Bobby Kotick Says Activision Blizzard Nearly Bought Minecraft for $1.5 Billion Before Microsoft Swooped In

Here is a little what-could-have-been for the gaming history books: Bobby Kotick says Activision Blizzard almost bought Minecraft before Microsoft swooped in. And by almost, he means they flew to Stockholm, made an offer, and everything got weird fast.

So what actually happened?

On a new podcast chat with Ari Emanuel (with Elon Musk also on the episode), former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick finally confirmed the long-rumored story: years ago, he tried to buy Minecraft and Mojang. This was back when EA and Activision were both rumored to be sniffing around the game.

• Kotick says he spent five days in Stockholm with Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson and came away with an offer: Activision would pay $1.5 billion for Mojang.
• Then Notch told him he planned to quit, his top lieutenants were quitting, and the whole studio only had around 30 employees. Translation: Activision would be buying a studio it couldn’t actually operate without rebuilding it from scratch.
• Shortly after, Notch called back with news: Microsoft had put $2.5 billion on the table for Mojang and Minecraft.
• Kotick’s advice was basically: take the money.

'I'll go airplane shopping with you, but you gotta take that offer.'

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer ultimately closed the $2.5 billion deal in 2014, and Minecraft has been a Microsoft franchise for over a decade now.

The postscript (and a little praise)

Kotick even tipped his hat to Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty, saying he has done a really great job steering Minecraft since the acquisition. Hard to argue; the game turned into a never-ending platform under Microsoft’s watch.

The irony of it all

If you want the twist ending, here it is: Minecraft and Activision Blizzard ended up under the same roof anyway after Microsoft finally closed its Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023, following nearly two years of legal wrangling. Kotick exited soon after, capping a 32-year run that included the Activision-Blizzard merger and a lot of era-defining moves for the industry.

And now we’re seeing early signs of cross-pollination: Microsoft’s first obvious IP crossover seems to be a Minecraft spinoff headed to Candy Crush studio King. So even though Activision didn’t buy Minecraft back then, the worlds are colliding now in a roundabout way.