Although it might cost more than most games over time, Notch wasn't initially rich when he started developing it, right? V1 was pretty frugally created.

(Genuinely curious)

I'd love to hear an insider's opinion on: Why aren't more games developed like Minecraft? Bootstrapped, slowly crafted over years rather than months, soft launched, minimal marketing, iterated on, etc.? Why is "pump out and hype an AAA game as inexpensively as possible" the only option Serious Game Companies™ go with?