Microsoft’s purchase of Minecraft: just what is it getting for its $2.5 billion?

The rumors of the last few days have been proved true, and Microsoft has bought Minecraft for $2.5 billion. The story can be read on any number of sites, including of course, the posting by Phil Spencer, the man in charge of Xbox at Microsoft… but the best place to get the scoop on this is via the website of Mojang, the Swedish company that developed Minecraft. It is one of the most honest, clear, and candid I have read in a long time: pretty much along the lines of, “Yes, we have sold up… Microsoft made us a great offer, and we’re outta here.”

What the three founders of the company have done is known in the trade as “take the money and run”: neither Markus “Notch” Persson, Carl O. Manneh, or H. Jakob Porsér will be staying on at Minecraft after the deal goes through. Persson’s reasons make total sense: he’s a programmer, not a businessman and much less a CEO, and his decision has nothing to do with the money, and more to just wanting to keep control over his life…

So if Microsoft isn’t doing an acqui-hire, and keeping the old team on to run Minecraft for it, then just what is it buying? The first answer that comes to mind is the community: Minecraft not only brings together more than one hundred million registered users, but that Microsoft has seen how loyal those users are: when…