10 years ago, a little known Swedish video game developer released a 3D building block game on a website forum full of other indie game developers.
Since then, Minecraft has sold more than 176 million copies, making it possibly the best selling video game of all time.
Markus “Notch” Persson was the guy who created the game. He released the initial version, now known as "Minecraft Classic," on May 17, 2009.
It quickly became popular without the need for any traditional marketing -- almost all news of the game was spread by word of mouth on the internet and social media.
Notch then formed his own company, Mojang, hired some help, and as the game continued to grow in popularity, quit his day job to develop the game full time. Soon, it was available on multiple platforms, including PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.
Microsoft took notice. It purchased Mojang five years later for "a smooth 2.5 BILLION dollars."
“Minecraft is more than a great game franchise – it is an open world platform, driven by a vibrant community we care deeply about, and rich with new opportunities for that community and for Microsoft," said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in 2014.
Notch said he sold Mojang because he didn't "want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance."
Microsoft, meanwhile, kept the updates and variations coming with the game being released in virtually every country around the world. Then in 2016, Microsoft released an education version of Minecraft which schools across the United States began incorporating into their curriculum, praising the way the game teaches children to be creative and solve problems.
There's even a new version to celebrate 10 years of Minecraft. "Minecraft Earth" an all-new free-to-play augmented reality game for mobile phones that combines what gamers have learned to love about Minecraft with Azure Spatial Anchors AR tracking and PlayFab integration.
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