Minecraft is now part of the Microsoft family.

In an announcement today, Microsoft made public the news that they have purchased the company Mojang for $2.5 billion. Mojang is the development studio behind the mega hit Minecraft.

"Our relationship with Mojang began when we initially talked to the team about bringing Minecraft to the console." said Phil Spencer, Head of Microsoft's Xbox division. "Minecraft quickly became the top online game on Xbox Live, with over two billion hours played on Xbox 360 in the last two years. That working relationship set the ground work for other opportunities. We’ve long seen the incredible potential of Minecraft."

Mojang's founder, Markus "Notch" Persson, has also announced that he will be be leaving the company.

"It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity." stated Persson on his website.

Persson states that he never meant for Minecraft to become this big and has ulitmately decided that he needed to step away from the company.

"Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games." said Persson. "I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting."

While Persson states that he will be leaving the company, he still plans to do developing, but only small projects.

"As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately."