Mojang Studios

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mojang)

Mojang Studios
Formerly
  • Mojang Specifications (2009–2010)
  • Mojang AB (2010–2020)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2009; 15 years ago (2009)
FounderMarkus Persson
Headquarters,
Sweden
Key people
Åsa Bredin (studio head)
ProductsMinecraft series
Number of employees
≈600 (2021)
ParentXbox Game Studios (2014–present)

Mojang Studios[a] is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time.

Mojang Studios was founded by the independent video game designer Markus Persson in 2009 as Mojang Specifications for Minecraft's development. The studio inherited its name from another video game venture Persson had left two years prior. Following the game's initial release, Persson, in conjunction with Jakob Porsér, incorporated the business as Mojang AB in late 2010, and they hired Carl Manneh as the company's chief executive officer. Other early hires included Daniel Kaplan and Jens Bergensten. Minecraft became highly successful, giving Mojang sustained growth. With a desire to move on from the game, Persson offered to sell his share in Mojang, and the company was acquired by Microsoft in November 2014. Persson, Porsér, and Manneh subsequently left Mojang. In May 2020, Mojang was rebranded as Mojang Studios.

As of 2021, the company employs approximately 600 people.[4] Åsa Bredin is the studio head. Apart from Minecraft, Mojang Studios has developed Caller's Bane, Crown and Council, and further games in the Minecraft franchise: Minecraft Dungeons, Minecraft Legends, and the cancelled Minecraft Earth. It also released smaller games as part of game jams organised by Humble Bundle and published the externally developed Cobalt and Cobalt WASD.

History[edit]

Background and formation (2009–2010)[edit]

Markus Persson founded Mojang Studios in 2009.

Mojang Studios was founded by Markus Persson, a Swedish independent video game designer and programmer, in 2009.[5][6] He had gained interest in video games at an early age, playing The Bard's Tale and several pirated games on his father's Commodore 128 home computer, and learned to programme at age eight with help from his sister. Because he was a "loner" in school, he spent most of his spare time with games and programming at home.[6] Following his graduation and a few years of working as a web developer, Persson created Wurm Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, with colleague Rolf Jansson in 2003. They used the name "Mojang Specifications" during the development and, as the game started turning a profit, incorporated the company Mojang Specifications AB (an aktiebolag) in 2007. Persson left the project later that year and wished to reuse the name, so Jansson renamed the company Onetoofree AB and later Code Club AB.[6][7][8] Meanwhile, Persson had joined Midas, later known as King.com, where he developed 25–30 games. He departed the company when he was barred from creating games in his free time.[6]

In May 2009, Persson began working on a clone of Infiniminer, a game developed by Zachtronics and released earlier that year. Persson reused assets and parts of the engine code from an earlier personal project and released the first alpha version of the game, now titled Minecraft, on 17 May 2009, followed by the first commercial version on 13 June 2009. He reused the name "Mojang Specifications" for this release.[5][9] In less than a month, Minecraft had generated enough revenue for Persson to take time off his day job, which he was able to quit entirely by May 2010.[5] As all sales were processed through the game's website, he did not have to split income with third parties.[10] The payment services provider PayPal temporarily disabled his account when it suspected fraud.[6]

In September 2010, Persson travelled to Bellevue, Washington, to the offices of video game company Valve, where he took part in a programming exercise and met with Gabe Newell, before being offered a job at the company.[11] He turned down the offer and instead contacted Jakob Porsér, a former colleague from King.com, to ask for aid in establishing a business out of Mojang Specifications. In response, Porsér stated that he would quit his job the following day, and they subsequently incorporated Mojang AB.[5][6][12] While Persson continued working on Minecraft, Porsér would develop Scrolls, a digital collectable card game.[13][14] Wishing to focus on game development, they hired Carl Manneh, the manager of jAlbum, Persson's previous employer, as chief executive officer. Other significant early hires included Daniel Kaplan as business developer, Markus Toivonen as art director, and Jens Bergensten as lead programmer.[5]

Continued growth (2011–2013)[edit]

Mojang's offices were formerly located on Maria Skolgata 83, Stockholm.

