Notch’s Dilemma

This isn’t a fictional story. Every single word it is reality. Then why would I ask you to imagine it in a very first line. Well because this isn’t ordinary story. This story isn’t about motivational story of successful person. This small story is about Question rather a dilemma. One can only wonder about this peculiar dilemma. This is a story of Markus Alexej Persson’s dilemma. Notch’s Dilemma.

(Don’t worry if you don’t understand video game aspect in later part. The point that I want to make is far too general. It has nothing to do with video games. So Keep reading.)

In 2009, Markus Persson(known as Notch) started working on his dream game on his own. Inside his room. The game that he made is called “Minecraft”. There can be sound of drum roll but you probably wouldn’t have heard it. But it’s fine. It’s not at all popular in india mainly because of the fact that it is paid game. I wouldn’t go into the details of what this game is all about rather I would focus on why it is so important. First of all, Minecraft is not realistic high computer generated graphic game. You can play it on any phone which allows Whatsapp. You can play it pc also. It’s not like angry birds or temple run or any game you probably have ever seen. It’s something else altogether. You may think, “well fine it’s just a game after all.” Notch had also thought that in the beginning. But there is more to this story.

The way making of games from independent person works a bit differently. A game takes couple of years to make. So person can’t just sit at his home without any source of income. So what game creator do is, that they give beta version of unfinished game. Take same trivial charge for the same. So that they have some source of income. There are people who encourages developers by buying early version and making it possible to complete it in long run. So Notch also started giving this unfinished versions. At the end of the year, there were 1,00,000 people playing Minecraft’s early version which is big. Notch was very happy.

Notched completed the game at the end of 2 years in 2011 and there were 10,00,000 people playing the game even before its release. So big companies like Microsoft offered to buy it but Notch denied to give his beloved game. As you can guess, Minecraft turns out to be a huge success. Infact the biggest success in history of video game. In 1 year after the release, 10 million games copy of Minecraft were sold. And 100 million by next year. Most downloaded paid app in android. 100 million is really really big number. Notch was still happy but more shocked. He has become rich. Very very rich. Minecraft is a game about creativity. Even school in foreign country started using. There are big convention for minecraft fans every year. There is 100 million people community which growing till date.

You would think like it’s great. But it still just a game. Well, you should say this to microsoft. Microsoft recently bought the Minecraft from Notch. Want to guess for How much? Microsoft bought it for 2.5 US billion dollars (i.e. 17,000 crore Rs)! This is a huge amount of money. Just to give perspective, “Mangalyaan” costed around 0.073 billion Dollar. Gravity movie costed 0.1 billion dollar. There is only one movie in the history of Hollywood that earned this much money. and i.e. Avatar.

The point to note here is that. A movie has a combined affort of thousand people. From actors, musicians, stunt artist, cameramen, marketing etc… Where as Minecraft was in the beginning is a work of a single person. And in the end around at max 20 people. Other thing is Microsoft bought after the 100 millions sells of the Minecraft game. So it’s like buying rights of Avatar after the box office collection are completed by the studio. And guess what. Microsoft isn’t insane. I guess now you know how big this is. I don’t why it not at all popular in India. Which is actually very sad. But it has taken the rest of the world by storm. It is used in schools to develop creativity in children. And adults also play this game. Otherwise it won’t worth 2.5 billion dollars.

Now let’s pause for a moment. It is very easy to get carried away. Remember the name of the story? Notch was super happy at the end of first week. He was very happy at the end of 1st year. He was happy and surprised at the end of 2nd year. He was a bit happy but more shocked at the end of 3rd year! Did you see the pattern. What condition is he now! We can only imagine. This is a were it gets tricky. If this was the end, it would like any other motivational story. But real story begins here. How is the Notch feeling?

Notch is highly criticised for selling Minecraft to microsoft. We would think that who would deny 2.5 billion dollars offer. But for Notch, it was never about money! In a interview when he asked why he sold Minecraft, he replied and I quote,

“It was never about money. I sold it for my own sanity.”

When I came to this, I was like “Wait… What! for his sanity!” Notch has achieved the everest in his field. It turns out although he is happy but at the same time he regrets it. Yes, you read it right. He regrets this ultimate success. He has created a game of his dream. A dream that changed the world. It has given him everything. Why would he regret it?

Notch never imagined that he would change the world. He not even dreamt about that or even aimed for it. He is a programmer by heart who loves to create small games and make people happy by sharing his game. He never wanted to become CEO who just take strategic decisions. It didn’t suit him. He left the development of Minecraft after 3 years in 2011 and finally sold it in 2015. But in between He started making other small game. Because it is what he loved to do. Of course the game he created later where no where near successful like Minecraft. Which was totally fine with him. What hurted him was the fact that everyone was comparing his new game with success of Minecraft. He said in a interview and I quote, “It took me a while to digest it but the fact is there won’t a next Minecraft like success in near future. No at least by me. Minecraft is million’s fluke that somehow just worked.” Which is totally true. Why Minecraft has reached to this point is certainly a miracle? But what interests me more is the condition of Notch. Notch said, he got success to early in his life. He regrets it. Because he knows that

He isn’t going to create anything as significant as Minecraft for rest of life!

And even if he accepts it, people will still compare his next work with Minecraft and criticise him. That’s what happened. Notch is inspiration to many people. “does he really deserve it or is it just a fluke?” Limelight has screwed life of many great minds. That’s why many great minds avoids it. It gets back to you in various form. Notch’s life would be the perfect example for the same.

I don’t want pin point the dilemma. Because it’s open ended thing. A man makes his own reality. As I said, we can’t know for sure what he is feeling or is his dilemma but we can only “imagine”!

Epilogue:

Notch is a inspiration to millions of people including me. He lives a very big house. He is not related with Minecraft or any other big game or studio in any form. He cancelled his next game which was supposed to come. (Third after Minecraft) We don’t know what exactly he’s doing. He probably still makes games sitting at his home but don’t share it with public. Not at least by his known name. He probably found his answer to his dilemma and lives a happy life! At least that’s what I would like to imagine!