Following weeks of speculation and rumours, Microsoft announced that they would be acquiring Minecraft developer Mojang for a whopping $2.5 billion (£1.5 billion).
In a statement that accompanied the announcement, the Xbox firm revealed that they were expecting to break-even on the acquisition as early as July 2015.
However, what else could Microsoft have purchased for the same price? Console Monster investigates.
7.5 billion Freddos
In case you weren’t aware, the Freddo is a Cadbury’s chocolate bar in the shape of a cartoon frog that currently retails at 20p. We could mention how the 7.5 billion figure would double if they were still priced at 10p like they were a number of years ago, but that would make us sound bitter.
231 million copies of Ride to Hell: Retribution
Ride to Hell: Retribution is strongly considered to be one of the worst games on the Xbox 360. In the Console Monster review, the title scored 10% and was described as “a game to avoid at all costs”. Priced at £6.47, Microsoft could have bought every single copy of the game and prevented anyone from ever playing it again.
4.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles
4,547,383 to be exact (and you’d still have some change left over to buy a collection of games). We’re not sure why Microsoft would buy a load of PlayStation 4 consoles (priced at £329.86 each)mind.
1,306 Bugatti Veyrons
Imagine turning up to work in a car worth £1,148,545.For £1.5 billion, Microsoft could treat 1,306 of their employees to one of the world’s best cars. Alternatively, they could kindly donate them to the Console Monster team. We’d be more than happy to accept.
17 Gareth Bales
The Welshman moved to Real Madrid for an incredible £86 million in September 2013. For the price of Mojang, Microsoft could build its own football team with world class players. It’d be like a real life FIFA Ultimate Team.
2.5 Instagrams
In April 2012, Facebook announced that it had acquired popular photo-sharing smartphone app Instagram for $1 billion (£629 million). We’re not sure what Microsoft would do with Instagram but, then again, this list is entirely fictional after all.
1 Mojang
Developed by Mojang, Minecraft is one of the most played games of the last decade. Its popularity has seen the PC title ported over to consoles and mobile devices. With an incredibly large community already at its disposal, the acquisition of Mojang could not only be highly beneficial for Microsoft, but also very profitable. Wise choice, Microsoft. A very wise choice indeed (though we are partial to the odd Freddo).
