是在告訴用戶，賣掉自己的心血結晶只會有助於它的擴張，而是寫得好像從他身上切除了一個巨大腫瘤似的。據他形容，在這樣一個富有影響力的大作中擔當名義領袖，其壓力超過了他能承受的範圍。

“I’ve become a symbol,” Mr. Persson wrote. “I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a C.E.O. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”
“我已經成爲了一個符號，”佩爾鬆寫道。“可我不想當符號，去承擔一些我弄不懂，也不想弄懂，但又如影隨形的巨大責任。我不是當企業家的料，也當不了CEO，我就是一個喜歡在Twitter上發表意見的書呆子程序員。”

Mr. Persson and Mojang had repeatedly rebuffed takeover entreaties in the past, but by the time Microsoft made an initial approach about three months ago, the game developer was more willing to consider cashing out. He is expected to make nearly $1.8 billion from the deal.
佩爾鬆和Mojang以前曾多次回絕過其他公司的收購意向，但大約三個月前，微軟開始和他們接觸時，佩爾鬆顯得比較願意考慮套現選項。預計他將從這筆交易中獲得近18億美元。

“Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life?” he wrote in a Twitter post on June 16.
“有人想買我在Mojang的股份嗎，好讓我可以在生活中做別的事情？”6月16日，他在推特上寫道。

Taking the lead in the negotiations was Carl Manneh, Mojang’s chief executive, who will leave along with his fellow co-founders, Mr. Persson and Jakob Porser. Some of the most important objectives for the company, according to people briefed on the talks, were ensuring that the Minecraft community would be preserved and that younger developers at Mojang would have jobs after a deal.
牽頭談判的是Mojang首席執行官卡爾·曼恩(Carl Manneh)，他將與聯合創始人佩爾鬆和雅克布·珀瑟(Jakob Porser)一起離開該公司。根據瞭解會談內情的人說，該公司最重要的談判目標之一是，確保在交易達成後，《我的世界》的社區將得以存續，而且該公司較年輕的開發人員能保有自己的工作崗位。

Mojang was advised by JPMorgan Chase.
摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)爲Mojang提供了相關諮詢服務。