Markus Persson, creator of the immensely popular Minecraft game, has reportedly agreed to sell the game to software giant Microsoft in a two billion dollar deal.
Earlier, Persson sold the game only through his own website and had declined offers from Facebook and other technology giants saying that they undermined the independence of game developers. He had also lashed out at Microsoft's Windows 8 operating software by saying that it posed a threat to the gaming ecosystem, reported The Independent.
His decision to accept Microsoft's offer has astonished the gaming world and is believed to have been inspired by the positive working relationship that he forged with the company when Minecraft came to the Xbox games console, the report said.
Persson is expected to quit the company after his Swedish company, Mojang, is sold to Microsoft.
Minecraft is a virtual building game that makes use of Lego-style blocks. Persson began coding it in 2009 in his spare time.