Minecraft: Mojang Has Racked up $80 Million so Far
Talk about the “little company that could.” In an industry that is increasingly beginning to look like Hollywood where games need development funding in the millions of dollars and possibly even more in marketing, small Sweden-based developer Mojang’s story stands out like a beacon of hope.
Employing only around 25 people, Mojang has managed to rack up $80 million worth of revenue from its wildly popular mining and world building game Minecraft since the game launched in October 2010. Not too shabby for a game with, by today’s standards, basic graphics. According to The Financial Times, Minecraft is close to reaching 25 million downloads. Of these, 5 million users have paid for the full version of the game. Before tax earnings is estimated by The Financial Times at $13.5 million. The financial publication based its number on Mojang’s filings with finance authorities in Sweden. In addition to its hefty game proceeds, the company also rang up $1 million dollars. While Minecraft is primarily a PC game, Mojang has recently extended the game’s reach to other platforms by issuing a smartphone version called Minecraft-Pocket Edition. So far, the smartphone version has sold a million copies.
Some of the Mojang team (Credit: 2player productions)
All this success has not escaped the attention of Hollywood. According to Mojang’s chief executive Carl Manneh, Mojang has been approached by some “high-profile Hollywood producers” regarding possible TV shows. Manneh said that Mojang is open to such plans if the right people and right ideas come along.
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