Notch: Mojang No Longer "Indie"

[Coldster]

This is great! Minecraft deserves to be recognized as more than just an indie game. I hope it only the best as to progressively get more and more fun!

P.S. Dear Notch, please give me my account(s) back. I paid for Minecraft twice and twice my account has been deemed "invalid". =(

 

[esperandote]

Aside from the definition, I have always imagined it like this

Indie developers: They do what they can with little resources using creativity.
Mainstream developers: Always trying to push budgets and engines.

 

[Nick Angelici]

didnt this game stop being indie years ago?

 

[Griffolion]

Good to see Notch has his head screwed on about this. Though in a philosophical sense, I'd like to see Mojang stay Indie, in that they aren't tied down by what a money hungry publisher wants to see shoehorned in to ramp the sales up.

 

[Angus565]

MY INDIE CRED NOOOOOOOOOoooo!!
(-14 hipster points)
WAIT! Now I can say I played minecraft before mojang was a big corporation!
(+25 hipster points)

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Indie should mean independent. Without a publisher.
Mojang is still indie in that sense. The only difference between Mojang, Valve and other indie developer is that the first two have millions to invest in their projects, while the other like... noting.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Yeah....I'm pretty sure when we talk "Indie" we're talking "Self-funded/without a major investor/backer/Publisher".

So unless he's found some new investors or gone public, his "Indie-status" (and "indie-cred") is still firmly intact.

 

[Balobo]

So now the fans can stop using "it's indie" as an excuse. Step up your game, Notch.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I've always wondered what most people considered 'indie.' Is it mainly working without some financial backing, without a publisher, or is it just being 'a small group working on something.'

Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end. The way Notch seems to define means that he isn't indie anymore, which... oh well. Being 'indie' does make a difference as long as the game is good.

I've always used the term to describe devs without a publisher. So I've always thought of Valve as indie. So really it doesn't make all that much of a difference.

 

[mariofan1000]

Technically, it means not having a publisher...Technically EA is indie.

 

[Strazdas]

during last two weeks i have tried minecraft.... and it was more than i expected. sure its not best game ever or something. but it has its charm. i have to respect it for a single reason, it has proven my point that graphics mean nothing when you got good gameplay.

personally, indie stands for independant maker for me. one that doesnt have to answer to publisher, investor or any similar entity. in that sense, minecraft is still indie.

 

[draythefingerless]

Technically, it means not having a publisher...Technically EA is indie.

EA IS the publisher, EA itself doesnt develop any games. it has studios thatt do that. some studios are named after it like EA sports.

 

[Dandark]

I love Mojang they are a great studio.
*Reads article*
I hate Mojang they are total sell outs who just cash in on the mainstream market now, not like the good old days when they had principles.

 

[Antari]

Considering the update schedule that Minecraft recieves I'd be hard pressed to even call them a game company anymore.

 

[The Bucket]

Yeah....I'm pretty sure when we talk "Indie" we're talking "Self-funded/without a major investor/backer/Publisher".

So unless he's found some new investors or gone public, his "Indie-status" (and "indie-cred") is still firmly intact.

But has been stated earlier, Valve and some other very large companies fulfill these criteria. I think the 'indie-cred' and connotations games like Terraria and The Binding Of Isacc have is different than, say, Half Life.

 

[surg3n]

Funny, I didn't know Notch invented shareware.

There has always been a market for indi developers, shareware, PD libraries, mail order. It's how the games industry started - Peter Molyneux started out by making a game and selling it mail order, 20 years ago practically every game was written by some guy in their bedroom. There really is nothing new on planet earth, maybe PC Gamer needs to get some writers who remember the long long ago, maybe as far back as when a system was only as good as the number of bits it had. Maybe they should hire Jeff Minter, the true grandfather of indi developers.

I'm not trolling, but Notch is really starting to grate on my nerves, he's becomming a douchebag. I would rather have people like Jeff Minter, and Matthew Smith, and even Peter Molyneux with his crazy ideas sharing their thoughts - and the sad thing is it's not even him doing the douchebagging, it's his mouthpiece fanboys and writers who should know better - is that the price of success, you have to spend the rest of your life cringing!

 

[Kapol]

I've always wondered what most people considered 'indie.' Is it mainly working without some financial backing, without a publisher, or is it just being 'a small group working on something.'

Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end. The way Notch seems to define means that he isn't indie anymore, which... oh well. Being 'indie' does make a difference as long as the game is good.

I've always used the term to describe devs without a publisher. So I've always thought of Valve as indie. So really it doesn't make all that much of a difference.

That's why I've wondered that, as people seem to think of indie as different things. Also, for Valve, I wouldn't say they're indie. I would say that they're more their own publisher then anything, given they actually own one of the major platforms they release their games on. Of course, if a publisher makes their own game, does that make them indie? After all, they aren't getting any backing (presumablly) from outside sources, so...

 

[Awexsome]

Well you want to get technical you can call dev's like Bungie indie. Mojang is definitely still indie in my eyes as they still own themselves and have full or near full rights over their stuff.

I don't care for the over-romanticized view of the garage developer that "only" the people releasing 5-10 dollar games over Steam or Xbox Live that have a team you could count on your fingers count as indie. Reinforces the annotation that big budget games = greedy bastards that only care about money.

 

[RaffB]

I'm surprised the conversations gotten this far without someone hating Notch.

Seriously, a burning hatred for Notch seems to be the new thing all the cool kids must have