This morning, Microsoft announced that they have officially purchased Mojang, the creators of Minecraft, for $2.5 billion dollars. There have been rumors circulating the industry recently that this was going to happen and now we can confirm that it is true. The official news was revealed on Mojang’s website, along with more details regarding this acquisition. Most of the deal is due to the fact that Markus Persson, or Notch as he is known as in the gaming world, has gotten tired of working for a large corporation and never expected Minecraft to become the phenomenon it is today. So, himself and the two other co-founders of Mojang, Jakob and Carl, are leaving the team also as part of the contract.
Microsoft was chosen as the buyer, because of the fact that very few companies interested actually had the means to purchase the company for such a large sum of money and mainly because the team at Mojang has had such good relations with Microsoft since 2012, when work began on the first port of Minecraft to Xbox 360. Gamers shouldn’t fear, as Microsoft has already stated that work will continue on all ports of the game and updates will continue to roll out for all platforms regardless. They also expect this purchase to break even by the fiscal year of 2015 due to the worldwide success of Minecraft thus far.
Despite leaving the company, Notch has said that he will continue to make “cool stuff” on his own more easily now, without the hassle of owning a large and very successful company. The only concerning thing about the whole acquisition is the fact that when the initial rumors started, it was revealed that Microsoft’s main plans for Mojang were to turn them into a mobile development company. Many people fear this could lead to the developer not being able to operate under the creative freedoms they deserve and that the quality of their products will be nowhere near their normally high standard. For more news on this developing story, keep it locked right here.
