Microsoft is on the verge of striking a multi-billion dollar deal to acquire the maker of the top Android and iOS paid app Minecraft, a move seen by one analyst as a way to buy into a “cultural phenomenon” of a game with 100 million players worldwide.

According to Reuters, which reported Microsoft will announce the $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, the Swedish developer behind Minecraft, on Monday, the Redmond, Wash., company is exploring ways to leverage Minecraft with the underperforming Windows Phone system.

The mobile operating system holds a mere 2.5 percent share of the world’s smartphone market, according to tech research firm IDC, and is essentially ignored by Mojang and many app developers.

Mojang creator and co-founder Markus Persson told Reuters last year Windows Phones were not worth developing for because of the low market share, pointing out that Symbian and Blackberry have more more users.

With 54 million sales overall since launching five years ago as a PC game, Minecraft has migrated to mobile with 40 percent of the apps downloaded to phones and tablets.

Dave Bisceglia, the chief executive of independent game studio Tap Lab, views it as an “enormous cultural phenomenon” and speculates that “Microsoft could on Windows phones give players a unique and compelling experience that you can’t get on the other platforms, that could be a driver to sell devices to existing Minecraft fans.”

Another analyst, Nomura’s Rick Sherlund, told Reuters he views Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang as more of “an attempt to better address mobile on a cross-platform basis,” and the deal is “consistent with (Microsoft) CEO Satya Nadella’s mobile and cloud strategy.”