It was some time a couple of months ago when Microsoft did confirm that they would be picking up Mojang, the company behind the hugely successful game across numerous platforms, Minecraft. This acquisition would have cost Microsoft a whopping $2.5 billion, and we are pleased to note that the deal has been officially closed today, after being announced by Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, over social networking tool Twitter.
Spencer mentioned, “It’s official, today we welcome Mojang to the Microsoft Studios family. We’re excited for the possibilities ahead w/the Minecraft community.”
Back in the September announcement of the Mojang purchase, it was highly anticipated that the deal itself would close at the end of 2014, and this particular sizeable acquisition has been predicted to break-even in its existing fiscal year which will end in June 30, 2015. One of the “effects” of this particular acquisition was seeing majority shareholder and Minecraft creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, leave the studio.
Persson would have walked away a very rich man from this acquisition, and leaving the studio was not so much a question of the wallet, but more about the mind. He wanted to preserve his sanity, and hopefully, Persson would go on to found new companies and develop great games down the road.