What is Minecraft and why did Microsoft just spend $2.5 billion on it?

Microsoft has cut a $2.5 billion deal for Mojang -- the video game studio responsible for the mega-hit, Minecraft.

If the only part of that sentence that made sense to you was "Microsoft" and "$2.5 billion," here's a quick primer on Minecraft and why this latest news is such a big deal. Minecraft is a video game. It was developed by Mojang -- specifically by Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson -- and first released in 2009. Minecraft is what's known as a "sandbox" game, or one that lets players pretty much have their own run of the game's world, without specific objectives or, in Minecraft's case, even a plot. Mojang's "Chief Word Officer" Owen Hill wrote that the game had simply expanded beyond the independent developer's ability to handle it. Minecraft can strengthen Microsoft's hand in providing a unique portfolio of services to users as it competes with the likes of Google, Apple and Amazon. Microsoft doesn't have something as strong as Google's search, Amazon's Prime content or Apple's iTunes store, and therefore needs to pick up more services.