In the oddest piece of news coming out of the gaming industry, Microsoft is reportedly in serious talks to acquire Minecraft developer Mojang. First reported by the Wall Street Journal, the deal could be sealed as soon as this week; with the estimated price of the Swedish developer valued at around US$2 billion.
This report should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt as the founder of Mojang, Markus Pearsson, has traditionally preferred his studio to remain independent; not to mention Pearsson’s criticism of the Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft had previously offered Pearsson a job developing for the company, but were turned down when he wanted to continue working on his game. The game that has managed to remain on the list of best selling games for years.
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Despite this, Mojang only has one hit in Minecraft. Their other games have been very low key, and why Microsoft would want the studio is a complete mystery. Redmond itself has no shortage of its own game studios, and is perfectly capable of putting out its own hits like the Halo series. It is unlikely that the sale will happen; although stranger things have happened.
[Source: Ars Technica; Image Source: DeviantArt]
