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Mojang’s “state of independence” was a specific pre-acquisition condition, not a description of the studio today. In a 2013 profile, CEO Carl Manneh described founder-led decisions made without an outside board or venture-capital investors. Microsoft confirmed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang in September 2014; the founders were set to leave. The contrast between those moments shows what independence meant to the people building Minecraft—and when that ownership chapter ended.
How Mojang began: two milestones, not one
Mojang’s early history is described through two different milestones. MCV/DEVELOP’s 2014 retrospective says Mojang Specifications opened its doors in 2009. GamesBeat’s 2013 account says Markus Persson and Jakob Porser set up a studio as Minecraft took off, recruited Carl Manneh to run the business side, and officially launched the game company in January 2011 with seven people. These accounts need not conflict: one describes the studio’s opening, the other its official company launch.
The growth figures in the GamesBeat profile belong to that period. It reported that Mojang had 35 employees, no investors and nearly $240 million in revenue in the preceding year; it also attributed more than 15 million copies bought across platforms in 2012 to the company. These are historical figures from the profile published October 2, 2013, not measures of Mojang today. GamesBeat’s 2013 profile
What independence meant inside Mojang
In GamesBeat’s 2013 account, Manneh said the founders made decisions without an external board or venture-capital participants. His succinct description was: “We are independent.” The statement captured the studio’s ownership and decision-making at that time; it should not be read as a claim about its present corporate structure.
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MCV/DEVELOP’s 2014 retrospective reported a similar sentiment from business developer Daniel Kaplan. He said investment and acquisition offers did not interest Mojang because the studio’s purpose was to remain independent. Together, the accounts portray independence as a deliberate preference for founder-led control, rather than simply a small company’s size or a particular game’s creative style. MCV/DEVELOP’s retrospective on Mojang
When Mojang’s ownership independence ended
Microsoft confirmed its acquisition of Mojang in September 2014 for $2.5 billion, according to MCV/DEVELOP’s report published September 15. The report said Persson, Manneh and Porser would leave the company. In the Mojang statement reproduced in that coverage, Persson—then the majority shareholder—explained that he did not want the responsibility of owning a company with Minecraft’s global significance. The statement acknowledged the scale of the change: “Change is scary, and this is a big change for all of us. It’s going to be good though.” MCV/DEVELOP’s acquisition report
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That sale marks the end of the ownership-independence period described by the earlier accounts. It does not, by itself, tell us how much creative or operational autonomy Mojang retained under Microsoft, either then or now.
What Microsoft promised about Minecraft after the deal
At the time of the acquisition, Xbox head Phil Spencer said Microsoft planned to keep Minecraft available on iOS, Android, PlayStation, Xbox and PC. He also said Microsoft respected the game’s independent spirit. His platform statement was a public promise about availability and an expression of positioning at the time—not proof that Mojang remained independently owned or that its internal decision-making was unchanged. MCV/DEVELOP quoted Spencer saying: “That is why we plan to continue to make Minecraft available across platforms – including iOS, Android and PlayStation, in addition to Xbox and PC.” MCV/DEVELOP’s report on Spencer’s comments
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- Capture the excitement and adventurous play of Minecraft
- Each 3.25-inch scale Minecraft action figure comes with accessories to re-create favorite in-game moments
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- The designs of the figures and accessories stay true to the unique, pixelated world of Minecraft
- Makes a great toy for video-game players and fans ages 6 years old and up, who will want them all (Each sold separately, subject to availability.)
What this history can—and cannot—establish
The evidence provides a clear before-and-after on ownership: Mojang was described as founder-led and independent in 2013, then Microsoft confirmed the acquisition in 2014 and the founders’ departures. It also records Microsoft’s stated plans for Minecraft’s cross-platform availability. The cited historical coverage does not establish Mojang’s current reporting structure or its precise degree of autonomy in 2026, so it cannot support a definitive claim about how independent the studio is internally today.
For a longer account of the transition, Seven Stories Press lists a second-edition hardback of Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson’s Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus “Notch” Persson and the Game That Changed Everything. The publisher says the added material covers the Microsoft sale and Mojang’s final days of independence. Seven Stories Press’s book listing
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