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Maybe this is a little off-topic, and I don't want to sound like an ungrateful player of minecraft. I actually really love the game and have put more hours into

Maybe this is a little off-topic, and I don't want to sound like an ungrateful player of minecraft. I actually really love the game and have put more hours into it than just about any other game but a few key titles like the Diablo, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout series. But, can someone explain to me how a game that has grossed roughly half a billion dollars (based on estimates I've read for all platforms) is still so feature bare compared to other games in its financial ballpark? I am honestly curious, because it doesn't sound like Notch is cruising the Caribbean in a 175' yacht or anything.

easytiger 12y ago
Think Lego. I think estimates are that notch personally pulled in about $100m a year during the initial boom. I guess he just doesn't like boats. Which is understandable for a guy who grew up in front of a keyboard
dagw 12y ago
because it doesn't sound like Notch is cruising the Caribbean in a 175' yacht or anything. He did however recently make news by buying the most expensive apartment in Stockholm.
watwut 12y ago
It is strategy, they want to use money to finance other future projects. According to one interview I have read, money from Minecraft are used to pay bills and development of other games until they luck out again and have another hit. Developing games is risky and there are no guarantees of success. So, the successful projects have to pay for unsuccessful ones.
- wldcordeiro 12y ago
  Just to add to your last sentence, successful projects have to pay for projects not yet ready to release as well as unsuccessful ones (whether due to them flopping or lack of critical mass.)
pjc50 12y ago
There's a lot of luck there, but it's a good reminder that features don't sell games. "Fun" sells games, and it's very hard to quantify.
- drdeca 12y ago
  Not just fun. Well, not just fun for certain definitions of fun. Not all good quality games are great examples of what some would call "fun". Loneliness is an interesting flash game/ interactive experience, (and while I don't think anyone would pay for it, it is very simple), I do think it is good and interesting. I'm having a hard time thinking of a game that is for sale that doesn't fit the term fun as much as might be expected, I think that looking for "fun" as the core determination of success is likely insufficient, even if one also adds advertising.
touristtam 12y ago
Is the modding community not offering enough for you? Just wondering, as it seems quite unusual for such a big hit to have modding encouraged the way minecraft does. (I know that part of this is due to Mojang being an indie studio). Other big studio with big selling franchise are barely having what would be considered as passable ten years ago (yes I am talking about the omni present call of duty x): no dedicated server and no modding capability. I am more concerned about minecraft being still running on the JVM and being such a slow cow running on a half decent modern hardware when C++ is still the main language for written game engine. You would have thought that in 4 years, a new iteration of the game optimized for rendering and speed would have been made available. /off-topic Back on topic, I think Notch is taking this too much at heart and should just ask Mojang to put a huge notice exonerating themselves from private server charging their customers.
- smackfu 12y ago
  Essentially, the only reason there is a modding community for Minecraft is because it's Java-based and people can just decompile the shipped code and hack stuff onto it. So you have the modding community adding value for free, while Mojang sells the game and takes the profits, but doesn't seem to be investing it back.
  - touristtam 12y ago
    I don't know if that is the only reason. I mean Quake had quite a good set of mods pretty much written in C++ type of code. More recently you can find modded server for games using Python or LUA for their game logic, official or not.
  - delucain 12y ago
    See, deep down, this is what bothers me about it. They haven't even added a decent questing system but modders have, and Notch gets the cash while articles like this prevent anyone from really making any money at it.

easytiger 12y ago

Think Lego. I think estimates are that notch personally pulled in about $100m a year during the initial boom. I guess he just doesn't like boats. Which is understandable for a guy who grew up in front of a keyboard

dagw 12y ago

because it doesn't sound like Notch is cruising the Caribbean in a 175' yacht or anything. He did however recently make news by buying the most expensive apartment in Stockholm.

watwut 12y ago

It is strategy, they want to use money to finance other future projects. According to one interview I have read, money from Minecraft are used to pay bills and development of other games until they luck out again and have another hit. Developing games is risky and there are no guarantees of success. So, the successful projects have to pay for unsuccessful ones.

wldcordeiro 12y ago
Just to add to your last sentence, successful projects have to pay for projects not yet ready to release as well as unsuccessful ones (whether due to them flopping or lack of critical mass.)

pjc50 12y ago

There's a lot of luck there, but it's a good reminder that features don't sell games. "Fun" sells games, and it's very hard to quantify.

drdeca 12y ago
Not just fun. Well, not just fun for certain definitions of fun. Not all good quality games are great examples of what some would call "fun". Loneliness is an interesting flash game/ interactive experience, (and while I don't think anyone would pay for it, it is very simple), I do think it is good and interesting. I'm having a hard time thinking of a game that is for sale that doesn't fit the term fun as much as might be expected, I think that looking for "fun" as the core determination of success is likely insufficient, even if one also adds advertising.

touristtam 12y ago

Is the modding community not offering enough for you? Just wondering, as it seems quite unusual for such a big hit to have modding encouraged the way minecraft does. (I know that part of this is due to Mojang being an indie studio). Other big studio with big selling franchise are barely having what would be considered as passable ten years ago (yes I am talking about the omni present call of duty x): no dedicated server and no modding capability. I am more concerned about minecraft being still running on the JVM and being such a slow cow running on a half decent modern hardware when C++ is still the main language for written game engine. You would have thought that in 4 years, a new iteration of the game optimized for rendering and speed would have been made available. /off-topic Back on topic, I think Notch is taking this too much at heart and should just ask Mojang to put a huge notice exonerating themselves from private server charging their customers.

smackfu 12y ago
Essentially, the only reason there is a modding community for Minecraft is because it's Java-based and people can just decompile the shipped code and hack stuff onto it. So you have the modding community adding value for free, while Mojang sells the game and takes the profits, but doesn't seem to be investing it back.
- touristtam 12y ago
  I don't know if that is the only reason. I mean Quake had quite a good set of mods pretty much written in C++ type of code. More recently you can find modded server for games using Python or LUA for their game logic, official or not.
- delucain 12y ago
  See, deep down, this is what bothers me about it. They haven't even added a decent questing system but modders have, and Notch gets the cash while articles like this prevent anyone from really making any money at it.