Persson likely to leave Microsoft-owned Mojang; Minecraft won’t be pulled from PS4 and PS3

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson is unlikely to stay at Mojang once Microsoft’s acquisition of the Minecraft developer is completed, reports suggest.

Bloomberg says that Persson reached out to Microsoft a few months ago, based on a positive working relationship on Minecraft for Xbox” in an effort to close the estimated $2bn deal.

Added the site: The two companies quickly agreed on a framework and approximate price and have been working out the details since, the person said. Persson will help out with the transition, though he is unlikely to remain beyond that.

The software maker calculates it can boost Minecraft sales by expanding the number of game users through Microsoft’s position in video games and computers, and by expanding licensing for things like toys and movies.”

If true this is a remarkable change of attitude from a developer who has previously been open about his criticisms of the Windows platform holder.

Got an email from microsoft, wanting to help "certify" minecraft for win 8. I told them to stop trying to ruin the pc as an open platform.

— notch (@notch) September 27, 2012

I'd rather have minecraft not run on win 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to win 8 that way..

— notch (@notch) September 27, 2012

Bloomberg adds that Microsoft has no plans to pull either the successful PS3 version of Minecraft or the recent PS4 release. The iOS versions are unlikely to be threatened, either.