In January 2011, Minecraft reached one million registered accounts and ten million six months thereafter. The continued success led Mojang to start the development of a new version for mobile devices. Due to the incompatibility of the game's Java-based framework with mobile devices, this version was programmed in C++ instead. Another version, initially developed for Xbox 360, was outsourced to Scotland-based developer 4J Studios, which also used C++.[5] Scrolls was announced by Mojang in March 2011.[14] The studio's attempt to trademark the game's name resulted in a dispute with ZeniMax Media, which cited similarities between the game's name and that of the ZeniMax-owned The Elder Scrolls series.[15] Kaplan stated in May 2011 that, due to many such requests in the past, Mojang was planning to publish or co-publish games from other indie game studios.[16] Its first, Cobalt from Oxeye Game Studio, was announced in August.[17] An early version of the game was made available in December 2011, with the full game released in February 2016 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows.[18][19] A multiplayer-focused spin-off, Cobalt WASD, was also developed by Oxeye Game Studio and released by Mojang for Windows in November 2017 after some time in early access.[20][21]

For the full release of Minecraft, Mojang held Minecon, a dedicated convention event, in Las Vegas on 18–19 November 2011, with Minecraft formally being released during a presentation on the first day.[5][22] Thereafter, Minecon was turned into an annual event.[23] Following Minecraft's full release, Persson transferred his role as lead designer for the game to Bergensten in December 2011.[13]

Around this time, Manneh had discussion with a plethora of venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners, but turned all of them down as the company did not require any funds.[24] Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and former president of Facebook, Inc., offered to privately invest in Mojang in 2011 but was turned down as well.[6][25] At the time, the studio ruled out being sold or becoming a public company to maintain its independence, which was said to have heavily contributed to Minecraft's success.[2][12] By March 2012, Minecraft had sold five million copies, amounting to US$80 million in revenue.[25] In November, Mojang had 25 employees, and total revenues of $237.7 million in 2012.[12][26] In 2013, it released an education-focused version of Minecraft for Raspberry Pi devices, and—after the exclusivity clause penned with Microsoft over the availability of the game's console edition on Microsoft's platforms had expired—announced editions of the game for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.[5] In October 2013, Jonas Mårtensson, formerly of gambling company Betsson, was hired as Mojang's vice-president.[27] That year, Mojang recorded revenues of $330 million, of which $129 million were profit.[10]

Microsoft subsidiary (2014–present)[edit]

Persson, exhausted from the pressure of being the owner of Minecraft, published a tweet in June 2014, asking whether anyone would be willing to buy his share in Mojang. Several parties expressed interest in this offer, including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Microsoft.[5] Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, urged Microsoft's newly appointed chief executive Satya Nadella to purchase Mojang to set out "a pretty bold vision" for Microsoft's gaming business.[28] Furthermore, the company had $2.5 billion in offshore bank accounts that it could not bring back to the United States without paying repatriation taxes.[24] Nadella separately stated the possible use of Minecraft with the HoloLens, Microsoft's mixed reality device, to have been a major factor in pursuing the acquisition.[29] The company first approached Mojang regarding a potential acquisition in June 2014, making its first offer shortly thereafter. Mojang subsequently hired advisers from JPMorgan Chase.[30][31]

Microsoft's agreement to purchase Mojang for $2.5 billion was announced on 15 September 2014.[32] Persson, Porsér and Manneh were the only shareholders at this time, of whom Persson owned 71% of shares.[24][33] The acquisition was finalised on 6 November and Mojang became part of the Microsoft Studios branch.[33][34] As part of the transaction, Persson received $1.8 billion, while Porsér and Manneh got $300 million and $100 million, respectively.[24][30] All three subsequently left Mojang and Mårtensson succeeded Manneh.[5][35] Every employee who remained with the company for six months thereafter was awarded a bonus of roughly $300,000 (after taxes), deducted from Persson's share.[24][36] Under the oversight of Microsoft's Matt Booty, Mojang's integration was minimal, leaving its operations independent but backed by Microsoft's financial and technical capabilities. The approach shaped how Microsoft would acquire other gaming companies.[37]

