MICROSOFT’s potential buyout of Mojang, the Swedish developer behind the Minecraft online game, could make its 35-year-old creator Markus Persson a billionaire. Persson controls 71 percent of the group through holding firm Notch Enterprises, which owns all of Notch Development, which owns Mojang and the licensing rights for Minecraft. Including dividends he has received since 2011, Persson would have $1.5 billion (R16bn) if the deal goes through. Persson did not immediately respond to a queries on his net worth. Minecraft puts players inside a pixellated landscape where they try to avoid being eaten by monsters that come out after dark. The game is made for many platforms including consoles, computers and mobile devices. As of June, Mojang had sold 54 million copies of the game in all forms. It was the second-best-selling game by retail copies sold in July for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, behind Sony’s The Last of Us for PlayStation consoles, research firm NPD revealed. – Bloomberg