Notch – Cashing Out of Indie-dom (for a while)?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 10, 2014

Markus “Notch” Persson is an incredibly lucky person. And with that, I don’t mean that at all as a slight against his skills. The guy paid his dues. He made craploads of games for previous employers. He co-created an MMO. He participated in Ludum Dare competitions. He’s got mad skills. He’s easily in the top 20% of indie programmers – probably in the top 10%, and he’s got a good head for design. He’s better than me. He was destined for success, sooner or later. But now he is a rock star. That’s not an inevitability no matter how good you are. His stardom came through a combination of skill, hard work, and an unbelievable amount of good luck. Things just clicked and went viral, and he was good enough and positioned well enough to take advantage of it.

And now, the rumors are circulating that Microsoft is offering just under $2 billion (with a “b”) for his company. And, of course, Minecraft.

Me? I’d take it. You can fund a lot of startup game studios and new game projects for a couple of BILLION dollars. Of course, we’re not talking about a lump sum of a couple billion dollars of cash here, either. It’s probably staged and a combination of cash, stock, and other assets released in a staged fashion. But I’d be for taking the money and using it to change the world. After all, at a certain point, that’s all that kind of money is good for – it’s exceeded your capacity to use it as a plain ol’ consumer. You gotta hire up people to do awesome things.

And for that, good on him! The only thing bad about it is that it’s given a lot of people some very strange perceptions of what indie gaming is like. There may be another story like his in the future – I sure hope so – but it’s not like anybody of half his ability and half his diligence (or even an equal amount of both) is just going to go out there, make a game, and expect half or quarter or even 1/100th of the success he’s achieved. Especially not with just one or two games. Sometimes – like Rovio with Angry Birds, or Terry Cavanagh with VVVVVV, it’s a last-ditch effort after innumerable failures that brings success. And sometimes the “big hit” never happens.

Now, if I were Microsoft (or rather, if I was in Microsoft’s shoes… I can’t possibly envision what goes on in the corporate mind that causes them to be so disdainful of their customers), here’s what I’d put on the table:

#1 – The total distribution would be tied to Notch being directly involved in the release of Minecraft 2. Microsoft has it’s eye on a franchise, and it needs to be launched by The Man himself. The guy managed to make himself a rock star – the very thing the publisher / studio system has repressed for the last couple of decades – so you want him to the the front man.

#2 – I wouldn’t mess around with current distribution of Minecraft 1. In fact, I’d allow it to continue being ported to other platforms. The more the merrier. I’d want EVERYONE to have the opportunity to play Minecraft 1. And get addicted.

#3 – Minecraft 2, I’d be a schmuck about and limit it (probably) to Microsoft platforms. So all those people who loved the game on every system under the sun would find their way to own the new one on a PC, console, tablet, etc.

#4 – And yes, I’d milk the name and franchise as much as possible. I’d want new games to come from “the creators of Minecraft!”

Assuming these rumors are for real and it really does go down:

Yeah, there may be some people out there hating on him for even considering this deal. Many of them would probably take that deal themselves in a heartbeat if the situation were reversed. Assuming it goes through, nobody really knows what this means to the game that indie legends are made of. Hopefully, as gamers, we won’t notice a difference.

But you know what? It’s his game, and it’s his call. I hope that, in the end, he’s satisfied with his decisions. I’m pretty happy for him. He didn’t set out with this kind of expectation, and I honestly believe that he did what he did in order to make the coolest game possible. I’m happy to know that occasionally, that still pays off.

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 12 Comments to Read



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