Post
The Swedish studio that sold to Microsoft for $2.5B and quietly became the steward of the best-selling game in history.
Founded in 2009 by Markus 'Notch' Persson around the runaway alpha success of Minecraft, Mojang grew from a hobby project to a phenomenon and was acquired by Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5B. Notch left immediately. Under Microsoft, Mojang has expanded the studio to ~700 people, kept Minecraft updated for 15+ straight years (now 350M+ copies sold), and shipped spin-offs (Minecraft Dungeons, Legends, Education Edition). The Minecraft movie (2025) became one of the highest-grossing video game adaptations ever.
Example
The 2014 Microsoft acquisition was widely mocked at the price — it has since been one of the most lucrative software acquisitions in history. Minecraft's annual revenue is reported above $400M and has never declined.
Why it matters
Mojang is the reference case for 'live game forever': no sequels, no resets, just continuous content updates over 15+ years. It also proved a creative-first acquisition can survive corporate ownership if the parent doesn't interfere — a model Microsoft has tried (and largely failed) to replicate elsewhere.
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