How Minecraft Was Sold for $2.5 Billion
On 15 September 2014, Microsoft announced it would acquire Mojang, the game developer behind Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. It
On 15 September 2014, Microsoft announced it would acquire Mojang, the game developer behind Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. It was the largest game-related acquisition in Microsoft’s history at that time.
The story of how Minecraft was sold begins with something unexpected: a tweet. But to understand that moment, you need to know what came before.
The Beginning
Markus “Notch” Persson released the original edition of Minecraft on 17 May 2009 on the TIGSource forums, a community for independent game developers. The first edition, called Java Edition, was made by Notch during a weekend in early May 2009.
Before creating Minecraft, Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. He then joined jAlbum whilst continuing to work on game prototypes in his free time.
The game drew inspiration from other titles. Persson had been working on “RubyDung,” a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress. When Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game, was released in April 2009, it gave him the final idea for Minecraft’s direction.
On 17 May 2009, Persson released the game’s Alpha version, regularly updating it based on feedback from TIGSource users. What started as a weekend side project quickly gained traction on gaming forums.
From Hobby to Full-Time Venture
The game’s success forced a decision. As the profits from sales of Minecraft’s public alpha version began overshadowing his day job wage, Persson resigned from jAlbum in 2010 to work on the game full time.
With the revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh. The company was established in 2010 specifically to support Minecraft’s growing development needs.
By early 2011, Mojang sold the one millionth copy of the game. Several months later, they hit their second million, then their third. Mojang hired several new staff members for the Minecraft team, whilst Persson passed the lead developer role to Jens Bergensten.
Prior to the game’s official retail release in 2011, it had sold over four million copies. The full version 1.0 launched on 18 November 2011 at MINECON 2011.
The Pressure of Success
Success brought unexpected problems. Persson has stated that, due to the intense media attention and public pressure, he became exhausted with running Minecraft and the company.
In his own words: “I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”
The breaking point came publicly on 17 June 2014. Persson tweeted “Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig”. Whilst reportedly partly in jest, the tweet was genuine enough to attract serious attention. This moment is crucial to understanding how Minecraft was sold.
According to the Forbes interview, it was mere minutes afterward that Mojang CEO Carl Manneh was being called by a Microsoft executive asking if Persson was serious. That single tweet set in motion how Minecraft was sold to one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
The Bidding War
Persson controlled a 71% stake in Mojang at the time. The offer attracted significant interest from Activision Blizzard, EA, and Microsoft.
Microsoft had strategic reasons for pursuing the acquisition aggressively. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, urged Microsoft’s newly appointed chief executive Satya Nadella to purchase Mojang to set out “a pretty bold vision” for Microsoft’s gaming business.
There was also a financial consideration. The company had $2.5 billion in offshore bank accounts that it could not bring back to the United States without paying repatriation taxes. Forbes later reported that Microsoft wanted to purchase the game as a “tax dodge” to turn their taxable excess liquid cash into other assets.
Nadella separately stated the possible use of Minecraft with the HoloLens, Microsoft’s mixed reality device, to have been a major factor in pursuing the acquisition.
The Deal
On 15 September 2014, Microsoft publicly announced the acquisition. The details of how Minecraft was sold are straightforward: Microsoft would acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion, with the acquisition expected to close in late 2014.
The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014. At that point, Mojang officially became part of Microsoft Studios.
This brought Persson’s net worth to US$1.5 billion, making him one of Forbes’ “World’s Billionaires.” With a 71% stake, his personal take from the $2.5 billion deal was $1.775 billion before taxes.
In a post about the news, Mojang said its founders, including Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson, were leaving the company to pursue new ventures. All three founders—Persson, Porsér, and Manneh—departed following the acquisition.
Why He Sold
In a farewell letter published on his personal website, Persson explained his decision. When asked why how Minecraft was sold happened so quickly, he was direct: “Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we’re massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch’s intention for it to get this big. Notch decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance.”
He elaborated further in his blog post: “I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either.”
He continued: “I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.”
His final message to the community was direct: “I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now.”
Crucially, Persson emphasised: “It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.”
The Numbers Behind the Deal
The acquisition price seemed astronomical at the time. In 2014, Microsoft acquired Minecraft for $2,500,000,000, surpassing the game’s annual profit by over 20-fold.
The development costs had been remarkably low. While exact figures aren’t publicly available, industry estimates suggest Minecraft’s total development cost through its official release was likely under $1 million. Markus “Notch” Persson initially developed the game as a solo project, working from his apartment in Stockholm. Primary expenses were minimal—essentially just Notch’s living costs and basic development tools.
To put the acquisition in historical context, at the time of purchase, Minecraft had more than 100 million downloads on PC alone from players since its launch in 2009.
What Microsoft Got
The acquisition gave Microsoft a bigger presence in video games and education, as well as one of the top paid apps for iOS and Android. Microsoft immediately committed to keeping Minecraft multiplatform. Microsoft said Minecraft would continue to be available for PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.
The acquisition proved remarkably successful. Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, with over 350 million copies sold (as of 2025) and 140 million monthly active players (as of 2021).
According to Bergensten, the change in ownership went against the studio’s independence-focused culture. Many employees were wary about the uncertainties they could face after the acquisition, and some staffers cried at the offices. However, everyone who remained with the company for six months thereafter was awarded a bonus of roughly $300,000 after taxes, deducted from Persson’s share.
Under the oversight of Microsoft’s Matt Booty, Mojang’s integration was minimal, leaving its operations independent but backed by Microsoft’s financial and technical capabilities.
The Aftermath
After leaving Mojang, Persson initially planned to return to small projects. “As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately,” he wrote.
In December 2014, Persson purchased a home in Trousdale Estates, a neighbourhood in Beverly Hills, California, for $70 million, a record sales price for Beverly Hills at the time. Persson reportedly outbid Beyoncé and Jay-Z for the property.
The relationship between Persson and Minecraft has since become complicated. Persson began receiving criticism for political and social opinions he expressed on social media as early as 2016. Microsoft has attempted to distance the brand from its creator, with Persson notably not invited to celebrate the 10th anniversary event of Minecraft’s release.
The Legacy
From a weekend project in May 2009 to a $2.5 billion acquisition in 2014, Minecraft’s journey represents one of the most remarkable success stories in gaming history. Understanding how Minecraft was sold requires understanding the human cost of that success.
What began as one programmer’s hobby, developed in his spare time whilst working a day job, became the best-selling video game ever made.
For Persson, the sale was about escaping something that had grown beyond his intentions. For Microsoft, it was acquiring not just a game, but a cultural phenomenon that would define a generation of players.
The numbers suggest Microsoft made the right bet. The game continues to thrive a decade after acquisition, with hundreds of millions of players worldwide.
But the human story beneath those numbers is more complex: a solo developer who created something extraordinary, found himself overwhelmed by its success, and ultimately walked away from it all. $1.7 billion richer, but seeking the obscurity he’d lost.
Sources
- Microsoft News Center – Microsoft to acquire Mojang
- Minecraft Wiki – Markus Persson
- Minecraft Wiki – Java Edition version history
- Business Insider – The CEO of the company that made ‘Minecraft’ explains why he sold out for $2.5 billion
- The Guardian –Minecraft creator Markus Persson: I don’t feel at home in the video games industry
