Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick wanted to buy Minecraft until he found out Notch was leaving and Microsoft was offering a billion dollars more: ‘I’ll go airplane shopping with you, but you’ve gotta take that offer’

Over a decade ago, when Minecraft studio Mojang was still a plucky independent outfit enjoying the fruits of developing one of the most successful games of all time, it unsurprisingly had a bunch of suitors. And one of them was Bobby Kotick.

Chatting on the Rushmore podcast, host Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, asked the former Activision CEO if he’d played Minecraft (cheers TWIV).

“Yeah, I almost bought it,” Kotick replied. “I had to spend five days in Stockholm with Notch, the guy who founded the company, and then we offered him $1.5 billion.”

But then Kotick discovered that, while he’d be getting the company and Minecraft, he wouldn’t be getting Notch or the leadership team.

“He said, ”Oh, by the way, I’m quitting, and my top leadership guys are all quitting.’ And they only had 30 employees at the company.”

Kotick didn’t want to have to take the reins. “We can’t run your company,” he told Notch.

Not that it mattered, since Microsoft swooped in shortly after. “And then he called me and he said ‘Microsoft offered me $2.5 billion for the company.’ And I said, ‘I’ll go airplane shopping with you, but you’ve gotta take that offer.'”

It certainly worked out for Microsoft, and it turned out that Notch wasn’t the secret sauce: the game continued without him and reached new heights.

Its cultural relevance may have taken a few dings thanks to games like Fortnite and Roblox, but its influence remains vast. Heck, even the dire Minecraft movie managed to gross $957,949,195.

And, of course, Microsoft now owns Activision, too. And it paid quite a bit more for it. When the acquisition was completed in 2023, the cost was $75.4 billion. Kotick and investors originally purchased the publisher in 1991 for $500,000.

About