Microsoft Acquiring ‘Minecraft’ Maker Mojang for $2.5 Billion

Microsoft Corp., the famous software giant announced Monday, Sept. 15 that it has entered in to a deal to acquire Mojang, the makers of the super popular game "Minecraft," for $2.5 billion.

 "Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year," Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft said in statement.

"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," he said of the game.

The software company said that it expects the acquisition to be completed by 2015 on a GAAP basis and the deal is subject to regulatory approval as well. The whole team of Mojang is expected to join Microsoft except the founding members.

"The 'Minecraft' players have taken the game and turned it into something that surpassed all of our expectations. The acquisition by Microsoft brings a new chapter to the incredible story of 'Minecraft,'" Carl Manneh, the CEO of Mojang  said in the statement.

"As the founders move on to start new projects, we believe the high level of creativity from the community will continue the game's success far into the future," Manneh added.

"Minecraft" founder Markus "Notch" Persson was critical of developing apps for the Windows platform saying that its market was "tiny" and not worth, according to BBC. Therefore, when news of Persson leaving Mojang came, several questions were raised.

But Persson, in his own style, silenced the questions saying that his decision to leave was taken "relatively long time ago" and he wasn't doing it for the money but for his "sanity."

"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," Persson wrote in his blog.

"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," he added.

Experts believe the acquisition is a strategy to lure in more people to the Windows phone devices. This is the largest acquisition Microsoft has taken on since Nadella took over as CEO.