Microsoft Pays $2.5 Billion to Get the Iconic Minecraft Franchise
Mojang, Swedish video game developer that is best known for the popular Minecraft game, is being acquired by Microsoft. $2.5 billion is the sum that Microsoft is paying to get its hands on the Mojang company and the iconic Minecraft franchise.
“Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “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.”
Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang for $2.5 billion is expected to close in late 2014. As part of the acquisition, the Mojang team will join Microsoft Studios. Markus “Notch” Persson, the one who founded Mojang alongside Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser, the one who created the Minecraft game, will not join Microsoft. As a matter of fact, all three founders decided to leave.
“As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately,” said Notch on his blog.
Minecraft is a veritable gold mine for Microsoft. It is one of the most popular games in history. Since its launch in 2009, it has been downloaded more than 100 million times on PC alone. For the past 2 years, the game racked up more than 2 billion hours of playtime on the Xbox 360 alone.
(I remind you that the game is available for multiple platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux, Java, iOS, Android, Xbox, and PlayStation.)
The plan is to make the Minecraft game even better. Microsoft said it will invest in cloud and mobile technologies that will enable players to benefit from richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools, and more opportunities to connect with members of the Minecraft community.
“‘Minecraft’ is one of the most popular franchises of all time,” said Phil Spencer, head of Xbox. “We are going to maintain ‘Minecraft’ and its community in all the ways people love today, with a commitment to nurture and grow it long into the future.”
“Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “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.”
Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang for $2.5 billion is expected to close in late 2014. As part of the acquisition, the Mojang team will join Microsoft Studios. Markus “Notch” Persson, the one who founded Mojang alongside Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser, the one who created the Minecraft game, will not join Microsoft. As a matter of fact, all three founders decided to leave.
“As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately,” said Notch on his blog.
Minecraft is a veritable gold mine for Microsoft. It is one of the most popular games in history. Since its launch in 2009, it has been downloaded more than 100 million times on PC alone. For the past 2 years, the game racked up more than 2 billion hours of playtime on the Xbox 360 alone.
(I remind you that the game is available for multiple platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux, Java, iOS, Android, Xbox, and PlayStation.)
The plan is to make the Minecraft game even better. Microsoft said it will invest in cloud and mobile technologies that will enable players to benefit from richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools, and more opportunities to connect with members of the Minecraft community.
“‘Minecraft’ is one of the most popular franchises of all time,” said Phil Spencer, head of Xbox. “We are going to maintain ‘Minecraft’ and its community in all the ways people love today, with a commitment to nurture and grow it long into the future.”