Scrolls was released out-of-beta in December 2014 and development of further content ceased in 2015.[38][39] Also in December 2014, Mojang and Telltale Games jointly announced a partnership in which the latter would develop Minecraft: Story Mode, an episodic, narrative-driven game set in the Minecraft universe.[40] In April 2016, Mojang released Crown and Council, a game entirely developed by artist Henrik Pettersson (who had been hired in August 2011), for free for Windows.[41][42] An update in January 2017 introduced Linux and macOS versions.[43] Mojang discontinued the online services for Scrolls in February 2018 and re-released the game under a free-to-play model and with the name Caller's Bane in June.[39][44] Aiming to expand the Minecraft franchise with further games, Mojang developed two spin-offs: Minecraft Dungeons, a dungeon crawler, and Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality game in the vein of Pokémon Go. They were announced in September 2018 and May 2019, respectively.[45][46]

Minecraft Classic, the original browser-based version of Minecraft, was re-released for free on its ten-year anniversary in May 2019.[47] By this time, Minecraft had sold 147 million copies, making it the best-selling video game of all time.[48] Persson was explicitly excluded from the anniversary's festivities due to several controversial statements of his involving transphobia and other issues; an update for Minecraft released the March before also removed several references to Persson.[49] On 17 May 2020, Minecraft's eleventh anniversary, Mojang announced its rebranding to Mojang Studios, aiming to reflect its multi-studio structure, and introduced a new logo.[50][51] The design was created at the agency Bold under the creative direction of Oliver Helfrich.[52] Minecraft Dungeons was released later that month for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.[53] In June 2022, the studio announced the action-strategy game Minecraft Legends.[54] Helen Chiang, the six-year head of studio for Mojang Studios, acceded to Xbox Game Studios in December 2023 and was replaced by Åsa Bredin in the same role.[55]

Games developed[edit]

List of games developed by Mojang Studios
Year Title Platform(s) Notes Ref.
2011 Minecraft Android, Fire OS, iOS, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, tvOS, Windows, Windows Phone [56]
2014 Caller's Bane Android, macOS, Windows Originally titled Scrolls [38][44]
2016 Crown and Council Linux, macOS, Windows [42][43]
2020 Minecraft Dungeons Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One Co-developed with Double Eleven [53]
2023 Minecraft Legends Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Co-developed with Blackbird Interactive [54]

Game jam games[edit]

Mojang partnered with Humble Bundle in 2012 to launch Mojam, a game jam event to raise money for charity, as part of which Mojang developed the shoot 'em up mini-game Catacomb Snatch. 81,575 bundles including the game were sold, raising $458,248.99.[57] The following year, Mojang developed three mini-games for Mojam 2.[58] The studio also participated in Humble Bundle's Games Against Ebola game jam in 2014 with three further mini-games.[59]

List of game jam games developed by Mojang Studios
Year Title Event Ref.
2012 Catacomb Snatch Mojam [60][61]
2013 Nuclear Pizza War Mojam 2 [62]
Endless Nuclear Kittens
Battle Frogs
2014 Docktor Games Against Ebola [59][63]
Healthcore Evolved
Snake Oil Stanley

Unreleased games[edit]

