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Minecraft Developer Mojang Takes in $80 Million

Mojang, the Swedish indie-game developer, has taken in $80 million in the 15 months since Minecraft launched. Tim Bradshaw on the tech blog for the Financial Times reports that the company stands to m...
Minecraft Developer Mojang Takes in $80 Million
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  • Mojang, the Swedish indie-game developer, has taken in $80 million in the 15 months since Minecraft launched. Tim Bradshaw on the tech blog for the Financial Times reports that the company stands to make over $13 Million after taxes.

    Mojang is the Swedish developer responsible for the game Minecraft, a runaway hit in the indie-game market, with over 5 million copies of the full game sold. The company has only 25 employees.

    The premise of MInecraft is summarized on the game’s website: “Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. At night monsters come out, make sure to build a shelter before that happens.” The game pits players against an environment made entirely of cubes, in which they can build or destroy at their leisure. If you’re thinking legos, you’re not far off. In fact, Minecraft lego sets will be available this summer.

    Minecraft has become such a success on PC that it has recently launched a mobile version, and a console version is set for release later this spring.

    Bradshaw also reported that Mojang was courted by start-up investor Sean Parker. Parker reportedly flew the entire company out to London for a night to coax them into allowing him to invest, but Mojang turned him down. The company has yet to do any major fundraising, though it has partnered with some merchandising companies.

    Although there was no official comment on the company’s prodigious success, Mojang owner and founder Markus Persson, known online as “Notch,” did recently poke fun at Electronic Arts over its business practices:

    I’m sure EA is very successful at monetizing games, but the more we don’t do what they would do, the happier I am. #nooffense 10 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (via Financial Times)

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