How much did microsoft buy minecraft for? Why is Microsoft buying Minecraft?

How much did microsoft buy minecraft for? Minecraft was initially developed by Swedish gaming studio, Mojang (which was later renamed Mojang Studios). Markus “Notch” Persson served as the game’s primary creator, while Jens “Jeb” Bergensten took over from him when the game was released fully in 2011.

Mojang was acquired by Microsoft in September 2014 in a $2.5 billion deal. The move paved the way for the game to be introduced to a larger selection of platforms and a new audience: Xbox players. Additionally, they have kept a steady chain of updates in progress, ensuring that new content keeps making its way to the community.

Another major feature that was added to the game after the acquisition was a rework of PVP in the “combat” update. While the community was divided on whether it was a good change or an unnecessary one, it did send shockwaves through the system as it brought upon an attack cooldown system.

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Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang: Everything Minecraft players need to know

Initially, the game’s creator, Markus Persson, had no intentions of selling the game. A plethora of high-profile companies had already approached Mojang with offers of up to $1 billion, including Activision Blizzard, Valve Corporation, and Electronic Arts (EA).

Additionally, firms like Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners had also shown interest in acquiring the company. However, all their requests were denied since Mojang already had an adequate amount of money.

On June 17, 2014, Notch sent out a tweet that signaled that he wanted to leave. The tweet was a result of a great deal of pressure and unhappiness that Notch was experiencing. The primary reason for this was the grand scale of the game’s success, and the limelight it forced him into.

Following the tweet, Microsoft, among many others, came to Persson with an offer to acquire Mojang. The offer was discussed by Persson and his hired financial advisors from the investment firm JPMorgan Chase.

Subsequently, the deal went public and it was announced that $2.5 billion would be spent on the entire acquisition. On November 6, 2014, Mojang officially became a part of Microsoft Studios.

A look at Minecraft and Notch’s current scenario

Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang was one of the biggest things to ever happen to the game. Minecraft is one of the most-loved games ever.

With a monthly player base of almost 140 million players, the game’s popularity isn’t any closer to taking a hit. According to a 2021 fact sheet from Xbox News, the game has sold more than 238 million copies, making it the best-selling video game of all time.

The game recently released one of its biggest updates, the Caves and Cliffs part 2 update, and is set to release another major update this year.

Notch is still an extremely popular figure within the Minecraft community. In 2020, he made an appearance in Dream’s Minecraft Manhunt series, and has since taken to posting Factorio and Satisfactory gameplay on his YouTube channel and Twitter.

Microsoft Proves Minecraft Was One Of Their Best Buys Of All Time

Microsoft reported their Q3 earnings with a few facts about how successful they’ve been with Minecraft. Minecraft, created by Markus Persson (Notch) was acquired by Microsoft in the year 2014 for approximately $2.5 billion USD. This week Microsoft revealed some facts about how the franchise is doing and where they are with what’s widely regarded as the best-selling video game of all time.

Minecraft is one of the most long-lasting games ever made, appearing on multiple platforms over the course of the past decade. Minecraft (Java Edition) was first launched in May of 2009, available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Since then, Minecraft has been launched on Android, iOS, Kindle (Amazon stuff), Gear VR, Oculus Rift, Fire TV (Amazon’s Android again), Xbox One, Windows MR, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 (with PS4 backward compatibility).

Earlier versions of the game were available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS. Microsoft suggested this week that Minecraft is available now on a total of 22 platforms. Basically Minecraft is on more devices than you can shake a stick at.

Why is Microsoft buying Minecraft?

Microsoft announced this week that it’s buying hugely popular game franchise Minecraft for $2.5 billion. For that money, Microsoft gets rights to the game and ownership of its Stockholm, Sweden-based development studio, Mojang. It doesn’t retain the company’s founders or Minecraft’s infamously outspoken creator, Markus “Notch” Persson.

Does that sound like a lot, $2.5 billion? Well, it is in human dollars, but not so much when you’re Microsoft and you’ve got $85 billion in “cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.” Regardless of the fact that this week’s deal only cost Microsoft around 3 percent of that, here’s the real kicker (in the form of a statement from Microsoft): “Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP basis.” Woof, that’s a doozy of a sentence right there.

Here’s the translation: Microsoft expects the purchase of Minecraft/Mojang to make it a lot of money. And that is why Microsoft bought Minecraft.

Admittedly, that’s a rough translation of all that Microsoft’s saying in that jargon-filled sentence. And it’s a crucial statement in the several-paragraphs-long press release that announced the deal. So let’s break it down, piece by piece!

Minecraft Creator Explains Controversial $2.5 Billion Sale to Microsoft

On Monday morning, tech giant Microsoft announced that it has acquired Persson’s indie gaming company, Mojang, maker of Minecraft, the hit game that lets you build your own virtual worlds, and Persson took to his blog to explain his part in this highly contentious move. Rumors of such a deal first emerged last week, leaving many of Minecraft’s loyal fans wondering why Persson, who has been a vocal critic of Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR, would sell to a corporate giant like Microsoft.

Basically, Persson is tired. Since it launched in 2009, Persson said on his blog, Minecraft’s explosive growth and the public spotlight that came with it had become overwhelming. Persson acknowledges that as an outspoken critic of corporations, including Microsoft, he became a sort of figurehead for the indie developer community, a role he says he never really wanted in the first place. “I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand,” he writes. “I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”

So, he explains, as soon as the deal with Microsoft is finalized, he plans to leave the company to work on “small web experiments.” And if any of those experiments should become as popular as Minecraft became, Persson writes, “I’ll probably abandon it immediately.”

Certainly, the irony of the move isn’t lost on him. “I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that,” he continues. “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.”

This decision is not likely to ease fears among Minecraft’s fan base. Many fear that their favorite game will wither under Microsoft’s leadership, or, at the very least, become inextricably linked to Microsoft’s Xbox gaming system. As WIRED pointed out last week, after Halo was acquired by Microsoft in 2000, sequels to the flagship game were launched exclusively for Microsoft platforms. Such a change could alienate a wide swath of Microsoft’s user base. And without its nonconformist leader on board, maintaining creative independence may become even more difficult for the Minecraft team.

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