Update: Now Bloomberg is getting in on the action, with two sources saying that the deal is likely to be concluded either this week or next week. According to their sources, the deal has come about thanks to a strong relationship between Phil Spencer and Markus Persson, more commonly known as Notch, following the two companies’ work in bringing Minecraft to Xbox consoles.
It was apparently Notch who reached out to initiate the deal, but while he may have been the instigator, one source continued to say that Notch may leave Mojang soon after the transition is complete.
The original story follows:
Now, this is a massive rumour, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but a reputable source known to the Wall Street Journal has spilled that Microsoft are about to buy the Minecraft developer, Mojang, for a sum of $2 billion.
It’s a deal which could be finalised this week according to WSJ, but this seems unlikely to me. For all I know, I could be wrong, but there are a few things that don’t quite add up here.
Firstly, Minecraft has already released on almost every console and – unless Mojang have something very exciting up there sleeves – this doesn’t seem like a worthy investment; what could the developers, who went on to develop the far less successful Scrolls, bring to Xbox?
And then you have the other side: Notch, the founder of Mojang and creator of Minecraft is averse to takeovers such as this, as witnessed when he cancelled the Oculus Rift version of Minecraft after their Facebook takeover. Furthermore, he has accused Microsoft of attempting to “ruin the PC as an open platform”, saying that he’d rather not have Minecraft running on Windows 8 rather than play along with their certification rules.
There are a few things which point to this alleged deal being completely false, but the Wall Street Journal is a more reputable source than usual, so we’ll have to wait to see how this one plays out. All eyes on Notch’s twitter account then, where we’ll likely hear about this first.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
englishgolfer
Though I think I have solid morals and would stand my ground, $2 billion dollars would sorely tempt me to question said morals.
beeje13
Notch has already made a tonne of money though, although not quite 2B I don’t think.
hazelam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ
that pretty much sums up my thoughts.
beeje13
If true, that $2B could start up a few more studios and fund dozens of new ips.
MrYd
This rumour is coming from the same people that were reporting rumours of Google (or YouTube) buying Twitch for stupid amounts of money a couple of months ago? Just before the rather disastrous news that Amazon were buying it instead?
So that’ll be Sony announcing an exclusive deal with Mojang next week then. They’ll have given Notch about £35 and a box of (used, slightly chewed) Lego in exchange for the rights to go on about his next game for a couple of years before he gets bored and cancels it.
Moonpie
Wasn’t that rumour true though and Google just ended up withdrawing and left Amazon to pick up the pieces
gazzagb
I know Notch has said before he hates takeovers, but $2 Billion is $2 Billion, I’d sell my first born child for that!
JustTaylorNow
Typical MS rather than fund new studios, create new ip, they buy out established company then have them making kinectimals
Jones81
this is absolutely disgusting if true. have just bought the ps4 version and if this means no further updates/patches (and possibly no online support), then I’ll be demanding my money back and will write to the relevent consumer watchdog if neccessary. Obviously could just be a rumour so will have to see what happens
double-o-dave
Don’t worry, I should imagine there will probably be 1 further update at least… a patch rendering the game unplayable on any Sony device with a clickable link to purchasing an Xbox One if you wish to take your Minecraft experience further. ;)
Jones81
lol