Mojang staff were offered $300k to stay after Microsoft buyout

Microsoft acquired Minecraft development company, Mojang, quite a while back and at the time, the Minecraft community was shocked. As you would expect, some of the Mojang staff probably had some concerns of their own so in order to keep people from leaving, Microsoft offered all Mojang employees the currency equivalent of $300,000 should they stay for at least six months.

These new tidbits of information surrounding the Mojang buyout were all revealed in a new Minecraft book, published on Wired: “Everyone at Mojang was made the same offer: whoever stayed on board for at least six months after the sale would be rewarded with two million Swedish crowns, approximately three hundred thousand dollars, after taxes.”

The piece even goes a little more in-depth in to what happened when Microsoft bought Mojang, with Microsoft employees often accidentally referring to Mojang as Minecraft, solidifying the theory that Microsoft made the acquisition purely for that game:

“According to people present at the meeting, Matt Booty misspoke several times when discussing Mojang's future. Instead of saying Mojang, he referred to the company simply as Minecraft, quickly correcting himself. For the others in the room, it was awkward to say the least. Less than half of them worked directly with Minecraft. Every time the man from Microsoft confused the name of the company he'd acquired with the game it was known for, he inadvertently pointed to the elephant in the room. Yes, Microsoft had acquired all of Mojang. But it was only really interested in Minecraft.”

From the sounds of it, Mojang employees weren't thrilled with the changes made following the acquisition, including the surge in Microsoft employees floating around and managing the business.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: $300,000 for six months of company loyalty seems like a no-brainer, then again, some of the Mojang employees may have had a really hard time dealing with the change in management following the acquisition. 

Source: Wired
Via: Destructoid 

Become a Patron!