Minecraft sales cross 600k mark | Hacker News Reader

Minecraft sales cross 600k mark

minecraft.net

99 pointsbjonathan40 comments

I think it is very important to note that Notch (the creator) has developed many other games before minecraft. Just check out is resume:

http://www.mojang.com/notch/

I think this is just more evidence that over-night success, takes lots of prior work.

Agreed, he has the experience needed to make an "over-night success". His Mensa membership and thereby accompanying massive brain doesn't hurt either.

Is mensa generally respected? I've always figured it was a pseudo-scam for intellectually competitive people, since one has to pay to take their test (and no sample tests are available.

The national Mensa site in my country is fraught with spelling and punctuation errors. If someone told me they were a member of Mensa, I would assume that they became a member to tell people like me.

I don't know if there are any benefits for being a member in other countries; I fully endorse finding like-minded people and developing new networks and friendships, but I don't see that happening in the local Mensa environment.

The idea is that you can socialize with people who have a significantly higher intelligence than the average person (I believe 1 in 50 intelligence is the requirement to get in).

I knew someone who went into it with these expectations only to find the community largely concerned with their own intellectual superiority. As your IQ is explicitly a score based on the relation to others' IQs and only implies you might be capable of meaningful contribution to society, these groups may not fulfill their intentions. Again this is second-hand; some of you may have had a different experience with Mensa.

I have heard of better societies that provide a good forum for communication between profoundly intelligent individuals (Glia, IQuadrivium, Triple Nine), but I would argue the greatest benefit for IQ testing these kinds of people is to provide resources for the undiscovered geniuses. In the vast majority of cases they are recognized as a result of their schooling, but all the IQ-test rage is worth it for the rare diamond in the rough whose unconventional nature disguises his abilities. I believe it was Da Vinci who said: "Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered- either by themselves or others."

At least for Mensa in Germany you can also take an alternative test, that's not provided by them.

I know some people who are quite involved with Mensa in Germany, and they seem sane, so far.

My GF is German, and a member of Mensa, and was involved in Germany.

When she moved to the UK and signed up with the local branch here, however, she was horrified by what she saw: self-important pretentious people lazily philosophizing about things they knew nothing about, with little intellectual rigour. The magazine still comes every month, but she wants no more part of it.

I was a bit involved with the university branch of Mensa in Germany, i.e. Mind Hochschulnetzwerk. But my contact with them is mostly through alumni from the Deutsche SchuelerAkademie.

Mensa seems to be for people who are satisfied being intelligent rather than using it.

To anyone who might misread the title like I did, we're talking 600,000 copies, not sales in USD.

What might be even more fascinating is Notch capitalizing on what was only the alpha version of his game. I'm sure that breaks with some of the preconceptions a lot of people on HN have.

600,000 copies * 9.95 Euro = a lot of alpha money.

Isn't it the first time in history that a software author makes money like only athletes, writers and artists usually do?

Are we going to see the emerge of "software agents", who will help programmers make money out of talent much like "Literary agents" do with writers?

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

Interesting idea. However, I don't think that this is the first time. There have been several others who preceded Notch. Jordan Mechner of Prince of Persia comes to mind first.

http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/

Wow, thanks for sharing this. This deserves to be on the front page! We're lucky in 2010 to have a glimpse into what it was like to create things in 1986.

Also, I loved this bit:

October 23, 1986

Everyone in the office has been playing a lot of Tetris – a Russian submission for the IBM PC. It’s a classic, like Breakout. But I don’t think Broderbund is going to publish it. The knaves.

You're welcome. I actually learned about it from the HN front page, almost a year ago. I spent about 9 hours (6pm to 3am) that day reading the entire journal on an iPhone (plugged in). It was the best non-book book that I'd read in a long while.

April 3, 1989

> We chatted for an hour about peripherally related topics. Broderbund, corporate America, the rat race, capitalism, freedom. I was seducing him. At the critical psychological moment, I remarked:

“You know, all my clipping is done on the byte boundaries.” There was a pause

http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/page/33

May 6, 1989

> The other thing is, I liked them. Lately I’d been starting to feel jaded about this whole enterprise – “Oh well, it’s just a computer game” – but watching Chris and Stu, I realized: These guys love games. They love games the way I loved movies in college. Even more, because they’re not interested in girls yet. Computer games are like the air they breathe. If I can make one that they can get excited about, that’s a real accomplishment. That’s something I can be proud of.

