4 ms·

The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit

117 points by ulvund 16y ago

ErrantX 16y ago
He's saying that revenue is in the region $20-30 Million.[1] That's... crazy. Awesome, but crazy. I knew Minecraft was a success story but not to that extent! http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_developer_who_made_a_commercially/c1o1ox6 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_...
- Peroni 16y ago
  I was blown away too. My favourite line from the entire conversation was: It all ends up in an account somewhere, and I try not to look at it. You have to respect the guys dedication. To not let that massive sum distract him and still get down to dirty coding is remarkable. More power to him.
- andywood 16y ago
  It's currently taking in > $200,000 per day. http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp
- matthew-wegner 16y ago
  It's worth mentioning that Notch began Minecraft as an individual, operating as an individual, so much of that early revenue hits Sweden's ~50% tax rate... But yeah, as far as I'm aware Minecraft is far and away the most profitable indie game that owns their own distribution channel (ie no XBLA, Steam, etc involvement).
TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago
Ok, dumb question. I looked on reddit for it, as well as google. No dice. What is an AMA in reddit speak?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- nbpoole 16y ago
  IAmA (as in http://www.reddit.com/r/iama/ http://www.reddit.com/r/iama/) = I Am A AMA = Ask Me Anything
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- heyitsnick 16y ago
  Switch search engines :) It's the first result for searching "reddit what does AMA mean" on duckduckgo.
  - mcrittenden 16y ago
    It's the first result on Google for that query too.
    - heyitsnick 16y ago
      Not for me http://i.min.us/imFTSK.png http://i.min.us/imFTSK.png
      - mcrittenden 16y ago
        I don't mean that exact link is the first result, I just mean a link which explains it is the first result.
- RodgerTheGreat 16y ago
  UrbanDictionary is usually my first stop for decoding this kind of slang: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AMA http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AMA
silverbax88 16y ago
Last month's Game Developer magazine had a great breakdown on his entire growth process.
heyitsnick 16y ago
As a redditer commented; I have never played minecraft for fear of never being able to put it down. It's fantastic it's been such a success, I think games like this will always appeal to a certain niche but no one count have predicted it would have been so successful to such a large audience. With that said, I just contend myself with watching the odd youtube video. I dare not get closer.
- TillE 16y ago
  The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. It's a fantastic game, but you can quickly experience everything it has to offer, and thereafter you can set your own boundaries quite easily. It's really just a great big sandbox with no explicit motivating factors. But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, we're in big trouble.
  - sevenproxies 16y ago
    >The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. This what I experienced. Mutliplayer is fun though, but I can't play the game properly due to bugs (framerate issues, random disconnects / crashes to desktop). I'm not sure if my local JRE has a problem but I have been doing Java development work recently and I've not had any issues. I think once the bugs have been ironed out and the development process has been refined (to prevent re-occuring bugs) the game can really grow. Recent updates has shown that new features are being added to the game (including reaching out to the mod community) and by the time of proper release the game will have much more to offer.
  - Semiapies 16y ago
    It can be pretty long-term absorbing if you get into tinkering and construction, especially in groups. My friend who was running a server on his own box for him, myself, and a couple of other people eventually broke down and rented a Minecraft server after a few months. RPG-like elements? Oh dear, that would be disasterous.
  - 16y ago
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
nikcub 16y ago
An interesting question, and one that is more relevant to this community, would be to ask about being approached by investors. How soon it happen, how often, what they said or offered, etc. There must have been a stampede of VC's and angel investors after the stories of his success in beta were published.
bryanh 16y ago
A great quote in response to a question about Minecraft's continuous release schedule: "Developing in the dark is scary and probably wrong." http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_developer_who_made_a_commercially/c1o1or0?context=1 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_...
Apocryphon 16y ago
Someone should ask if he went to a Montessori school.
Sukotto 16y ago
You can watch a 20 minute mini-documentary about Notch and the Mojang company here: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/minecraft/101/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/minecraft/101/ (Part of a kickstart project to do a much more involved documentary http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2pp/minecraft-the-story-of-mojang http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2pp/minecraft-the-story-... )
drno 16y ago
As an early player of minecraft I have always had a nagging question to ask: why did minecraft succeed while second life "failed"? In a sense they offer similar creative expression but with different gameplay philosophies.

