Minecraft

[Dwood]

After its initial success, he could have hired a team of people and gotten several millions of dollars from investors to start a studio, but he didn't. He's a goddamn fucking idiot as far as I see him.

Agreed. He's the dumbest developer I have ever seen. If it weren't for the one original idea he ever had he and his company would never have gone anywhere. In fact, they should have set the entire company on minecraft, and only one or two people developing the next game. They've only made bad decision after bad decision. Mark my words, those people in Mojang are dumb.

But even after that, the biggest thing that pushed me to a conclusion that Notch should never be allowed to do what he wants to do, ever, was the trip where he went with that bajillionaire and didn't take advantage of meeting all those billionaires. I mean, heck, it sounded like all he did was go and get drunk when what he should have done was talked to all those people and got them on his contacts list, because those would have been the guys to invest in his company.

The March 30th blog tells it all.

[Limited]

Agreed. He's the dumbest developer I have ever seen. If it weren't for the one original idea he ever had he and his company would never have gone anywhere. In fact, they should have set the entire company on minecraft, and only one or two people developing the next game. They've only made bad decision after bad decision. Mark my words, those people in Mojang are dumb.

But even after that, the biggest thing that pushed me to a conclusion that Notch should never be allowed to do what he wants to do, ever, was the trip where he went with that bajillionaire and didn't take advantage of meeting all those billionaires. I mean, heck, it sounded like all he did was go and get drunk when what he should have done was talked to all those people and got them on his contacts list, because those would have been the guys to invest in his company.

The March 30th blog tells it all.

My word, you complain Notch is stupid yet you really need to look at yourself sometimes Dwood.

Why exactly is he stupid for not signing with a publisher or licenser? You do understand, taking that big leap has consequences. Having lots of money to back a project does not equal a good quality product. If he had, people would be yelling from the rooftops that hes a sell out and the game won't be the same...and that would be 100% true.

I commend Notch for not falling into that trap, you can even read from his 30 March blogpost (which you ironically quoted) that he is not about all the money or fame. He just wants to be able to make things, the way he wants.

You need to understand, Notch built the bulk of the game by himself. He can handle making it on his own for now. Is focus now leaning onto the next game? Yes it is, personally I feel Notch is becoming slightly tired of Minecraft and the 'newness' has worn off. That would happen with or without financial backing fyi.

You claim he wouldnt have got any where without his one original idea, that is outrageously untrue. He got to where he is by harnessing that idea and crafting a well-throughout quality product. (I use product loosely).

You do realise, if he had financial backing it would have meant no more Minecraft, until a full release? The game would be significantly different, as you can see Notch is starting to use people mod ideas and putting them into the game. This is not a "oh im running out of ideas" situation, he is looking at what people want. He then wants to provide an implementation of it that suits the style of the game, and allows it to be 'right out of the box.

Dwood its easy to say "yeah he should have taken the money" yet you have not though it through. Plus, hindsight is 20-20 vision.

[Dwood]

Read my post again, I'm not saying that he should sign with a publisher or licenser, I'm talking about him passing up having people financially invest in mojang so he can hire more people to work on the code for the game, and become a full-on studio, not just 6(?) guys in an office. The kind of people he went to meet wouldn't be dumb like a publisher would be.

Granted, it's possible that he took contacts down, but in all honesty he probably only got the guy with the jet that took him there's contact.

And second, my beef with Notch isn't centered around financial backing. It's that the question lies around this: Do they have the ability to make another original idea or product that can keep the company in business for x years, as well as the capability to actually do it?

[jcap]

Hindsight is 20/20, but it doesn't excuse poor management. The point is, he doesn't know a good opportunity when it hits him in the face. He has a product that is making profit. After the first 1 million copies sold, he should have started looking into expansion. Let's say the first 1 million copies were all sold at $5 a pop. That would mean he made $5 million in revenue, and he probably has very few expenses eating away at his profit.

He could have hired someone to write up a solid business plan that could be presented to investors. Looking at the initial success and huge revenue, he wouldn't have had to look far. Even if he wasn't in it for the money, to avoid disappointing their fans they should have had the vision of making a "real" game for multiple platforms to reach an even wider audience. They didn't even have to sign with a publisher, except for the console versions!

Now, they've missed that opportunity. They had the chance to be first out of the gate, but instead we're going to see a ton of spinoffs that are making up for where Minecraft fell short.

[Limited]

Read my post again, I'm not saying that he should sign with a publisher or licenser, I'm talking about him passing up having people financially invest in mojang so he can hire more people to work on the code for the game, and become a full-on studio, not just 6(?) guys in an office. The kind of people he went to meet wouldn't be dumb like a publisher would be.

Granted, it's possible that he took contacts down, but in all honesty he probably only got the guy with the jet that took him there's contact.

And second, my beef with Notch isn't centered around financial backing. It's that the question lies around this: Do they have the ability to make another original idea or product that can keep the company in business for x years, as well as the capability to actually do it?

