Yep, you read that right. Microsoft has purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion.
Originally rumoured in the weeks leading up to now, the news of Mojang’s future was confirmed by Microsoft with Xbox chief Phil Spencer mentioning that “Minecraft adds diversity to our game portfolio and helps us reach new gamers across multiple platforms.”
“Gaming is the top activity across devices and we see great potential to continue to grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise. That is why we plan to continue to make Minecraft available across platforms – including iOS, Android and PlayStation, in addition to Xbox and PC.”
The acquisition is set to close by the end of the year. With Mojang now under Microsoft’s wing, Markus ‘Notch’ Persson has announced that he will no longer be part of Mojang, nor will he join Microsoft. In his personal blog, Notch mentions that he wants to “just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges” and that he doesn’t want to be an indie icon akin to Phil Fish (creator of Fez), saying “I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me”.
“I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”
While Notch may have never intended for Minecraft to change the gaming landscape, he’s certainly given the world a game that has left the team and myself with good times and many memories. We wish Notch all the very best for his future endeavours.
What do you think of Mojang now coming under Microsoft? Will you still play Minecraft? Let us know!
*Sourced from The Verge
