The independent studio Mojang, which helped bring Minecraft to life after its first few early releases, made what I would call a pretty healthy profit last year. The majority of sales were driven by the hit world-creator sandbox game, which took the gaming world by storm when it released three years ago. The company brought in over 2 billion Swedish kronor in 2013, roughly $315 million, with $128 million of that being profit.
About 93 percent of Mojang's revenue was generated by Minecraft's different versions: 38 percent from the PC version, 30 percent from the successful console offshoot, and 25 percent from the mobile version, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The studio is still relatively small, employing just 36 people, and remains independent of any outside ownership. Minecraft creator Marcus "Notch" Persson founded the studio after the first few independent release versions of his hit game to aid in its publishing and development.
Mojang is now worth several hundred million dollars and is working on another title, the collectible card game Scrolls. The developer had to fight over the game's title with Bethesda Softworks, who believed it infringed upon, and would create market confusion with, their Elder Scrolls franchise.
Minecraft continues to pull in new players and make money, with the simple gameplay and low hardware requirements opening it to a very wide audience.
"Usually with games, you would start to expect a decline after the first year since launch," Mojang exec Carl Manneh said. "That's never really happened for us."
The company will continue developing Scrolls, but at its own pace. "Financially speaking, we have no pressure whatsoever to rush into any new projects. Besides, we have no outside owners that require us to reach any particular goals."
Source: Eurogamer
