Microsoft has finally acquired the most popular video game ‘Minecraft’ and the Swedish firm Mojang that developed this popular game for $2.5bn. Minecraft is quite popular among the players and has been downloaded for more than 100 million times since its launch in the year 2009
The deal between the Microsoft and the Mojang Studio was announced by Xbox Chief Phil Spencer.
Minecraft is quite popular and is one of the top-selling apps on both the Apple’s iOS store, and Android’s Google Play. Moreover, its sale has witnessed a great jump, with it being available for XBOX One and PlayStation 4.
As stated by the Microsoft, the Mojang Team will be joining the game studio, which is responsible for games like Halo, Forza, and Fable.
Satya Nadella, Chief Executive, Microsoft said, “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.”
However, on the other side of the story, before the deal finalized, Mojang’s founder Markus Persson had criticized Microsoft and commented that it is not worth developing apps for. At the same time, not so happy and unconvinced attitude was evident through the words of Mojang Team. Many also expressed their concerns whether their fans would be able to get the same experience that they used to or not.
Notably, the news of a deal between the Mojang Studio and Microsoft is received well by the industry analyst – who feel that Microsoft has taken a smart step and adopted the massive community of Minecraft fans. It is surely a big deal for Microsoft, which is about to earn good business revenue through Minecraft.