Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard, recently revealed that his company had the chance to acquire Mojang and its game Minecraft before Microsoft completed its purchase. The former CEO stated that Activision seriously considered acquiring the phenomenal sandbox game in the early 2010s and had even submitted a formal acquisition proposal to the game’s founder, Markus Persson (known as Notch).
Kotick recalled spending five days in Stockholm negotiating the acquisition details and presenting a $1.5 billion offer to the Minecraft founder. However, during the negotiations, he learned that Notch planned to leave the company after the deal closed, and key team members would also exit. At that time, Mojang had only about 35 employees, and Activision had doubts about its ability to effectively manage such a lean team.
After the talks concluded, Notch called Kotick to inform him that Microsoft had made a higher offer of $2.5 billion. Faced with this figure, Kotick admitted he could not match it, and the acquisition plan was terminated. Microsoft subsequently completed its acquisition of Mojang swiftly and developed Minecraft into one of its major IPs.
Kotick now acknowledges that Microsoft successfully drove the continued development of the project, specifically noting that Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, made “outstanding contributions” to brand management. Years later, the company he led was also acquired by Microsoft, which in a sense created an indirect connection between him and Minecraft.
Currently, Kotick has left the company after 32 years of service, and he himself has become one of the most controversial executives in the gaming industry.
