On Monday, Microsoft will unveil a $2.5 billion plan to purchase Mojang, the Swedish developer of the hit open-world game Minecraft, sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. Minecraft boasts 100 million players worldwide and has wracked up 54 million sales since its release five years ago.

Analysts believe the move is intended to bolster the Windows Phone, which has only 2.5 percent of the world’s smartphone market.

“If you look at iOS, Minecraft has been a top-grossing game for quite some time,” Dave Bisceglia, Chief Executive of independent game studio Tap Lab, told Reuters. “If 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.”

Other analysts are wary of the purchase, pointing to the difficulties game creators often have in replicating their success.

“Buying a game company is like buying an aging baseball player. You’ll need a miracle to get another hit,” writes Josh Constine at TechCrunch. For example, Constine points to developers like Rovio, who experienced early success with the hit Angry Birds, before seeing profits slip 52 percent last year.

Also making the deal somewhat puzzling to experts is Mojang co-founder Markus Persson’s well documented dislike of Microsoft.

“Got an email from Microsoft, wanting to help ‘certify’ Minecraft for win 8,” Perrson tweeted almost two years ago. “I told them to stop trying to ruin the pc as an open platform.”

Still, rumours agree that Persson himself approached Microsoft a few months ago to explore a possibility of a sale. $2.5 billion can sure make some strange bedfellows.