Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in talks to acquire Mojang, the Swedish maker of the popular Minecraft video game, say unnamed sources close to the negotiations, which was first reported by Bloomberg News. Although neither company has commented on the discussions, it is estimated that the deal could be worth $2 billion and could be completed as early as this week.
Experts say that any type of sale would be surprising because the four-year-old Mojang and its founder, Marks Persson, have dismissed investment from outside parties. Persson has also been lauded by the gaming community for lambasting big gaming and technology firms, including Microsoft.
The reason why Microsoft is taking part in discussions to acquire Mojang is because the company wants to ensure that it maintains a shelf of unique content that would be available to many of its important platforms – Minecraft cannot be played on the Windows Phone nor is it available in the Windows Store, an online app store run by Microsoft.
If the deal is approved then it would the first major move under new Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella, who took over the reins this past February. Since succeeding Steve Ballmer, Nadell’s vision for Microsoft is to focus more on cloud computing and web-based services.
Persson, meanwhile, may not stay with the firm for more than six months if a deal is completed, though Mojang is trying rather hard to keep many of its young developers.
Speaking on a Reddit forum two years ago, Persson noted that he grew up poor and most of the wealth he has attained has been used on computers, games and traveling.
Industry professionals agree that Minecraft has been one of the biggest success stories in the past decade. Minecraft was first launched for the PC in 2009 and the video game maintains a retro design. It’s a very simple game and is similar to Lego in the sense that players are required to build things with virtual blocks. With 54 million sales, Minecraft has become the one of the video game industry’s biggest franchises.