Microsoft is rumored to be in talks to buy Mojang AB, the developers behind Minecraft. The asking price? $ 2 billion.
The deal may end as soon as this week. The source also claims that it was Minecraft creator Markus Persson who approached Microsoft himself, based on their good working relationship over the game’s release on the Xbox 360. Persson will help out in the transition, but may leave Mojang when it is finalized.
This may strike some longtime Minecraft fans as ironic, as Notch has been famously critical of Microsoft before. In fact, he was very combative regarding Windows 8, and refused to have his game certified through it. The game has seen a lot of success in Microsoft’s platforms, Windows and Xbox 360, so in spite of Notch's attitude, it would make sense for Microsoft to want to acquire the game.
However, there may be another factor here, and this may be that Notch simply wants to let go of his creation completely. He has not been lead developer for almost three years now, content to let Mojang and 4J Studios take on the work of expanding the game to more platforms. It’s also possible that Notch is tired of dealing with the fallout from enforcing the EULA, which put Notch and Mojang up against their own fans over mods and monetization.
For any of these reasons, or the sum total of them, Notch may want to let go of Minecraft. If this is the case, he saw the best opportunity to support fans and Mojang’s developers by selling to Microsoft. The $ 2 billion asking price is high even for a succesful company like Mojang, so fans wonder if there is anything else behind this deal. I think it’s possible that similar to EA’s acquisition of Popcap, Mojang staff may be slated to take senior positions in Team Xbox, so they are negotiating for a high value acquisition. Please note that this is all only speculation for now.
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