Big news in the indie gaming world this morning as the rumoured deal of Microsoft purchasing Mojang, creators of a little game called Minecraft, became official:
Yes, the deal is real. Mojang is being bought by Microsoft.
And why Microsoft?
There are only a handful of potential buyers with the resources to grow Minecraft on a scale that it deserves. We’ve worked closely with Microsoft since 2012, and have been impressed by their continued dedication to our game and its development. We’re confident that Minecraft will continue to grow in an awesome way.
Notably Notch and the other 2 founders of Mojang are not going to be staying with Microsoft for the transition.
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.
Reading his post he seems to be someone who's struggled with the success of the thing he worked so hard to create.
It's a situation many of us who count ourselves as creator nerd types can only wish we could be in but I have no doubt that the stresses, worries and pains are just as real as someone struggling to get their creation off the ground.
Hopefully Notch can find some peace and privacy now that he's not associated with Minecraft on a day to day basis.
You can be sure that Tim and I will be talking about this on Never Dig Down tomorrow.