MINECRAFT GOES MICROSOFT: Microsoft will buy Mojang, the Swedish game developer behind Minecraft, for $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. Mojang announced that while the company will become part of Microsoft Studios (publisher of Halo), the three founders will be moving on to plans that “won’t be Minecraft-related but will probably be cool.” In a blunt post on his blog, Minecraft co-founder Markus “Notch” Persson explained his reasons for leaving: “It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.”
According to a press release, Microsoft plans to use its cloud and mobile technologies to further develop Minecraft’s worlds and give players more opportunities to connect. Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, sees Minecraft as “more than a great game franchise--it is an open world platform.”
With over 100 million users of the original PC version alone, Minecraft certainly is a worldwide open world platform. That number includes copies at more than 1,400 schools across six continents--prompting Tom Segal’s question: Does Minecraft count as edtech?
