Notch: Minecraft release was “at the right time”

By Johnny Cullen

Markus “Notch” Persson has said that the release of Minecraft came at a period where gamers were coming round to paying for indie titles.

Speaking to Game Developer magazine (via GameSetWatch), Persson said that the release of the game came at “the right time.”

“If you’re not making a sequel, it’s basically impossible to have any idea how well a game will do, especially if you don’t have many years of experience like most publishers. I’ve tried to analyze why Minecraft has sold so well several times, and I come to slightly different conclusions each time,” he said.

“For example, I think it’s usually fun to watch other people play the game, so that will drive the viral aspect, or that the random levels in the game made it feel more personal, so people would be more prone to talk about their experiences.

“However, I can’t escape the fact that a large factor is that I just happened to make the right game at the right time just as the audience was starting to warm up to the idea of paying for indie games.”

Persson also says the release of Minecraft came down to “just pure luck,” saying the only ad measures that was bought at the time was Google Ad Words.