Activision had Minecraft within its grasp. One mistake in judgment cost them billions
At one time, Activision was interested in buying Minecraft. However, the company's CEO didn't want to take the helm at Mojang, and in the end, Microsoft topped the offer anyway.
Minecraft, created by Mojang Studios, quickly became one of the most popular games in history. It's no surprise that at one point, major publishers were interested in buying it. In the end, the game and its developers ended up with Microsoft, but Activision was also interested.
Activision wanted to buy Minecraft
Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick recently appeared on the Rushmore podcast. At one point, the host, Ari Emanuel, asked him if he had ever played Minecraft. The businessman admitted that at one time, he was even close to buying the game.
Yeah, I almost bought it. I had to spend five days in Stockholm with [Markus ‘Notch’ Persson], the guy who founded the company. And then we offered him US $1.5 billion.
However, it turned out that Notch himself discouraged him from buying it. It's not that he didn't want to sell Minecraft; he was planning to leave Mojang with the management team. Kotick, on the other hand, wasn't interested in taking over the company's leadership.
He said, 'Oh, by the way, I’m quitting, and my top leadership guys are all quitting' and they only had 30 employees at the time.
Ultimately, Kotick's offer didn't matter much, as soon after, Microsoft showed up and offered Notch more money.
He called me and said, 'Microsoft offered me US $2.5 billion for the company'. I said, 'yeah, I'll go aeroplane shopping with you, but you've got to take that offer.'
You probably know the rest of the story – Microsoft ended up buying Mojang for $2.5 billion, and Notch, along with the other founders, left the studio. However, they weren't required for the further development of Minecraft, which remains quite popular to this day. In 2023, we found out that the game itself pulls in over $100 million a year, not to mention all the merch, toys, and even a hit movie.
Even if Kotick had purchased Minecraft, the game would have eventually ended up under Microsoft's wing. In 2023, the Redmond giant acquired the entire Activision Blizzard for a staggering $69 billion.
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Author: Martin Bukowski
Graduate of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Gdańsk University of Technology, who decided to dedicate his life to video games. In his childhood, he would get lost in the Gothic's Valley of Mines and "grind for gold" in League of Legends. Twenty years later, games still entertain him just as much. Today, he considers the Persona series and soulslike titles from From Software as his favorite games. He avoids consoles, and a special place in his heart is reserved for PC. In his spare time, he works as a translator, is creating his first game, or spends time watching movies and series (mainly animated ones).
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