Minecraft developer Mojang’s reported earnings for 2012 were $240 million (£152 million), according to comments made by CEO Carl Manneh and reported by Swedish site IT24.
“It’s almost hard to grasp,” Manneh told Swedish author Thomas Arnroth, who is writing a book on the developer. “It’s easy to become a bit blind working at Mojang. Everything’s happening so fast and it’s going so well. One almost needs to pinch oneself to know it’s for real.
“When we started Mojang in 2010 we made a budget for the first year. Three months later we just trashed it – it became totally irrelevant. We still have the same feeling now. There simply are no good ways to forecast how much money we are going to make.”
Responding to the report on Reddit, which cites Markus “Notch” Persson’s take as $101.4 million, Persson said having such a vast amount of money was tad overwhelming.
“It’s weird as fuck. I grew up in a relatively poor family, but once I got a decent job, I never really had to worry about money,” he said. “My hobbies were playing games and programming, so there wasn’t any real drain. I could eat out when I wanted to, and go to the movies without having to save up for it. I still had to save up for trips and to be able to buy computers or consoles, but that just felt normal.
“Now, all of the sudden, as a result of how modern society works, I managed to somehow earn a shit-ton of money. I still like playing games and programming, and once I had the latest computer and consoles, there really isn’t much more to spend the money on than traveling. I might eventually get a driver’s license so I can buy a car.
“I think the right way to use money like this is to set a decent portion aside to make sure my family is comfortable, spend some on living out your dreams, and then try to put the rest towards making society a better place.
“For me, this includes charities that help children, and charities that help promote freedoms I think are vital in the coming dozens of years, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation.”
Across all platforms, Minecraft sold over 15 million copies in 2012, and as of January 2013, has hit the 20 million mark.
Thanks, GI International.
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