Microsoft to acquire Minecraft maker Mojang: reports
10 Sep 2014
Microsoft could, by the week end, become the sole owner of Minecraft, the most successful game of all-time, according to industry insiders, Metro reported.
Though officially only a rumour, The Wall Street Journal claims the deal could be signed within a few days, giving Microsoft sole control over the most successful non-bundled video game ever made.
At the last instance of the counting of total sales, Minecraft had on the whole hit 54 million copies in sales, coming up only next to the hardware bundle Wii Sports on 82 million.
At that time developer Mojang also revealed that console sales had started overtaking the PC, and the Xbox 360 version had always been the most successful of those – although it did come out first.
According to commentators, that explained the company's interest in Mojang, although the PlayStation 4 version came out last week, and the PS Vita version was still on its way.
According to commentators, the move was surprising however, in that the game's creator Markkus 'Notch' Persson had always been very critical of large corporations, and had spoken out angrily against EA, Oculus Rift (when they were bought by Facebook).
The deal to purchase Minecraft maker Mojang would be worth $2 billion, ANI reports.
Acquiring Minecraft, which had sold over 54 million units across all hardware platforms-Microsoft's Windows and Xbox 360, Apple's Mac, Sony's PlayStation 3, and mobile platforms like Apple's iOS and Google's Android-could be a big boost for Microsoft's Xbox, according to CNET.
Minecraft became an instant hit when it was launched in 2009, which gave people a simple version of the kind of building environment that helped propel the virtual world Second Life into the mainstream.
Moreover, Minecraft had been highly profitable, earning $128 million in profit in 2013, according to the report.
According to The Wall Street Journal, it would be somewhat of an unexpected plunge for chief Satya Nadella, who had signaled Xbox was not a core business for Microsoft.
At the same time though, Nadella said that Microsoft viewed video games as a way to expand the company's footholds in PCs and mobile phones. In a letter to employees in July, Nadella said gaming was the 'single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world, the report added.