The
rumored Microsoft
acquisition of Mojang is now official, confirming
reports that a $2.5B
deal would be announced today. As noted on
ZDNet, the Minecraft maker is the fourth non-U.S. company acquired by
Microsoft this year. The
Mojang website has
word that company founders Notch, Carl, and Jakob will leave the company,
saying: "We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but
it will probably be cool." Here's more:
Why did you sell Minecraft?
Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance.
Though we’re massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch’s
intention for it to get this big.
As you might already know, Notch is the creator of Minecraft and the majority
shareholder at Mojang. He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of
owning a company of such global significance. Over the past few years he’s made
attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft
became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang. He’ll
continue to do cool stuff though. Don’t worry about that.
There are only a handful of potential buyers with the resources to grow
Minecraft on a scale that it deserves. We’ve worked closely with Microsoft since
2012, and have been impressed by their continued dedication to our game and its
development. We’re confident that Minecraft will continue to grow in an awesome
way.
Minecraft means many different things to millions of people across the world,
and to each and every Mojangsta. We feel that this is the best way for everyone
– you guys included – to benefit.
What about the other editions of Minecraft? Will they stop being developed?
There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox
360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop.
Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the
choices that they might make in the future.
We’re extremely proud of all editions and the awesome things you have achieved
through playing together.
Is the game going to change? Will we still be able to make videos, mods,
awesome builds, and all the cool stuff we’ve created over the past few years?
Minecraft will continue to evolve, just like it has since the start of
development. We don’t know specific plans for Minecraft’s future yet, but we do
know that everyone involved wants the community to grow and become even more
amazing than it’s ever been. Stopping players making cool stuff is not in
anyone’s interests.