Microsoft ( NASDAQ: MSFT) has purchased Majong, the maker of one of the most popular sandbox building game, Minecraft. For the past few days the Redmond giant was already in the news for putting a bid on it and now has finally acquired it.
Mojang said, “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.”
Untill now no one was sure about why Microsoft is bidding such a huge amount on the Minecraft. A few of the analysts believed that the company is going to launch a Minecraft version for the Windows Phone, and which would be better than the current iOS and Android version.
However, Microsoft said that the Majong team will team up with the Microsoft Studios and will work on the Halo, Forza and Fable Franchises. Microsoft said “investments in cloud and mobile technologies will enable Minecraft players to benefit from richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools, and more opportunities to connect across the Minecraft community.”
“Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “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.”
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