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Microsoft to buy Minecraft for $2.5 billion

Microsoft is set to buy Stockholm-based game company Mojang for a staggering 2.5 billion dollars.

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Mojang is the maker of Minecraft, a massively popular game which lets users create their own virtual worlds. From an indie game, Minecraft rose to fame as it became a mainstream hit, being downloaded over 100 million times on the PC alone, and is a online chart-topper on XBox, Apple and Android platforms.

As Microsoft bought the Minecraft licenses, from the game itself to licensing and other rights necessary, it won’t be bringing in the game’s creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, into the fold. As such, the game creator posted a letter into his personal site and on pastebin:

I’m leaving Mojang
September 15th, 2014
I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.

A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development. Jens was the perfect person to take over leading it, and I wanted to try to do new things. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges, I’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.

I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand. I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. 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.

As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.

I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling with you.

I love you. All of you. 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. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.

It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.

On the Microsoft side, they are pretty excited about their new acquisition. “Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world,” he said. And for the investors in the crowd, apparently Microsoft isn’t too worried about shelling out all that cash. “Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP basis,” Xbox head Phil Spencer says.

“Minecraft is more than a great game franchise – it is an open world platform, driven by a vibrant community we care deeply about, and rich with new opportunities for that community and for Microsoft,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

The deal is expected to finalize by the end of this year, and Microsoft aims the acquisition to break-even by the next fiscal year.

[with reports from 1, 2, 3]

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Get in touch with Carl at @lamielcarl on Twitter or visit his website for more updates!

4 Responses

  1. Avatar for saku saku says:

    I am certain that Microsoft will end up ruining Minecraft; just like the way how they ruined their very own Halo series (and the rest of Game Intellectual Properties they have like Gears of War).

  2. Avatar for arsenal arsenal says:

    Mojang should not let themselves to be bought by Microsoft. Microsoft had a bad history of ruining PC gaming with their service called “Games for Windows Live”. Microsoft said themselves in the past that they are committed in PC gaming but they just let Games for Windows Live die and abandon PC gamers all thanks to their greediness and arrogant move to support their own gaming console. I totally lost my faith in Microsoft for PC gaming. Thank god Valve is there to save it with Steam.

  3. Avatar for archie archie says:

    “Binili na sa akin ang minecraft for $2.5 billion kaya wala na akong pakialam kung anuman ang gawin nila sa larong iyon.”

    Pinaganda pa niya ang exit letter, halata namang it’s all about the money.

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