Mojang Has Enough Cash to Last 10 More Years
Mojang can live without profit for 10 years.
Wouldn't it be nice to have so much cash stored away under the mattress that you wouldn't have to make another dime for 10 years? That is apparently the status of Minecraft developer Mojang, according to the company's founder, Markus "Notch" Persson.
"Hopefully, we are going to keep making money at Mojang, but if we don't, that's fine," he told Rolling Stone. "We just have 10 fun years, and then, the last year, we'd say to our employees, 'If we don't make any money this year, Mojang is going to be dead. So you might want to look for new jobs.'"
This comment led to speculation that the company may only have ten years left. That's not the case at all, and Persson jumped on Twitter to explain himself a bit further. The bottom line is that the company is doing extremely well, and has enough money saved up in the bank to stay afloat for the next ten years without earning another cent.
Wowzers.
"That article is weirdly angled," he said via Twitter. "I meant we're saving money so that from the day we don't make a profit, we'll survive another ten years. And I don't see how we'd stop making money any time soon at the rate things are going. So basically, we've got money saved to have ten more years to come up with a new project, without making a single cent in that time."
According to Eurogamer, Mojang (which only employs 36 people) made $332M in 2013 alone, $130M of which was profit, while $131M went to a separate company owned by Persson that deals with the licensing fees. The console version is handled by an external Scottish company named 4J Studios.
To date, the original version of Minecraft has sold over 15 million copies. Mojang is also working hard on Minecraft Realms, which just launched in the United States, and its card combat game called Scrolls.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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anthony8989 $332mil over 36 employees is a $9.2 mil average that each employee is responsible for bringing in. The protection of the IP is the bulk of their company's overhead.Reply
Their business model is damn near flawless -
jimmysmitty Reply13264254 said:$332mil over 36 employees is a $9.2 mil average that each employee is responsible for bringing in. The protection of the IP is the bulk of their company's overhead.
Their business model is damn near flawless
Since the game itself is not some insane next gen graphics, physics or other feature and kids eat it up they have to easily make money hand over fist. -
anthony8989 Hey, if I can sell you a rock for more than it costs for me to pick it up and hand it to you...Reply -
tomfreak ReplySince the game itself is not some insane next gen graphics, physics or other feature and kids eat it up they have to easily make money hand over fist.
well, they could to make a HD minecraft or another minecraft that make use of Hexagon cube, so the stuff build in-game are "less blocky/more round" in the future. All these have huge potential.
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bak0n My daughter wanted me to pick up a copy for her today. Didn't see it on steam. Went to check out the pricing and said, uhh. maybe for your birthday.Reply -
canadianvice Good on Notch. I'm always happy to see somebody make it, and all the better it's through his (and the Mojang crew's) efforts.Reply
I do wish MC had a little more content, as I get bored pretty quickly without mods, but overall I'm happy that it's a very solid indie game with a sensible, non corporate-dickhead at the helm.
I would really like to emphasize that MC shouldn't be criticized for its graphical choices - they were made for a purpose and I think a lot of it was stylistic. Plus, you can get better graphics fairly easily. My personal favourite pack is LB Photorealism. -
jshoop if they have so much money they could afford selling the game for less, probably boosting their sales. If enough people buy it for less money, then their profits may even be greaterReply -
Ad Hoc ReplyThis comment led to speculation that the company may only have ten years left.
I don't understand how anyone could get that out of what he said. People are stupid.