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Rumor: Microsoft May Acquire Minecraft Maker Mojang

By - Source: The Wall Street Journal | B 16 comments

An unnamed source close to The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is currently in discussions to acquire Minecraft developer Mojang AB in a deal valued at more than $2 billion. The source said that the deal could be signed as early as this week.

Mojang's popular sandbox construction game Minecraft was released in May 2009 as an alpha and launched as a retail product in November 2011. Since then, Mojang has sold more than 54 million copies of the game across the PC, consoles and mobile devices. According to the paper, the game and related licensed products generated $100 million in profits just in 2013 alone.

It's understandable that Microsoft may have an interest in Mojang. As of June 2014, more than 12 million gamers owned the Xbox 360 version ($20), and the Xbox One copy just made its debut on September 5, 2014. Even the PlayStation 3 version has proven to be popular, reeling in more than 3 million copies sold as of June.

Minecraft has become a cult hit, allowing players to jump into a blocky world and create anything, from calculators to the starship Enterprise to full-fledged cities. Players can turn on a "survival" mode that allows players to fend off creatures such as giant spiders, zombies, skeletons and even Creepers. Players can also choose to simply build in "creative" mode.

As it stands now, both Microsoft and Mojang are not commenting on the report. However, an acquisition by Microsoft would be a surprising move for Mojang given founder Markus "Notch" Persson's stance about remaining as an independent developer. The paper points out that Persson has in the past "shunned" investment from outsiders and even criticized Windows 8 before the platform was released.

If a deal between Microsoft and Mojang is reached, the purchase would be the first multibillion-dollar acquisition by Microsoft with new CEO Satya Nadella in place. The acquisition would be an unusual investment given Nadella has indicated that Xbox is not a core business for Microsoft, the paper pointed out.

If Microsoft acquires Mojang, what would happen to Minecraft, especially the versions on competing platforms? Likely nothing at all; you can't fix something that isn't broken, and the Minecraft franchise has shown that it's far from being broken.

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  • 3 Hide
    dovah-chan , September 10, 2014 9:28 AM
    *that one time kotaku was ahead of someone*
  • 2 Hide
    Urzu1000 , September 10, 2014 9:36 AM
    There seems to be a lot of rumors circling about this. I read about it on another news site a day or two ago.

    What I find strange is that they're purchasing it for $2 billion dollars. This doesn't feel like a logical business move on Microsoft's part. Most people who want to buy Minecraft already have, with the exception of children who are just getting old enough to want it.Unless they intend of course, to somehow release a Minecraft 2 at some point, and monopolize that.

    Anyway, I'm not believing anything that's based on rumors, especially when the rumors have come from out of nowhere. I've been with Minecraft since early Alpha, and I've followed the Mojang team through the whole journey. I can't imagine them selling out after all this. Although, I definitely would if I was them.
  • 4 Hide
    alidan , September 10, 2014 10:09 AM
    minecraft isnt a cult hit, here
    as of late june, it sold nearly 54 million copies across all platforms...
    if thats cult what the hell is the rest of gaming?
  • Add your comment Display all 16 comments.
  • -3 Hide
    dovah-chan , September 10, 2014 10:17 AM
    54 million people equates to almost half of the size of the USA. That is quite a large following. But still I do not like the game myself due to the nature of how its programmed in java and redundancy of the game play.
  • 3 Hide
    AEM , September 10, 2014 10:34 AM
    Quote:
    54 million people equates to almost half of the size of the USA. That is quite a large following. But still I do not like the game myself due to the nature of how its programmed in java and redundancy of the game play.


    The population of the U.S. is roughly 310 million...

    Anyways, Notch mentioned before he doesn't support being bought out or interested in the money, so even if this was real, the deal will probably never happen.
  • 2 Hide
    dovah-chan , September 10, 2014 10:40 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    54 million people equates to almost half of the size of the USA. That is quite a large following. But still I do not like the game myself due to the nature of how its programmed in java and redundancy of the game play.


