Not when you have a hit as big as Minecraft. Kids growing up with Minecraft today will still be playing it nostalgically 30-40 years from now.

Yes, but Minecraft is not a lego - you do not need to buy newer sets. You buy it once and you own infinity of it. The only reason to buy another Minecraft is when new incompatible hardware becomes the norm.

> Yes, but Minecraft is not a lego - you do not need to buy newer sets.

Minecraft the game does not generate a continuous income after the initial sales, but recently they started an official multiplayer server hosting service (called "Minecraft realms"). You can buy a private server for $10 per month.

Given that Minecraft is played by a lot of kids whose parents whose parents or themselves do not know how to set up a server, I think this is a very viable monetization strategy, albeit launched a bit late.

Of course, there have been 3rd party commercial hosting services for Minecraft for a long time, but again, it's not something kids and their parents go after.

Hell, I know how to set up a server but I am considering hiring a Minecraft realm for the winter months, just because it is less hassle than setting up a server and the price is reasonable.

And who knows if Minecraft will grow in complexity and interconnection to the point where instead of having websites, every company has a Minecraft world? Who knows if Minecraft won't become the online world from Snow Crash?

In my own personal case though, the second I had anything worth $2 million I would sell out and retire. I just want to be able to feed myself and shelter myself and I'll gladly do independent research the rest of my life.

MineCraft has sold over 50 million copies at $7 (pocket edition) to $27 (PC edition) each, plus merchandise. Even after expenses, I'm pretty sure Notch's personal cut is in the nine-figure range. Easily enough to be independent for the rest of his life.

(I'm with you on "sell out at $2 million" in general, though. For the area I want to live in, which I coincidentally already live in, that'll last a lifetime.)

41 year old you might regret 31 year old you taking you out of the game. A lot of the type-A people who dominate the coding and business worlds might not be happy with just one big paycheck while they watch their peers continue on.

I can't imagine Bill Gates selling MS in '86. He wanted to build an empire.

My familiarity with notch is only superficial: we met in person 3 times, once before MC got big, once when it was starting to get big, and once after it was already big. Before that we used to hang out in the same game dev irc/forum circles and chatted on occasion there.

I won't pretend that makes me really know him as a person but I can say I've never got the impression he cares much about empire and/or massive ego building. I would venture a guess that by now he accepted the fact that MC was his one massive strike and that he likely won't have another one & would be content to live his life of luxury with that.

I think Notch just want to have fun, and build fun stuff.

I don't think he wants to build an empire, but he wants the freedom to do his own thing, with people that he cares about (the mojangstas).

He's made public comments to that effect as well, just not quite as bluntly.. But close.