Microsoft Looking to buy Mojang

We might look back on a multi-plat Minecraft with a touch of nostalgia, as details of Microsoft’s apparent plans to buy developer Mojang. Even though the brick-’em-up only just made it to PlayStation 4 last week, the Xbox One developer looks set to purchase the developer for something in the region of $2 billion.

At this point in proceedings, it’s hard to know exactly why buying Mojang is an attractive prospect. Minecraft is a huge game, the proof that indies needed to demonstrate that it is worth working hard on that title in their basements, but it’s only one product, and it’s multi-platform at that. Microsoft could more than enjoy the profits off that for years, taking the lion’s share of the cash and funding any future projects Mojang decide to work on, and it’d probably pay off eventually, especially if you factor in inevitable re-releases of Minecraft on future Microsoft devices. Still, it’s just one game, and we can either presume Microsoft are banking on lightning hitting twice, or they’ve seen something else in development and they’re convinced it’s going to be a big enough hitter that they not only want it to be exclusive, but they want to own the company that’s making it as well.

The people who control the money at Microsoft definitely aren’t stupid, and the Mojang purchase could be something that ends up making them an awful lot of money.

Source: Bloomberg