Microsoft Buys Mojang For $2.5bn: 'Pressure of Owning Minecraft Became Too Much For Notch to Handle'

Microsoft has confirmed the $2.5bn (£1.5m) acquisition of Mojang, the video game development studio behind worldwide phenomenon Minecraft.

The deal was confirmed by Microsoft in a statement from Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, who said: "Today is an incredibly exciting day for our team as Mojang and the Minecraft franchise join Microsoft.

"Minecraft is one of the most popular video games of all time, with more than 100 million downloads, on PC alone, from players since its launch in 2009. Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world."

Meanwhile Mojang released a statement as well, answering some questions from fans and explaining the key reason for the sale. Markus 'Notch' Persson is the creator of Minecraft, co-founder of Mojang and its majority shareholder. As the statement explains: "Though we're massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch's intention for it to get this big.

"As you might already know, Notch is the creator of Minecraft and the majority shareholder at Mojang. He's decided that he doesn't want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance. 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 key question Mojang went on to answer regarding the purchase was relating to versions of Minecraft on platforms not created or controlled by Microsoft.

"There's no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop," it reads. "Of course, Microsoft can't make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future."

Another question asked what would happen to Scrolls, Mojang's first post-Minecraft release. "We don't know yet. We'll share any news as soon as we do."