In 2014, Minecraft was already one of the biggest games in the world. Then something happened that surprised almost everyone: its creator sold it. Microsoft bought Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, for 2.5 billion US dollars. Here is how that happened and what it meant for the game.
Who is Notch?
Markus Persson, known as Notch, is the Swedish programmer who created Minecraft in 2009. What started as a hobby project became so successful that he founded Mojang to work on it. For years he was the face of Minecraft, talking to fans and sharing updates. Read more in the history of Minecraft.
Why did he want to sell?
Being the face of the most popular game in the world turned out to be very stressful. Every change to the game, and every decision Mojang made, brought a flood of messages, some of them angry. Notch had already stepped back from leading Minecraft's development in late 2011, when Jeb took over. But he was still the person everyone talked to and about.
In June 2014, Notch posted on Twitter asking if anyone wanted to buy his share of Mojang so he could move on with his life. Many people thought it was a joke. It was not.
The deal
On 15 September 2014, Microsoft and Mojang announced the deal. Microsoft would buy Mojang for 2.5 billion dollars. The deal was completed in November 2014. At the same time, Notch and the two other founders of Mojang announced they would leave the company.
In a blog post, Notch explained that he did not see himself as a real game developer, and that he made games because they were fun, not to become the leader of something so huge. He wrote that the sale was about his own wellbeing, not about money.
What players were afraid of
Many fans were worried. Would Microsoft make Minecraft only for Xbox and Windows? Would it stop the free updates? Would it ruin the game with too many paid things?
Mojang told players that Minecraft would keep coming to other platforms, including PlayStation, and that Mojang would keep making the game.
What actually happened
- Minecraft stayed on every platform. It is still on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Android, iPhone, Mac and Linux, not only Microsoft devices.
- Free updates continued. Big updates like Caves & Cliffs and Trails & Tales were free for everyone who owned the game.
- Bedrock Edition was created. Microsoft and Mojang joined the phone, console and Windows versions into one, so players on different devices can play together. See the Minecraft timeline.
- New things arrived, like the Marketplace, Realms, Minecraft Education, spin-off games and A Minecraft Movie in 2025.
- Microsoft accounts became required. Old Mojang accounts were moved to Microsoft accounts, which some players did not like.
Notch after Minecraft
After the sale, Notch left Mojang and was no longer part of Minecraft's development. In later years, after posts he made online, Mojang distanced itself from him, and references to him were removed from parts of the game. Today Minecraft is made by a large team at Mojang Studios, with Jeb still working on the game.
Was it a good deal?
For Microsoft, it is hard to call it anything but a success. Minecraft went on to become the best selling game in history, with more than 300 million copies sold. For players, the game is bigger than ever, with more content and more ways to play than in 2014. And for Notch, the deal let him step away from something that had become too big for one person.
