Yeah, I had a talk with someone from valve awhile back and he mentioned that only a certain kind of developer works well in the "work on what you want" strategy. If you don't have goal driven people who know what they're doing, nothing will ever ship.
On the other hand I see Mojang, the company who in its infancy hired the popular and attention-obsessive "minecraftchick" to do PR/Advertising rather than someone who actually knows what they're doing.
On top of this, Valve has the kind of financial backing where they can screw around all day and still not go bankrupt for awhile thanks to their previous work in Steam. Mojang on the other hand is only making income on merch and the 5 people who haven't already bought minecraft.
As much as I hate to say it, the more I read about Mojang, Minecraft, and the decisions they're making, the more I feel like the success of the game was an act of serendipity rather than one of skill.
> the more I feel like the success of the game was an act of serendipity rather than one of skill.
I see it the same way, and honestly when I hear Notch speak about all of his success he seems about as confused as everyone else. I'm happy for the guy, because he worked hard on something he was passionate about and it was a huge success. But at the same time he kind of hit the lottery with Minecraft.
On the other hand I see Mojang, the company who in its infancy hired the popular and attention-obsessive "minecraftchick" to do PR/Advertising rather than someone who actually knows what they're doing.
On top of this, Valve has the kind of financial backing where they can screw around all day and still not go bankrupt for awhile thanks to their previous work in Steam. Mojang on the other hand is only making income on merch and the 5 people who haven't already bought minecraft.
As much as I hate to say it, the more I read about Mojang, Minecraft, and the decisions they're making, the more I feel like the success of the game was an act of serendipity rather than one of skill.