Microsoft confirms acquisition of Minecraft/Mojang for $2.5 Billion

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Microsoft announced it's bought Minecraft studio Mojang for a deal worth $2.5 billion. The buyout will see Mojang founders Markus "Notch" Persson, Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser leave the Swedish studio. Both companies confirmed the acquisition this morning, with Head of Xbox Phil Spencer noting Microsoft's "long seen the potential of Minecraft."

"At Microsoft, we believe in the power of content to unite people," Spencer wrote on Xbox Wire. "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."



Notch gave the following statement
I'm leaving Mojang

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.


Jens Bergensten 'Jeb' made a quick statement on twitter.


Posted:
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/09/15/microsoft-confirms-acquisition-of-minecraft-studio-mojang/

Comments

"Microsoft confirms acquisition of Minecraft/Mojang for $2.5 Billion" :: Login/Create an Account :: 73 comments

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goonbagPosted:

really hope microsoft doesn't ruin it lucky they still have the old devs!

EthicsPosted:

i'm glad that the game is keeping it's main devs. Without them this game would go down hill.

DeluxeHazardPosted:

I hope Microsoft doesn't ruin Minecraft for the community.

AstronautsPosted:

Damn that's a lot of money lol :o
Hopefully ms doesn't ruin mc, and instead they makes it better. Also its great to see that the lead dev is staying.

TomPosted:

is a lot of money but hopefully nothing bad will happen with Minecraft. It would suck if something happen since minecraft is a great game to play with free time.

CHPPosted:

glad jens is still planning on being the lead dev, now it should stay how it was intended to be.

2.5B is soo much money.

ToursPosted:

hopefully they dont **** it up for pc and make it better on xbone

KixaPosted:

I never expected for them to purchase it honestly but hopefully they do a great job.

Jay_Posted:

Monster-Munch I really do hope Mojang does not take the deal as i think that Microsoft will ruin the game but we need to wait and see if Mojang is more about there fans or the money.


UMMMMMM, did you even read it, they already took the deal

JoveticPosted:

Hopefully Microsoft bundles Minecraft with every new Windows. Damn that would be awesome.