If you’re reading this right now, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of Minecraft. This game has become a phenomenon, and its popularity shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. In case you haven’t heard, Minecraft is a game about breaking blocks and building things.
It first came out as an indie game in 2009. But since then, it’s been bought by Microsoft and is no longer considered indie. Is this even possible? Let’s find out!
Is Minecraft Still an Indie Game?
Since being sold to Microsoft and being reworked with continued support and updates, Minecraft is no longer considered an Indie Game in its current form.
When Minecraft first came out, it was created by Markus “Notch” Persson. The game had no initial budget, timeline, or large development team. The game was created with an extremely basic visual style, which allowed the game to be created with little investment
The game had no end goal, only a few core gameplay elements, and extremely basic visuals. This allowed the creators of Minecraft to keep the costs of creating the game extremely low and meant that it was feasible for them to sell a game that didn’t seem like much for $5! As more features were added the price slowly increased.
Even though the game remained basic in terms of visuals and features, its success was extremely high, and it became massively profitable for its creator and its studio, Mojang.
Why Doesn’t Minecraft Count as an Indie Game?
As Minecraft grew in popularity, the developers decided to start working on the game full-time. They began to add new content, including new game modes, increased visual detail, and new block types, which expanded the game significantly.
After the release of Minecraft: Pocket Edition, a mobile port of the game, the developers were able to earn even more, and they decided to fully transition to a staff-based organization.
This transition meant that the game studio was now a subsidiary of Mojang AB, the company owned by the game’s creators, Markus Persson and Jakob Porser.
This is when the game started its transition to being considered indie and more as a mainstream game, made by a fully structured company.
The game would truly transition from indie when Mircosoft bought it in 2014 for 2.4 billion dollars!
What is an Indie Game?
A game that is created by an independent game studio is known as an indie game. In many ways, these studios are very similar to a large company, except that they are usually less structured and more experimental in their approach.
Indie studios use various different models for releasing their games, many of which are quite different from those used by large studios.
Because of this, people often associate the term “indie” with a certain sense of creativity, originality, and rawness that they don’t associate with large studios.
What Does it Mean to be Indie?
An indie game generally means it’s created by a small development studio with limited resources. The indie game scene is very diverse, and you can find all kinds of games that don’t fit into any genre.
The only thing that unites all indie games is that a small team creates them. One of the most notable differences between indie and mainstream games is the length of the average game
Indie games are usually shorter than their mainstream counterparts, as indie developers have fewer resources at their disposal. Because of this, many indie games won’t be completed (or will be released in an unfinished state) to maximize profits.
Mainstream games, on the other hand, are usually much longer, due to the higher budgets at the disposal of the development teams.
Final Words
Minecraft is a game that has stood the test of time and continues to grow in popularity every year. The game has several different modes, both single-player and multiplayer, but all are core Minecraft experiences.
The game is available on a wide variety of platforms, and has been ported to both virtual reality and augmented reality devices. Minecraft is an extremely accessible game, it is easy to play, and open to modification and expansion by its devoted fan base.
If you have never tried this game before, it is certainly worth a shot. It is a game that will keep you busy for hours and hours.
Do you play Minecraft? I know I have been enjoying the Vault Hunters mod for some time now! Let us know in the Discord!