    The population of the U.S. is roughly 310 million...

    Anyways, Notch mentioned before he doesn't support being bought out or interested in the money, so even if this was real, the deal will probably never happen.


    woops x___x Should have said a sixth instead of a half. My mind keeps wandering off today. Sorry lol

  • 0 Hide
    Foxcat , September 10, 2014 12:40 PM
    No way, Mojang is a bunch of independent devs. Microsoft never wold have bought them. The license for Minecraft is still a property of Notch and he have just given Mojang the right to exclusively develop it.
  • 0 Hide
    Foxcat , September 10, 2014 12:42 PM
    Quote:
    minecraft isnt a cult hit, here
    as of late june, it sold nearly 54 million copies across all platforms...
    if thats cult what the hell is the rest of gaming?


    This number is nothing, many more (around 300 milllion I suppose?) downloaded the game ilegally.
  • 2 Hide
    coolitic , September 10, 2014 12:48 PM
    Most likely a false rumor.

    As mojang said themselves, even if they never sold another game, they still have enough money to last decades.
  • 1 Hide
    derekullo , September 10, 2014 3:57 PM
    I enjoy playing minecraft but with the cheap price of the game I would imagine the majority of the people that were going to buy it have bought it.

    I don't see how this could be a major asset microsoft would be able to make money off of, especially at $2 billion. $26.95 x 54 million copies = $1.4 billion
    Does not make much sense to pay 600M more than the gross profit the company claims it has made.

    Am I missing something?
  • 2 Hide
    alidan , September 10, 2014 5:54 PM
    Quote:
    I enjoy playing minecraft but with the cheap price of the game I would imagine the majority of the people that were going to buy it have bought it.

    I don't see how this could be a major asset microsoft would be able to make money off of, especially at $2 billion. $26.95 x 54 million copies = $1.4 billion
    Does not make much sense to pay 600M more than the gross profit the company claims it has made.

    Am I missing something?


    minecraft is 27$... far from cheap. i would get it for 5-10$ but not 27... that said i do have fortresscraft that is getting enhanced version for the pc, and its already a great building game with necessary features you are required to mod into minecraft.
  • 1 Hide
    xtelemonx , September 10, 2014 6:07 PM
    Good. The only good game mojang has made so far is minecraft.
  • 0 Hide
    alextheblue , September 10, 2014 6:32 PM
    Quote:
    Good. The only good game mojang has made so far is minecraft.


    I doubt this rumor is true but if it was I'd like to see a Minecraft 2 NOT written in Java, with more built-in features (new game modes!), and free hosting on MS' cloud. Cross-platform play with consoles would be nice too.
  • 0 Hide
    anbello262 , September 10, 2014 6:41 PM
    Totally unrelated, but:
    Dovah-chan D: I really like your avatar image, did you draw that? Is it from somewhere else? D:
  • 0 Hide
    erickmendes , September 11, 2014 6:12 AM
    I bet we are gonna have pets in Minecraft now. I'm totally going to get the Annoying Office Talking Paper-Clip! ^ ^
  • 0 Hide
    Urzu1000 , September 11, 2014 9:15 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Good. The only good game mojang has made so far is minecraft.


    I doubt this rumor is true but if it was I'd like to see a Minecraft 2 NOT written in Java, with more built-in features (new game modes!), and free hosting on MS' cloud. Cross-platform play with consoles would be nice too.


    Personally, I think Java works fairly well for this kind of game, and was a good starting point for a new gaming company that didn't have enough manpower to handle coding multiple platforms when it first started. The fact that Java is basically universally compatible gave it a profit edge, especially due to the large appeal to Mac users. I don't believe they have near as many game options as Windows users do, so it would have less competition in that area, and probably more sales.

    I do see your point though. And as far as more features go, there's endless possibilities that would greatly improve the experience.
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