Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard, revealed that the company came close to acquiring Mojang in 2014, but the acquisition ultimately went to Microsoft. On the Rushmore podcast, where Kotick discussed games with Elon Musk, he remarked about Minecraft: “Yes — I almost bought it.”
Kotick said he spent five days in Stockholm with Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson. Activision had put forward a $1.5 billion offer, but Persson then announced he was leaving the company and that his key leadership team would depart with him. At that time, the studio had only about 30 employees.
Kotick told Persson he couldn’t manage Mojang under those conditions. Persson later called back and said, “Microsoft offered me $2.5 billion.” Kotick responded, “I’ll even go with you to buy plane tickets, but you have to accept the offer.”
Asked who at Microsoft signed off on the deal, Kotick pointed to Phil Spencer and Matt Booty. Microsoft completed its purchase of Mojang on September 15, 2014. Forbes had previously reported interest from EA and Activision, which corroborates Kotick’s account.
Source: iXBT.games