One tweet perfectly highlights the bizarre position Microsoft is in with 'Minecraft' (MSFT)

pulse

May 13, 2017 4:32 PM

Ever since Microsoft bought "Minecraft," the company's Xbox division has been in charge of supporting the game on its competition's platforms.

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Microsoft's ownership of "Minecraft" has made for some decidedly strange situations.

There was none more bizarre than this week, when company executive Phil Spencer celebrated the launch of "Minecraft" for Nintendo's hot new game console, the Switch. touted on Twitter:

But such weird situations are nothing new. Microsoft has been placed in them repeatedly ever since it purchased "Minecraft" back in 2014. That's because Microsoft has continued to support the game on a whole slew of platforms it doesn't control. You can play it on your phone (iPhone and Android), on your tablet, on your computer (PC or Mac), and even on Sony's PlayStation 4.

Heck, the Switch isn't even the first Nintendo console for "Minecraft" to appear on. Microsoft previously released a version of the game for the Wii U, Nintendo's last home console.

Which isn't to say there's something wrong with Microsoft preserving the legacy of "Minecraft" as a game you can play on pretty much anything.It might be a smart business move! And from a consumer's perspective, it's mighty nice to be able to play the game on any platform you want. But that situation is a tremendous outlier in terms of typical game industry strategy, and it sticks out as a result.

It's outright fantastic that "Minecraft" just launched on the Nintendo Switch, a platform that makes perfect sense for it. It's also outright bizarre that Microsoft is responsible for making that happen.

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