Microsoft introduced this week that it's shopping for vastly well-liked recreation franchise Minecraft for $2.5 billion. For that cash, Microsoft gets rights to the game and ownership of its Stockholm, Sweden-primarily based growth studio, Mojang. It would not retain the corporate's founders or Minecraft's infamously outspoken creator, Markus "Notch" Persson.Does that sound like a lot, $2.5 billion? Properly, it is in human dollars, however not a lot when you're Microsoft and you've got $eighty five billion in "cash, cash equivalents and brief-time period investments." Regardless of the fact that this week's deal solely cost Microsoft round 3 % of that, here is the true kicker (in the form of an announcement from Microsoft): "Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP foundation." Woof, that is a doozy of a sentence proper there.This is the translation: Microsoft expects the purchase of Minecraft/Mojang to make it a lot of money. And that's the reason Microsoft bought Minecraft.Admittedly, that is a rough translation of all that Microsoft's saying in that jargon-filled sentence. And it's a vital assertion within the several-paragraphs-long press launch that announced the deal. So let's break it down, piece by piece!A trailer for Minecraft's lately launched Xbox One model"Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even ..."This one sounds easy, but there's loads of knowledge in there. At the beginning, "Microsoft expects" is a heavily abridged manner of claiming, "Microsoft legal professionals and accountants painstakingly went over the previous financials of Mojang and projected earnings for the subsequent two to five years. After doing that work, we expect these results." Corporations don't "anticipate" something they have not deliberately calculated. This isn't a guess; it's an equation.The middle bit -- "the acquisition" -- is simply referring to the acquisition of Minecraft and Mojang for $2.5 billion. Nothing hidden there.To be break-even" isn't to say, Minecraft and Mojang will recoup the complete $2.5 billion Microsoft spent on the acquisition. As an alternative, it solely has to make about $25 million to make this a "break-even" deal. Why? Effectively, as reported in Polygon, analyst Michael Patcher pointed out in a talk at Games Beat 2014 that $25 million is about the quantity of interest Microsoft may anticipate to make if it simply left that money in the bank. As he places it:"Nicely, $2.5 billion, the curiosity on that is just $25 million a year. When they are saying break-even they don't mean they're going to get $2.5 billion back. That's sunk value, they don't care. They're talking about from a GAAP reporting perspective - EPS Microsoft Corporation - they will make more from Minecraft than they lose from not having that cash within the financial institution, generating interest ...""... in FY15 ..."Okay, bear with me -- this is not as complicated as it sounds. "In FY15" straight translates to "in Fiscal 12 months 2015." What about To understand what meaning, we have to know how Microsoft's fiscal yr works (surprise: It isn't the identical as the calendar 12 months the remainder of us exist in). Microsoft's fiscal yr begins on July 1st and ends on June thirtieth, yearly. Regardless of it being calendar yr 2014, Microsoft's in fiscal yr 2015 proper now. So!If Microsoft is in "FY15" right now, and the corporate's fiscal yr ends on June thirtieth, Microsoft expects to interrupt even on its buy by June 30, 2015.Sunrise in a modded model of Minecraft $25 million in a single year is definitely quite a bit less than $2.5 billion, however compared to the $85 billion Microsoft has in cash, $2.5 billion is a comparatively small quantity. Finally, Minecraft can pull in more money on that $2.5 billion than Microsoft might if it was just sitting within the financial institution. And here's how.More Than just GamesMojang makes a number of other games (Scrolls, for example), but nothing anywhere close to as important (financially or in any other case) as Minecraft. That's okay: Mojang's gotten excellent at increasing Minecraft into a franchise and property. The sport itself is on the market virtually in all places. Each Microsoft and Sony dedicated precious press conference time to say the game would arrive on their present game consoles. For a game that initially "launched" in 2011, that's unheard of. It is outright one thing that doesn't occur.In the last 24 hours, roughly 7,500 copies sold on Computer/Mac: worth around $200,000.There's a mobile version on each iOS and Android. You'll be able to play it on Fireplace Tv! Certain, why not. It is sort of literally accessible on each major game platform, with the exception of Nintendo's consoles and the PlayStation Vita (it's in development). And sure, it is tremendous, tremendous weird that Microsoft will now be the writer of a game on competing platforms. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer explicitly says within the acquisition announcement that, "We plan to continue to make Minecraft available throughout platforms -- including iOS, Android and PlayStation, in addition to Xbox and Laptop."There aren't accurate measurements for the game's sales throughout all these platforms on an ongoing foundation, however the official Minecraft site retains a statistic of the sport's Pc/Mac sales throughout the previous 24 hours (in perpetuity). Within the last 24 hours, roughly 7,500 copies sold on Computer/Mac: value round $200,000. That is approximately $73 million across one year, on just Pc/Mac. Once i checked final Saturday, it had bought just shy of 15,000 copies within the previous 24 hours.And that's to say nothing of merchandising (which there's a considerable quantity of), or licensing (also appreciable), or the annual convention (appropriately titled MineCon). Also, Microsoft acquires all the monetary property of Mojang in the method. Whatever money Mojang had on-hand goes to Microsoft, and that may very well be appreciable.A fan sporting the pinnacle of Minecraft's protagonist, Steve MINECRAFT'S CULTURAL InfluenceAnyone who's been to a mall or walked down a touristy block in Manhattan recently knows the cultural influence of Minecraft: T-shirts and Creeper heads are commonplace at tchotchke stands the world over. Extra importantly, however, is that tens of millions of children grew up with (and are still growing up with) Minecraft. Its iconic characters (primary character/silent protagonist Steve and the hilariously explosive Creeper enemy), distinct visible style and -- most of all -- limitless potential for creativity left a lasting impression on both the sport business and a era of youngsters.The following time you attend a Minecraft-themed youngsters birthday occasion, assume about this acquisition. Minecraft is Mario for hundreds of thousands of youngsters, and that's a very massive deal. Microsoft stands to make some huge cash as the arbiter of a beloved franchise.Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Microsoft expects to earn back the total $2.5 billion it spent in buying Minecraft and its maker, Mojang. Actually, it only has to interrupt even on the curiosity that may have been generated by those property.[Picture credit: Getty Pictures, Alan736/Flickr, Related Press]