Danny MattesonAfter about a week of speculation, it turns out the rumors are true — Microsoft is indeed buying Mojang, the company behind popular block-building game "Minecraft," for $2.5 billion.
The multibillion-dollar deal was announced on Monday with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella saying in a statement, "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."
As far as those opportunities for Microsoft? They could include an opportunity to make a stronger push into mobile business, where it currently lags behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
As USA Today notes, "Minecraft" is currently the second most popular paid app for iPhone and has reportedly been downloaded more than 100 million times.
On top of that, the game currently isn't available for the Windows Phone. (Video via Microsoft)
For those of you unfamiliar, "Minecraft" is a hugely popular, open-ended adventure and construction game where players break and build blocks to create worlds, collect supplies, battle monsters — and mine, of course. (Video via Mojang)
But some longtime players might be a little nervous that the game they've grown to love isn't going to stay the same.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, Microsoft is acquiring Mojang, but it's not acquiring the company's founders.
In a statement the company wrote its founder had grown tired of working on "Minecraft" as it had grown bigger than he intended. "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."
"Minecraft" was initially launched in 2009. The deal with Microsoft is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
This video includes photos from Getty Images and Mike Prosser / CC BY SA 2.0.
