The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

[Justin Leego]

I felt like the author could (should) have been entirely more specific about his studio demographic and employee income during the unsalaried period.

[Bjorn]

EDIT: Henroid, you beat me to the unpaid internship analogy, but good point. Also, I think part of my problem with this is that many people coming from low-income backgrounds wouldn't be in a position to take that kind of risk.

 

It's a double edged sword, as on one hand, it creates yet another entry point to the industry that only people from certain privileged backgrounds are likely to be able to take (which already has entire layers of privilege built up just to get to this point). On the other hand, it may also give people who would otherwise never have the resources opportunities to create their own business. It's certainly not a black-and-white kind of argument about the propriety of it.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Getting a rev share or unpaid internship Van be fair as long you feel that you are getting significant value in return. The value could be experience, future profits, ownership of the product or company. As long as it's not stacked against the employee then it's worthwhile. Also America really needs more socialism. I was able to get unemployment benefit while in an internship that paid very poorly, if I wasn't offered that money I couldn't have taken that opportunity at all.

[Murdoc]

When I saw that quote, that there was, "no check involved, big or otherwise," my first thought was that he was simply paid via direct deposit. Still, whether it's tricky wording or if he really did work for free, it does feel wrong somehow. I think you're right that it furthers the message to creative people that just getting their work out their is payment in itself, which is just wrong.

 

In other games-as-businesses news: was anyone else troubled by that Polygon editorial about hiring "the best" staff without paying them a salary? I understand the appeal of being a part of a start up, but articles like this only seem to similarly suggest that breaking into the industry requires tons and tons of unpaid labor. 

Yeah I read that and still haven't been able to form a thought in words, just a sort of "blah" kind of spitting motion.

 

In school we were told never work for free, they realize there are tons of talented people out there and I know when I was just starting out I'd do whatever it took to get some experience or to be part of a project.

 

So the guy writing the article mentioned in the comments that once he had some money from a big deal he paid his employees back pay; that nice of him, though it brings up more questions as to what he will pay his employees to get finish the project he got the money from... a lot of this sounds like an unsustainable business model.

 

Working for free/revenue share is a luxury most people can't afford and if you can afford it, then good on them, I guess? And even if the dude writing the article seems smart and a stand up fellow, there are a million people out there doing/trying the same thing as him that aren't.

 

So to further the idea that it's OK to get a bunch of young, talented students together and convince them not to take salary is really the wrong direction for the industry, even if you happen to be the one guy that makes good on the offer.

 

I'm not making my opinion because I fear young, hardworking, talent taking my job for lower wages or for free, just the same as I don't fear my job being shipped off to China or whatever; which is a very real fear for some people in this industry. I want the standards of the industry to rise, much like the comments of the writer, meaning little to no crunch time, flexible work space, creative freedom or at least space to work in, etc... and above all of these tenants, which I'm surprised he has missed out on, a fair wage for the work. He is paying his employees in the end or at some point, but a lot of it seems like a horse and pony show until that happens and relies heavily on some pretty specific circumstances (The employee can work for free, the game will eventually make money, he will make good on his word) and if he is making it work, great, but as I mentioned there are a million others that try the same thing and are taken advantage.

 

So yeah, still haven't formed a coherent opinion or argument, but I still don't think it's right. Even if it is working for him, for now, I don't think it's sustainable and I don't think it should become an accepted practice in the industry because for every one of him there are a dozen of snake oil salesmen out there and that is bad for the industry.

[Justin Leego]

True. Someone like Paul McCartney can certainly afford to work on revenue share. He can afford to work for nothing, ever.

[prettyunsmart]

It's a double edged sword, as on one hand, it creates yet another entry point to the industry that only people from certain privileged backgrounds are likely to be able to take (which already has entire layers of privilege built up just to get to this point). On the other hand, it may also give people who would otherwise never have the resources opportunities to create their own business. It's certainly not a black-and-white kind of argument about the propriety of it.

 

Fair point. I ultimately feel more conflicted about it than anything else. 

[Bjorn]

Reuters is now reporting that Microsoft will announce the Mojang purchase tomorrow, and the deal will be worth $2.5 billion. 

[Henroid]

Reuters is now reporting that Microsoft will announce the Mojang purchase tomorrow, and the deal will be worth $2.5 billion. 

My head is going to effing spin if this is real.

[Justin Leego]

Looking forward to Minecraft NFC figurines.

[Twig]

The more I think about this, the more I'm sort of... hopeful about it. Not optimistic, because I don't see much good coming out of it, considering it's fucking Microsoft, but...

 

Minecraft has, in my opinion, been held back by a (somewhat deliberate! I know!) lack of resources being thrown at it. I think if it had a bigger team, it could really just grow and grow and grow. It has, for a while now, been pretty stagnant. Oh, sure, there've been some decent behind-the-scenes updates, like reworking how biomes are handled/generated, etc., but it feels like not much ever comes to fruition in that regard. Honestly, it really just kind of seems like Mojang has accepted the fact that most of Minecraft's content growth these days comes in the form of mods. Only, instead of embracing that and actually delivering the mod tools promised forever ago, they just passively let it continue. I know they somewhat-recently changed how the block ID systems work to facilitate mod growth, but everything seems to be in baby steps, rather than leaps and bounds, and that's a real shame.

 

That's not to say the current devs are shit or anything. I think they've actually done a considerable amount. I just wish they could/would do more...

