Microsoft's $2.5B Acquisition of Minecraft Could Be Announced Monday -- Report

Analyst suggests the acquisition is meant to support Microsoft's mobile business.

Reports that Microsoft will buy Minecraft developer Mojang might be confirmed very soon.

"A source briefed on the matter" told Reuters that Microsoft will officially reveal it will acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion tomorrow, Monday, September 15. Note that the figure is higher than the $2 billion first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

According to Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund, the deal is meant to support Microsoft's mobile business. "We don’t view this acquisition as a signal of Microsoft's intent to double down on Xbox but consider it an attempt to better address mobile on a cross-platform basis," He said. "This also appears to be consistent with (Microsoft) CEO Satya Nadella’s mobile and cloud strategy."

Minecraft: Pocket Edition, the mobile version of the game available through the iTunes App Store and Google Play, is indeed tremendously popular. In April, Jens Bergensten of the Mojang’s mobile team revealed that Pocket Edition sold over 21 million copies.

Minecraft is already available on PC, mobile, Xbox 360, and PS3, and it recently released on PlayStation 4and Xbox One. The game continues to make it onto both digital and retail top 10 sales charts month after month. Purported inside sources speaking to Bloomberg claim that "Microsoft will keep Minecraft available for rival products" should the deal go ahead.

Would you be more likely to buy a Windows Phone or a Surface tablet if it was the best mobile device to play Minecraft?