The massively popular Minecraft game could soon be gobbled up by none other than Microsoft Corp., and it could happen as early as this week. That’s if you believe The Wall Street Journal anyhow, which says the Redmond firm is close to acquiring Mojang AB, the publisher of Minecraft, for more than $2 billion.

The WSJ didn’t say the deal would definitely happen, nor did it name any specific sources. Nevertheless it does have a history of getting these things right. If the deal does go through, Microsoft will have snapped up an indie-gaming phenomenon – the hit building blocks game has caught on with players of all ages and races, selling more than 55 million copies on PC, consoles and smartphones since its launch in 2011.

This multi-platform nature is one of the main reasons Minecraft caught on so quickly – it can be played on just about every major platform, having landed on Android and iOS in 2012, the PS3, PS4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 and the Xbox One.

Naturally many people are asking what would Microsoft want with a game like Minecraft? And why is it prepared to pay as much as $2.5 billion to get its hands on it?

Obviously there’s the money aspect. Minecraft generates massive revenues – last year Mojang recorded a $126 million profit from total revenues of $289 million with Minecraft, although 42 percent goes to Notch Enterprises, the company owned by Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson.

But the purchase price Microsoft has agreed is well in excess of that not inconsiderable sum – about twenty times more, to be precise. So there’s more to this than just money.

Most likely, Microsoft sees Minecraft as something capable of boosting its gaming strategy. The 55 million-strong Minecraft community is hugely passionate and the game’s popularity will likely be sustained for years to come. That gives Microsoft an advantage not just for its own Xbox platform, but for the first time in its history, would see it become a maker of games for other platforms too – and not just Sony’s PlayStation, but also Android and iOS.

Some Minecraft fans have expressed fears that Microsoft might try to make Minecraft an “Xbox-only” game if it does take control, but that seems unlikely given how unpopular such a move would be. However, Microsoft might well try to offer exclusive features for the Xbox version of Minecraft as a way of tempting gamers to buy its consoles.

Here’s a few more reasons why Minecraft might interest Microsoft:

• Minecraft is strongly popular with younger users, a demographic that’s critical to consumer electronics and software.
• The potential for taking popular titles and finding ways to make them available on mobile platforms could open a lot of doors for Microsoft, which has repeatedly flopped in the market.
• Mobile versions of Minecraft already exist. The multidevice support in mobile also fits in with Microsoft’s new approach of making some of its critical mobile software available on more than just Windows Phone.

Minecraft’s popularity on the PC could also be a benefit. Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Xbox strategy chief, talked about a renewed focus on PC gaming at the Game Developer’s Conference earlier this year, and Minecraft would be the perfect spearhead to drive this effort. Microsoft’s computing and gaming hardware business raked in some $9.6 billion over the last 12 months to July, though much of this came from Xbox and related software sales.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons