Mojang: from a cultural phenomenon

Minecraft + Mojang AB = social business

Maybe you are not familiar with video games. Maybe you think it does not have anything in common with social business; however, I have to say that it does. In this case, the egg came in first, and then the hen. So I will explain to you what it is all about.

In fact, another guy summarized it very well:

«Minecraft is very unique indie (independent) game which has been hugely successful even in its pre-Beta (alpha) stage of the game’s development. To sum it up, it is a game where you mine and craft. Sounds too simple and too boring? This is exactly what I thought before I received Minecraft as a gift from a friend of mine. I thought Minecraft would be what it looked on videos; a sandbox game with no objective or goal with poor graphics and dull sounds. »

(source)

In fact, Minecraft has two parts: a creative part where you basically « play » Lego virtually and build almost anything with blocks of earth, stone, sand, and wood, etc. The second part that makes this game so unique is the Survival mode where you need to build a shelter and make food for yourself. It can be played with other people as well. The complicity between you and your teammate in the survival or even in building a house or a castle is very rewarding. The designers of the game say that the game is not yet finished…

Not yet finished, but already a success

Let me talk about the video game business. We all know how the entertainment business works. Billions of dollars are invested in countless projects. In the video game world, there are multinational companies selling hundreds of thousands copies of their games. The Call Of Duty series recently topped 55 million sales, making their creator earning over 3 billions of dollars. This business success and power has been overwhelming for small companies that wanted to compete with. If they were not bought over, they had to content themselves with small project that would not bother the giants. Until… Markus « Notch » Persson, a swedish programmer, started making Minecraft in 2010, and his game, although not finished, was not left under the radar for very long.

The statistics found on Minecraft.net March 18th, 2011. There are actually 1 622 572 people that have bought an unfinished game. Everyday, the numbers of players is increasing.

Mojang

« I always wanted to make games. » Markus Persson choosed to develop his game further, because he respected his creation more than the money he could have made by selling it. He started a small company, Mojang AB, to complete the game. In an interview, one of the cofounders said: «We want to build a company where we can work in for a long time. It is not the venture capital type of business, we do not want to build something quick, boost it, and then set it off. »

Persson, on his side, says that « Being able to be self-founded is the biggest advantage. A lot of people wanted to invest, but we didn’t really need it since we owned it ourselves. »

Let’s relate this to an important concept in social economy: corporate social responsibility. Why is that? Because Persson is wanting to build his company over the long term, and provide a stable work environment for his employees. He choosed not to follow the easy way by accepting all the money he was offered. This is social responsibility. This is how a lot of people should start a business, because what really matters is the protection of the workers so that they have a permanent work environment where they feel safe and motivated about what they are doing.

A worldwide community of fans

Like our teacher said: « Nobody is anonymous anymore on the Internet. » A few years ago, it was used mostly to get information, and that’s it. Then social networking appeared, and people had fun. However, the kind of interaction between people quickly reaches a limit.  Now, a lot of softwares are open source, and people being passionate about a project can get involved in it and be approved for their creativity and their initiative.

In Minecraft, they play, they make their own changes to the game. The creator saysthat he is fine with it. He know that the future of video games go through emerging technologies, community networking, and his clients being involved in his creation. Not only the content of the game is a sandbox, but the game itself became a sandbox for the community of modders (« Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves. »). (Wikipedia)

Watch

The documentary on Mojang, part 1:

And the part 2: