Notch: I worry about Mojang growing

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson worries about Mojang growing too big as he doesn’t want to lose the indie spirit at the developer, he has admitted.

Speaking to Develop in an interview about how the inner workings of Mojang, Persson said he did not want the studio to work on what he called “super polished” games, as those required larger teams.

He also explained that the developer currently has no middle management structure, with staff at the studio often allowed to work on their chosen projects.

“I hope we can keep the spirit for as long as possible,” said Persson.

“The atmosphere is usually very relaxed in the office, and we don’t have any middle management or anything like that. I worry about growing, as that could change the mood to something else, so I want us to keep focusing on not making super polished games, as those require larger teams.”

Mojang currently employs 25 staff, having grown quickly on the back of Minecraft’s mammoth success since the studio was founded in 2009.

CEO Carl Manneh said he too hoped they could keep their ‘indie spirit’ for as long as possible, but accepted there probably will be more developers at the studio in future, dependent on what projects they choose to work on going forward.

“I hope we are still making great innovative games and having a lot of fun,” he said.

“We will probably be more people, depending on which projects we choose, but we do everything in our power to keep the ‘indie spirit’ at the studio. Whatever that is.”

You can read the full feature including interviews with Markus Persson, Daniel Kaplan, Carl Manneh, Jakob Porser and Markus Toivonen here.