Microsoft has announced that it will acquire the Minecraft franchise, and its Swedish developer Mojang, for $2.5 billion. Microsoft asserts that it 'plans' to continue distributing Minecraft across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS, and Android, but obviously the game's cross-platform future is called into question by this acquisition. Markus 'Notch' Persson, and Mojang's other two founders, will not be staying with Mojang/Microsoft and will "move on to start new projects."