Microsoft robs little children - Laughs...

Microsoft are bringing out an education edition of Minecraft that has a subscription cost per an account. They have bought up previously free mods little children with vurnable minds could enjoy, and like a drug dealer, are giving them a taste of the product before charging them through the nose.

None of the money goes to charity.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-19-microsoft-announces-subscription-based-minecraft-for-schools

Even ISiS has limits.

So?...... Kids love Minecraft.

$5/ year? That's crazy. Takes several months of sewing jeans and cleaning insides of canon barrels to get that much cash.

Back to their old ways before the new generation even reaches its prime. They'll never learn.

A new education-focused version of Minecraft will launch this summer, priced at $5 per account per year.

This is criminal.

In what way? This is for educational purposes, and for schools and is not required! Tell me again, how is it back to their old ways?

Um, aren't they a business who's goal is to make money? Welcome to capitalism.

@hrt_rulz01: I know. how dare they sell their product

"It's just captilism" is the kind of thing Donald Trump would say. And he's a racist.

@uninspiredcup: I agree, obviously every company should just hand out things for free all the time. I also think it's ridiculous that bottled water costs money. People need water to live and they are selling it to them making money off of their desire to live, what criminals.

@Nick3306: Without captlism we wouldn't have The Rainforest almost gone, fish populations wiped out, wolves wiped and from entire countries and native Americans extinct.

That's really cool to see and not only that, it would show that not all video games are mindless killing sprees and video games also can help you learn something new. Minecraft is a good example of this.

@uninspiredcup: I don't see how that's relevant to what I said or the thread..... If you want to bash capitalism, make a thread for it instead of passively doing it with non nonsensical examples that don't even further your point.

Because Microsoft touches you at night.

@Nick3306: I.e. You lost the argument...

@Bigboi500: So?... I love myself, and love touching myself, is that a crime?

So... you're Microsoft?

It's school licensing the accounts for their students, probably at tax payers expense, a $5/year per account, which is really cheap actually when compared to the textbook costs, and probably even compared to the licensing costs of other software students use. This version of Minecraft has its own special features that gives teachers controls over content and I'm guessing probably Cloud saving of projects. It also gets students to register for their own Microsoft account which they can use for Xbox, Skype, and OneDrive, and general Microsoft accounts), which in the long run is a great marketing strategy in that it creates a strong sense of familiarity with the services at a young age so familiarity is not a barrier against utilizing the service at a later age. Plus something they have a strong childhood attachment too, or at least helping them develop a preference. They're perfectly capable of paying full price for a copy of MineCraft I'd imagine. Seems like Microsoft had it all figured out when they bought MineCraft/Mojang, they weren't kidding about utilizing it for education. I mean, $5 per student per year, that can be a lot of money.

Could be worse, they could be charging for backwards compatibility.

@uninspiredcup: lmfao, grow up.

I thought you stated that I touch myself? Who cares if MS touches me? I enjoy my xbox one in bed!

I have a feeling is Sony did this ppl would be having a fit.

Didn't you guys ever play Math Blasters, Zoombinis, Oregon Trail, or Type to Learn in school? Those couldn't have been cheap either.

@Nick3306: Trying to get the last say, incredibly immature.

.

I don't see the difference between this and purchasing a one year license for Microsoft Office 365.

There's nothing wrong with this, it's going to be an educational product purchased by schools with tax payer money and will likely be curated and updated throughout its usage.

You kidding? That's awesome! If they can actually use Minecraft for education that could make school much more fun. And it shouldn't come as a surprise it would cost money. It's their game. $5 a year is actually pretty cheap.

So the school pays a charge per account (or likely a reduced sum for multiple accounts) in order to access an educational version of Minecraft. Many schools pay recurring fees/licensing costs for access to educational software. I'm not seeing the issue.

so we're comparing companies to ISIS, that's where we're at now...

@Motokid6: Agreed, it has almost no educational value.

Essentially it's expensive Lego, something many schools already had.

@uninspiredcup: Microsoft also sells almost iall of its software to students for $10.

Visual Studio - $10

Microsoft Office - $10

Windows - $10

Somehow, I think students are coming out ahead...

How is this robbery when the school is paying for their accounts.

Do you even know what Minecraft Education Edition is or how it was used already? This will help get it into more hands instead of having to buy a billion copies for teaching.

It's not like Minecraft was free and they added a subscription

@lamprey263: And not necessary for education so I hope no one bites....

How is this bad? It's educational and cheap.

I just spent 5 dollars on a greasy burger

why?

I see some of you have no idea what it is already being used for. Now, more have access and not just the well funded schools

https://youtu.be/SSimHPmZ0hA

https://youtu.be/RI0BN5AWOe8

@navyguy21: No educational value.

Mein Kampf was recently republished, giving valuable historical insight into the mind of a dictator.

That's being banned, while children fart about hitting trees.

@Bigboi500: ignore Microsoft_man

Constant suck up to MS and taking shots at Sony and Nintendo, though Nintendo less.

Well I'm sure there's no convincing you but millions already use it for education so there's value in it.

No value to you isn't the same as no value.

As a counselor, I welcome any format of media that is able to reach kids in a meaningful way.

This is bigger than video games, let go of the fanboy wars

So...why not just buy the whole game?

For every student? Every year? In a class of 30 students that's $600 vs the $150 for the subscription

Microsoft actually gives VS away for free through Dreamspark if you have a .edu email.

This isn't targeted at children/families directly, rather it's software licensed to schools. When it comes to software, it's rare you can just outright buy and own a license in a business/education setting. Almost everything is a subscription. Licensing and using software in a business/education setting is far different than a consumer setting like you are used too.

Each student would have to purchase their own copy of Minecraft which would cost each student $30. The school could not just own X amount of copies. Rather the school system agrees to pay a yearly fee for a certain amount of licenses. That's where a subscription comes in. The school subscribes to the service for a requested amount of keys for the year. It'll be up to the school board and administration to budget for such a subscription. At $5 a key, that's pretty reasonable. We pay hundreds to thousands per license for productivity software at work and thousands a year for a single subscription to Microsoft's development tools. $5 is chump change in a situation like this.

This has no real place in System Wars as it has nothing to do with System Wars so I'm locking it.