So I worked till ten with renewed enthusiasm.

http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/page/36/

Another good one:

http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/page/4/

July 18, 1985

Driving me to the airport, Tomi said:

"I think you should pursue screenwriting. Go for it."

I was surprised and asked her why. She said that Broderbund is a really nice, warm, friendly place to work, but for programmers it’s actually not that great a deal. The older ones, like Chris and David, are starting to get scared, because programming’s the only marketable skill they have, and it’s a young man’s game. The new crop of kids coming up are willing to work harder and cheaper, and don’t have girlfriends or families yet to cut into their working hours. And nobody knows how long the games market will be around, or what it’ll be like next year.

I never would have thought of it quite like that.

I read it too when it popped up a year ago. I played PoP back in the early nineties and reading the journal made me pretty sentimental.

I hate you. I just killed an entire evening reading that whole damn journal. Amazing look into what seems like an entirely different world.

How about the Googler who just took Google for $3.5 extra double wide large? http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/11/google-offers-staff-enginee...

I am certain that there are more than a few code jockeys making a tremendous amount of money on Wall Street... That is, of course, if they didn't build their own quant fund.

John Carmack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Carmack

Yes, agents for software developers are massively common. In most major cities you'll find heaps of them. Especially in big cities like London/Tokyo.

I have an agent. I make no where near that much of course.

Lots of software authors have made a fortune, Paul Graham & viaweb is an excellent but hardly unique example.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some indie iPhone/iOS developers who have made at least that much.

Read the book Hackers by Levy for a partial answer to this question.

Chris Sawyer made at very least $10 million on Roller Coaster Tycoon, which he developed with only the aid of an artist.

He programmed it (in assembly language) and only after it was completed did he go out and get a publishing deal.

I'm sure his take could have been better (especially today, having the kind of distribution that Minecraft enjoys), but he surely did all right. It's a game programmer's dream story.

The purpose of a literary agent is to get you published and in bookstores. Most programmers are quite capable of the former and the Internet is driving the latter into obsolescence. And I don't know many authors who make a lot of money, anyway. I don't think writing books is generally more profitable than software engineering.

All this is to say: Any "software publishing agents" would be scammers.

However, lots of programmers are not that good at marketing their stuff (I included for sure).

When I look at some well marketed JS libraries I often think "huh, why is this stuff so successfull?" and my first reaction is always "good marketing!".

I am not advocating bullshit marketing here, I am thinking about a some times possible win/win between agents/authors versus the current company/employee dominant model.

Dan Benjamin recently interviewed Markus “Notch” Persson (the creator of Minecraft): http://5by5.tv/pipeline/30

I thought it was especially interesting that Notch essentially hired to “business” people because he thinks that he isn’t any good at it and because he wants to focus on developing.

Roughly ~$8 million, without any distribution cut to speak of (other than bandwidth costs).

It'll be interesting to see what his newly incorporated studio does next, as he seems to be expanding fast and putting resources toward a sophomore effort already.

Technically, Minecraft IS the sophomore effort. Notch/Marcus worked on 'Wurm Online' for 4 years prior to releasing Minecraft.

paypal fees

Since he qualifies for merchant rates due to his volume, it's just 1.9%. Better than he'd get with most banks.

To anyone who might misread the title like I did, we're talking 600,000 copies, not sales in USD.

That should work out at ~£4.5MM profit, after PayPal takes their cut and misc. bills are paid (e.g. bandwidth.) Not bad for a one-man company (until recently, anyway.)

Don’t forget taxes. I would about half his gross revenue to get a realistic handle on the kind of money he is making. Three million Euro so far seems like a realistic estimate to me.

Ah, the taxman, how could I forget thee! It'll be around ~51.3% in Sweden incl. the VAT.

I'm not sure how Notch has his affairs organized, but the corporate tax rate over there is only 26%.

I remembered to check this because all European countries have lower corporate tax rates than America.

Corporate tax rates are way lower but personal income tax rates are significantly higher. So if he pays all of that money as salary to himself, that 50% number is quite realistic.

I'm assuming he will keep at least part of his money in a corporation to develop his game.

Here is an interview with Markus "Notch" Persson http://5by5.tv/pipeline/30

For reference: when the hype first peaked, in mid august, there were 135k sold versions.

He generated about $5M in less than three months.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com