14 DAY TRIAL // An absolutely massive report has appeared online, claiming that Microsoft is close to buying Mojang, the independent developer of hit game Minecraft, for around 2 billion USD (1.5 billion EUR), at least according to WSJ.
Microsoft has had a pretty good partnership with Mojang, as Minecraft made its console debut on the Xbox 360 and went on to break sales records, before appearing on the PS3, and more recently on PS4 and Xbox One.
Minecraft is unstoppable
The popularity of Minecraft is apparently enough for Microsoft to start talking about an acquisition of Mojang, complete with the rights to Minecraft, according to a new report from WSJ, citing a "person with knowledge on the matter."
The deal is rumored to involve a 2 billion USD (1.5 billion EUR) buyout, although the final say in the matter rests on the shoulders of Markus "Notch" Persson, the man behind Minecraft and the founder of the Mojang studio.
Persson is already quite successful, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars due to the popularity of Minecraft all around the world.
The game initially went on sale for the PC platform as a small alpha project, but thanks to its clever exploration ideas as well as a phenomenal word of mouth marketing campaign, it became an instant success, selling tens of millions of copies on that platform.
Due to the popularity, Persson founded Mojang, bringing in more people to help him in the development of Minecraft on PC. At the same time, he struck partnerships with other studios, such as 4J, to bring Minecraft to more platforms.
The game sold even more on consoles
Among the first new versions of the game was the Xbox 360 edition, which initially appeared as a downloadable experience on the Xbox Live Arcade, but thanks to the popularity, it even got a retail release.
After reaching around 13 million units sold on Xbox 360, 4J and Mojang brought Minecraft to the PS3, and earlier this month to the PS4 and Xbox One platforms. A PS Vita edition is still in development and should appear soon enough.
Persson is against big corporations, however
While the deal may seem like something that can't be refused, Persson has been adamant time and time again about monopolies and exclusives, criticizing Microsoft itself for the closed Windows 8 operating system, as well as Facebook for acquiring Oculus, the company behind the Rift virtual reality headset.
As of yet, neither Microsoft nor Mojang has commented on the rumor.
