It appears that the alleged Microsoft-Minecraft deal is a bit closer to reality than rumor. Or, rather, Microsoft-Mojang, the latter being the developer of the immensely popular open-world game.
According to a new report from Reuters, Microsoft is allegedly offering right around $2.5 billion to acquire Mojang, and the deal between the two companies will be announced Monday. As for why, it's speculated that Microsoft might attempt to use Mojang—and Minecraft, specifically—to drum up more interest in the Windows Phone platform.
To some, however, both ships have already sailed. According to Joost van Dreunen, chief executive of research firm SuperData, Microsoft appears to be paying a significant amount of money to acquire a game that's popular, but certainly "not in its initial frenzy."
In other words, the game is just around three years old (for its full-release version, at least). Sure, people still play it plenty—Minecraft hit more than 100 million registered players in February of this year and 14.3 million copies sold, and that was just for the PC version of the game. Minecraft can also be found on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Android, and iOS, and there are even versions in the works for today's next-gen consoles and handhelds (sans Nintendo's).
According to a new report from Reuters, Microsoft is allegedly offering right around $2.5 billion to acquire Mojang, and the deal between the two companies will be announced Monday. As for why, it's speculated that Microsoft might attempt to use Mojang—and Minecraft, specifically—to drum up more interest in the Windows Phone platform.
To some, however, both ships have already sailed. According to Joost van Dreunen, chief executive of research firm SuperData, Microsoft appears to be paying a significant amount of money to acquire a game that's popular, but certainly "not in its initial frenzy."
In other words, the game is just around three years old (for its full-release version, at least). Sure, people still play it plenty—Minecraft hit more than 100 million registered players in February of this year and 14.3 million copies sold, and that was just for the PC version of the game. Minecraft can also be found on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Android, and iOS, and there are even versions in the works for today's next-gen consoles and handhelds (sans Nintendo's).
Copyright 2014 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2468463,00.asp