You have beef with a guy, you do not know, and have never met JUST because your unsure he has the ability to make another original idea to keep the company in business. Do you understand how idiotic that sounds? Your angry at a guy, because your concerned he might not be able to carry on doing the things he does. You complain you don't want to Notch to be able to do the things he does - because your worried he won't be able to do the things he does in the future? Dwood, your methodology is absolutely baffling.

Your only assuming that Notch has been crystal clear on his blog. Notch is the CEO of a company, he cant just go on his blog posting about rumours and unconfirmed dealings. Certain things need to be kept private, especially financial things.

Your also assuming the guy that went to the office was actually a game developer backer. Looking back at the article to me it sounds like hes a fan that just happens to be rich. He was interested in the way the company works and wanted to have a look around, he then treated the three developers to a flight to London to go to a swacky party where wealthy people go to. -Not every rich person is an investor Dwood.

You also do realise it might have been an April fools joke? If he hasnt set up the date correctly on his blog, it could have meant it was Apr 1st his date but not in blog date.

Dwood, are you trolling me or are you really this stupid?


Jcap, yes he probably is business stupid, hes a developer not a business man. But he has thought hard about what Minecraft is and what his vision of the game is. Becoming "a full game" would ruin Minecraft. The whole essence of Minecraft is the simpliciy of it all, the cookie cutter style developer that allows for modular code to be added.

Personally I dont see what Minecraft can expand into, without destroying the complete makeup of what it is. Minecraft is a minimalistic style game.

They had the chance to be first out of the gate, but instead we're going to see a ton of spinoffs that are making up for where Minecraft fell short.

Lol, what has Minecraft fallen short of, that copy-cat (which by the way, are leaning off the name) games have mastered?

[Dwood]

I'm saying that it's aggravating to see a financially stable, capable product miss out on going even further because it can, but due to developer... laziness(?) hasn't gone half as far as it could. He made Minecraft and, a WORLD of opportunities opened up and smacked him in the face, but he turned them down... He's had people volunteer to program for Minecraft FOR FREE/CHEAP and they turn them down. I do have beef with him I guess, but my points still stand. Mojang decided also to leave him as the ONLY developer for the game... what are they smoking?

Your also assuming the guy that went to the office was actually a game developer backer.

I'm assuming that he's a rich guy, who knows how to make, and keep money. It doesn't matter where you invest if the people you're investing in have a product with financial value, are going to do their job, and like doing it. You don't have to invest solely in one market in order to make it as an investor. Provided notch got the people who were there's contacts, if he needed money or whatever all he'd need is someone to present a biz plan to those people. Mojang has a great original product, I just don't think they have their heads screwed on straight.

Looking back at the article to me it sounds like hes a fan that just happens to be rich. He was interested in the way the company works and wanted to have a look around, he then treated the three developers to a flight to London to go to a swacky party where wealthy people go to.

Which was a golden opportunity that, as far as I'm aware, he missed out on and instead used it to get drunk.

-Not every rich person is an investor Dwood.

90% of all mega-uber rich persons are an investor, if not all. Wealth isn't static, and the best way to make and keep it, is through investing your money in something.

[Limited]

He was a rich person, not a "mega-uber rich". Also he may have won the lottery. I know two millionaires (a friend of mine, two of his uncles) and they have done a crap job with the money. My point still stands that your methodology and take on things are utter stupidy, reflecting upon your "hes the dumbest developer ever".

[Dwood]

He was a rich person, not a "mega-uber rich". Also he may have won the lottery. I know two millionaires (a friend of mine, two of his uncles) and they have done a crap job with the money.

Lotto money doesn't buy jets, and if he won the lotto or something similar, I expect the money to not have automatically granted the guy access to rich people's parties. And 2nd: if a person owns a jet, they have ~15 million or more (usually) as total value. You don't just spend ~2 million (once tax hits that, it aint pretty either) on a private jet once you have say, 3 million euros.

I've worked with my grandpa at a private airport he used to own, and got to meet people with very, very large net worths. Every single one is constantly investing in some projects here and there.

My point still stands that your methodology and take on things are utter stupidy, reflecting upon your "hes the dumbest developer ever".

There's nothing stupid in stating that the company has made an astounding number (and continue to do so) of bad decisions.

[ThePlague]

You three are sounding like the hundreds that were spamming reddit yesterday :\

It's Notch's game, we're players.

[Cortexian]

Dwood, I know like, 20 Oil company CEO's that run varying levels of successful companies. Some with net worth in the billion dollar range. They don't invest there personal wealth in anything except oil-related projects and such, even if one of them thought Minecraft was the best thing to ever happen to video gaming I doubt they would care enough to invest into something so far out of there "realm".

I'd expect most CEO's to be similar to this, the only people you'd see investing in Minecraft are people with inherited wealth and/or someone who won a lotto. Note that not all countries tax lotto winnings either, so depending where they win they could very well become millionaires with $15,000,000 in the bank overnight. Here in Canada for instance, Lotto 6/49 hits the $20,000,000 mark often and I've seen it go as high as $77,000,000 that I can recall.