On this day 10 years ago, Microsoft acquired #Minecraft developer Mojang for US$2.5 billion.
https://minecraft.wiki/w/Mojang_Studios#History
In a blog post announcing the purchase, Owen Jones wrote: “Everything is going to be OK. <3”
http://web.archive.org/web/20140915131835/https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/
Ten years later, Mojang now has been part of Microsoft almost twice as long as it has been independent.
It’s interesting to look back at the original announcement video from Xbox as well:
https://youtu.be/lXNWchwDiG8
The outcome was unfortunate (no more games ever I guess??) but Tim Schafer’s announcement video was at least self-aware and funny.
“I always wanted to stay independent and free. But then I thought: what if I had a lot of money”.
I’m just confused because they already must have had a lot of money. How much you need?
Tim may have had enough money personally, but it’s always nice to not have to shut your studio and fire everyone if you release the odd stinker.
They had a lot of money, but MS probably added a couple zeros to that lot of money.
I’d have taken the offer too, as I’d be set for life, and so would my kids and my kids’ kids.
They sure didn’t have Microsoft volumes of money.
When one must measure their money by its physical volume, me thinks that’s too much money.
… when you can have billions?