 

So, yeah, my hope is that if this deal is real (and it seems to have some merit given the people reporting on it?), Microsoft will take Minecraft and help it explore the oceans of what it could be, instead of wade in the shallows as it is.

 

Addendum/disclaimer: I love Minecraft.

 

Surprising to me: The dev team for Minecraft is actually significantly bigger than I'd realized, apparently. Five client/engine devs, four server devs, one artist, and a whole lot of related stuff (ports/web/etc). Mojang, in fact, is way bigger than the 10-15 I assumed it was.

 

In a dream world: Minecraft 2. Completely new engine in NOT JAVA GODDAMNIT, with sweet rad shaders and shit, mod support built in from the beginning instead of hacked in after the mod scene has already existed for years, a much easier content pipeline so it relies less on coding and more on designing, etc. (I've really just been waiting for someone to clone Minecraft and make it better for a long time, now, I guess. It never happened.)

 

Well, I guess at this point this post has gotten out of control and beyond the realm of "business". I'm sorry. ):

[neonrev]

The more I think about this, the more I'm sort of... hopeful about it. Not optimistic, because I don't see much good coming out of it, considering it's fucking Microsoft, but...

 

That's about where I am now on the whole thing. I'm also a big minecraft fan (Off and on, this came during on of the on times), but I do feel like it's been slowing down for a while, and without mods I would have gotten bored long ago. If Microsoft acquires it and suddenly there's ~60 people working on new stuff all the time, I'd be overjoyed. I have two main fears though:

The biggest is that Microsoft uses their resources to add new content, but that content is treated as DLC or suchlike. 20 new crops for $5. A whole new tier of ore/tools for $5. However big Minecraft's audience is, Microsoft are certainly getting in at the waning side of new purchases, and while purchases only can maintain the modest team and support structure,  I don't know that microsoft'll be willing to just have a respected product that pays for itself, especially after dropping $2bn on it.

The other is that there's not anywhere 'tone appropriate' for the vanilla game to go anymore. Much of the obvious territory is already in the domain of mods, (not that microsoft cares, but mojang seems loathe to just absorb mod concepts. Unless they are horses.) and beyond just more stuff for the base systems I don't see what they can do now.  After 1.8 came out and before this news, they were considering the release of 1.9 to be "far future" and unknown. Now it seems like perhaps they'll be getting bought soon and don't want to start a whole new thing, but at the time I thought, "Huh, they've probably done what they can for this content-wise. Sad, but makes sense." I'm somewhat worried Microsoft will buy it, try to wring some money out of it, fail, and then leave it in a state of stagnation worse than before.

So long as the old versions still work I'm okay with this, come whatever may. I'm just sad that this is the endgame for one of the most successful indie projects. It feels like the beginning of the sad part of the future history of minecraft book.

[neonrev]

So Ouya is reportedly shopping itself around, looking for buyers. It's not terribly surprising at this point, given that it was such a flop commercially. It's both funny (The whole thing was a bad idea.) and sad to see what must be a pretty talented team looking for someone to buy/hire them wholesale, and that the console itself is about the least important part of a sale. I've just been baffled by the whole thing start to finish. 

[tegan]

Look forward to the Ubisoft Uya this fall!

[SuperBiasedMan]

Ubisoft Uya: Ur Ubiverse Ucosystem

[JonCole]

UbiYeah!

[N1njaSquirrel]

Microsoft buys minecraft for $2.5 Billion. wow. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29204518

[Merus]

The Swedish government is getting a very large chunk of that money in taxes.

 

Apparently this video influenced a lot of Notch's thinking (and I linked it before and it was great and I'm linking it again because it's still great): 

 

[Henroid]

Notch's thoughs here: http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/

 

I’m leaving Mojang

September 15th, 2014

I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.

A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development. Jens was the perfect person to take over leading it, and I wanted to try to do new things. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges, I’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.

I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand. I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the 

 video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.

As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.

I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling with you.

I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.

It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.

[Justin Leego]

The Swedish government is getting a very large chunk of that money in taxes.

 

Philanthropist lifestyle confirmed.

[TheLastBaron]

I saw Notch at PAX in 11 and a bunch of media people came over to the booth and he hid under a table with his laptop for half an hour.

[Dewar]

That's cool. I feel for him.

[feelthedarkness]

This is melting my brain. Also, the purchase is almost entirely CASH. Notch could keep a billion, and still give the other 38 people ~35,000,000.

[Bjorn]

It's amazing for Notch and everyone else at the company who benefits (which I'm hoping is everyone!), but I'm still flabbergasted at the valuation of Mojang as a company and highly doubtful that this ends up panning out for MS in the long run. 

[feelthedarkness]

i think it's smart. every kid is obsessed with it, so they're buying that mindshare, and it's already making like 350M+ a year. i bet they can scale that a bit. 

[Murdoc]

Agreed, in the age where some chat messenger no one has ever heard of can sell for 25 billion to face book, grabbing a recognized brand and a really solid platform (it's a platform more than a game) of an entire generation is pretty reasonable.

 

I don't think Markus, Mojang, or anyone else had any real vision for Minecraft, it is what it is and it's pretty interesting. While hugely successful, it hasn't seemed to go anywhere in a long time, so it'll be interesting to see a fresh take, some company vision, and leverage in a market to take it even further... where ever that may be.