117 points by ulvund 16y ago

He's saying that revenue is in the region $20-30 Million.[1] That's... crazy. Awesome, but crazy. I knew Minecraft was a success story but not to that extent! http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_developer_who_made_a_commercially/c1o1ox6 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_...

Peroni 16y ago
I was blown away too. My favourite line from the entire conversation was: It all ends up in an account somewhere, and I try not to look at it. You have to respect the guys dedication. To not let that massive sum distract him and still get down to dirty coding is remarkable. More power to him.
andywood 16y ago
It's currently taking in > $200,000 per day. http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp
matthew-wegner 16y ago
It's worth mentioning that Notch began Minecraft as an individual, operating as an individual, so much of that early revenue hits Sweden's ~50% tax rate... But yeah, as far as I'm aware Minecraft is far and away the most profitable indie game that owns their own distribution channel (ie no XBLA, Steam, etc involvement).

TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago

Ok, dumb question. I looked on reddit for it, as well as google. No dice. What is an AMA in reddit speak?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
nbpoole 16y ago
IAmA (as in http://www.reddit.com/r/iama/ http://www.reddit.com/r/iama/) = I Am A AMA = Ask Me Anything
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
heyitsnick 16y ago
Switch search engines :) It's the first result for searching "reddit what does AMA mean" on duckduckgo.
- mcrittenden 16y ago
  It's the first result on Google for that query too.
  - heyitsnick 16y ago
    Not for me http://i.min.us/imFTSK.png http://i.min.us/imFTSK.png
    - mcrittenden 16y ago
      I don't mean that exact link is the first result, I just mean a link which explains it is the first result.
RodgerTheGreat 16y ago
UrbanDictionary is usually my first stop for decoding this kind of slang: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AMA http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AMA

silverbax88 16y ago

Last month's Game Developer magazine had a great breakdown on his entire growth process.

heyitsnick 16y ago

As a redditer commented; I have never played minecraft for fear of never being able to put it down. It's fantastic it's been such a success, I think games like this will always appeal to a certain niche but no one count have predicted it would have been so successful to such a large audience. With that said, I just contend myself with watching the odd youtube video. I dare not get closer.

TillE 16y ago
The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. It's a fantastic game, but you can quickly experience everything it has to offer, and thereafter you can set your own boundaries quite easily. It's really just a great big sandbox with no explicit motivating factors. But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, we're in big trouble.
- sevenproxies 16y ago
  >The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. This what I experienced. Mutliplayer is fun though, but I can't play the game properly due to bugs (framerate issues, random disconnects / crashes to desktop). I'm not sure if my local JRE has a problem but I have been doing Java development work recently and I've not had any issues. I think once the bugs have been ironed out and the development process has been refined (to prevent re-occuring bugs) the game can really grow. Recent updates has shown that new features are being added to the game (including reaching out to the mod community) and by the time of proper release the game will have much more to offer.
- Semiapies 16y ago
  It can be pretty long-term absorbing if you get into tinkering and construction, especially in groups. My friend who was running a server on his own box for him, myself, and a couple of other people eventually broke down and rented a Minecraft server after a few months. RPG-like elements? Oh dear, that would be disasterous.
- 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

nikcub 16y ago

An interesting question, and one that is more relevant to this community, would be to ask about being approached by investors. How soon it happen, how often, what they said or offered, etc. There must have been a stampede of VC's and angel investors after the stories of his success in beta were published.

bryanh 16y ago

A great quote in response to a question about Minecraft's continuous release schedule: "Developing in the dark is scary and probably wrong." http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_developer_who_made_a_commercially/c1o1or0?context=1 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_...

Apocryphon 16y ago

Someone should ask if he went to a Montessori school.

Sukotto 16y ago

You can watch a 20 minute mini-documentary about Notch and the Mojang company here: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/minecraft/101/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/minecraft/101/ (Part of a kickstart project to do a much more involved documentary http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2pp/minecraft-the-story-of-mojang http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2pp/minecraft-the-story-... )

drno 16y ago

As an early player of minecraft I have always had a nagging question to ask: why did minecraft succeed while second life "failed"? In a sense they offer similar creative expression but with different gameplay philosophies.