Microsoft to Acquire Minecraft Creator Mojang for $2.5 Billion

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The big tech news of the day is that Microsoft has announced their plans to acquire Mojang, the software developer of the massive hit Minecraft. The folks in Redmond will pay a cool $2.5 Billion dollars to get their hands on the company and all IP associated with it, although Markus “Notch” Persson, Carl Manneh, and Jakbok Porser, (the three founders of Mojang) will be leaving the company.

Here's a quote with more of the details,

Minecraft is the top paid-for app both on Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iOS and Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) Android systems and helped Mojang, which employs just 40 people, bring in 2.05 billion crowns ($287 million) in revenue in 2013, giving it an 896 million crown ($126 million) operating profit for the year.

Director of website Gamesbrief Nicholas Lovell described Minecraft as a hugely successful product which has "captured the imagination of pretty much everybody under the age of 15", saying the game could help Microsoft broaden its appeal.

While the Mojang team will join Microsoft studios behind global franchises such as "Halo" and "Fable", its three co-founders, who have been chased by the likes of Napster co-founder and early Facebook Inc (FB.O) investor Sean Parker, will be leaving to start new projects.

This is a very big move fro Microsoft, and displays their commitment to gamers as they build out their portfolio of hit titles and work toward the future. There is no word yet on what future projects are planned by Mojang after Microsoft takes over.

Markus Persson, co-founder of Mojang had some interesting things to say regarding the sale and his departure. Here's another quote with more info,

News of the Microsoft deal surprised some Minecraft players who know Persson, or "Notch" as he is commonly known, more for his anti-big business stance. But he explained the reasons behind the deal in a blog shortly after the deal was announced.

"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," Persson said in the blog posted on his Twitter feed.

"I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can't be responsible for something this big," he said. "It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

Perrson is technically a 71% owner of the company, which means he will soon be a billionaire. Perhaps it won't be too hard to keep his sanity as he can now afford as much therapy as he wants.

Source: YahooFinance