Earlier this week we covered news that Microsoft is in talks to acquire Mojang, the developer of Minecraft. However, as more news circulates supporting the suspected buyout, it seems that founder Markus “Notch” Persson will personally receive $1.4 billion from the buyout.
Persson holds 70 percent ownership of Mojang, and along with co-founder Jakob Porser and CEO Carl Manneh, he will receive the majority of the money if Microsoft acquires the development studio.
Markus “Notch” Persson, above, founded Mojang along with Jakob Porser after developing Minecraft as a sandbox indie game.
Minecraft has been a wildly successful game since its debut on PC in 2009; having spawned a vast and varied community of gamers, as well as user-made modules that do everything from teach you to paint to building a virtual, programmable CPU within the game world.
Unsurprisingly, one of the reasons Mojang employees have cited for Persson approaching Microsoft is the pressure he feels to recreate his success in Minecraft with future games. Chief executive Manneh coraborates these claims with his official statement that “now there are millions of eyeballs looking at what’s coming next, so the external pressure is obviously completely different.”
Given the facts, the Microsoft buyout seems almost certain. However, should the acquisition occur Persson has assured Sony fans that Minecraft will not be pulled from the PS3 or PS4.
