25 Jan, 2012
It started off as an alpha back in 2009. Then, a beta was released shortly before the holidays in 2010. Then it was released on November 18th 2011 for the PC. In the incredibly short life that its been given so far, Minecraft has sold over 4.5 million copies, have taken home some gold from GDC, and even had its very own MineCon in Las Vegas.
Not too bad for an indie studio, right?
Thanks to the rapid growth of Minecraft, studio co-founder Markus Persson said that in a sense, the studio isn’t quite indie anymore. “I don’t think [Mojang] are indie in the sense of how I used to work any more, because we have a payroll to worry about and we need to do stuff to ensure the company lasts,” said Persson in an interview with PC Gamer. “We have other stuff which influences what we do other than trying to focus on the games. We make sure me and Jacob are only focusing on game development so the founders are still developing. But as a company, I don’t think we are indie in the sense that I used to mean it. But in the other sense of indie — as in we make games we want to play without having any external dependencies — then yeah, we’re indie.”
But what does being an independent developer really mean? According to Persson, the idea of an indie developer has evolved from when it was first coined. “I think it’s easier to be an indie game developer these days because back in the day it wasn’t called being an ‘indie developer,’ but a ‘garage programmer,” said Persson. “You weren’t expected to charge for your game so you couldn’t do it. People never charged. It was just a hobby.
“I think it’s much easier these days, but there’s still no guarantee you’ll make a profit. If you’re doing it out of passion and just want to get some money back it’s definitely doable.”
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