In 2011, Persson and Kaplan envisioned a hybrid of Minecraft and Lego bricks and agreed with the Lego Group to develop the game as Brickcraft, codenamed Rex Kwon Do (in reference to the film Napoleon Dynamite).[64] The game has also been described as a first-person shooter.[65][66] Mojang hired two new programmers to work on the game, while a prototype was created by Persson. However, Mojang cancelled the project after six months.[64] Upon announcing the cancellation in July 2012, Persson stated that the move was performed so that Mojang could focus on the games it wholly owned.[66] Daniel Mathiasen, a Lego Group employee at the time, later blamed the cancellation on a series of legal hurdles that the Lego Group had put in place to protect the product's family-friendly image. Kaplan lamented that the staff at Mojang had felt more like consultants on the project, rather than its designers. The Lego Group also considered acquiring Mojang at this point but later decided against doing so as they had not foreseen that Minecraft would become as popular as it would at one point be.[64]

In March 2012, Persson revealed that he would be designing a sandbox space trading and combat simulator in the likes of Elite.[67] Titled 0x10c, it was to be set in the year 281,474,976,712,644 AD in a parallel universe.[68][69] The project was shelved by August 2013, with Persson citing a lack of interest and a creative block.[13][70] Minecraft Earth was made available as an early-access game in November 2019 for Android and iOS.[71] In January 2021, it was announced that the game would be withdrawn from sale in June that year, with all player data deleted in July. Mojang Studios cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as primary reason for the game's closure, as its effects conflicted with the game's concept.[72]

Games published[edit]

List of games published by Mojang Studios
Year Title Platform(s) Developer(s) Ref.
2016 Cobalt Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One Oxeye Game Studio [19]
2017 Cobalt WASD Windows [20]

Legal disputes[edit]

Scrolls naming dispute[edit]

In August 2011, after Mojang had attempted to trademark the word "Scrolls" for their game, ZeniMax Media, the parent company of The Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda Softworks, issued a cease and desist letter, claiming that Scrolls infringed on ZeniMax's "The Elder Scrolls" trademark, that Mojang could not use the name, and that ZeniMax would sue the studio over the word's usage.[15][73] Persson offered to give up the trademark and give Scrolls a subtitle. However, as Mojang ignored the cease and desist letter, ZeniMax filed the lawsuit in September.[15][74][75] Bethesda's Pete Hines stated that Bethesda was not responsible for the lawsuit, rather the issue was centred around "lawyers who understand it".[76][77] Mojang won an interim injunction in October, the ruling being that Scrolls and The Elder Scrolls were too easy to differentiate, though ZeniMax could still appeal the ruling.[78][79] In March 2012, Mojang and ZeniMax settled, with all "Scrolls" trademarks and trademark applications being transferred to ZeniMax, who would in turn licence the name to Mojang for use with Scrolls and add-on content, but not for sequels or any other games with similar names.[80][81]

Uniloc USA, Inc. et al v. Mojang AB[edit]

On 20 July 2012, Uniloc, a company specialising in digital rights management technologies, filed a lawsuit against Mojang, stating that the licence verification system in Minecraft's Android version infringed on one of Uniloc's patents.[82][83] The case was Uniloc USA, Inc. et al v. Mojang AB and was filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.[84] In response to hate mail, Uniloc founder Ric Richardson denied his involvement, claiming to have only filed the patent.[85] The patent was invalidated in March 2016.[86]

Putt-Putt cease and desist[edit]

In July 2013, the minigolf chain Putt-Putt issued a cease and desist letter against Mojang and Don Mattrick (who was previously affiliated with Minecraft's Xbox 360 version but had since joined Zynga), alleging that they infringed on its "Putt-Putt" trademark. Attached to the letter, which Persson shared on Twitter, was a Google Search screenshot showing videos of user-created maps using the name. Alex Chapman, Mojang's lawyer, stated "I think there is clearly a misunderstanding here as to what Minecraft actually is. It's a game that, amongst other things, allows people to build things. Mojang doesn't control what users build and Mojang doesn't control the content of the videos users make. Suing Mojang for what people do using Minecraft is like suing Microsoft for what people do using Word."[87][88]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ From Swedish mojäng (lit.'gadget'); originally pronounced Swedish pronunciation: [mʊˈjɛŋː],[1][2] later /ˈmˌæŋ/ MOH-jang[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Klepek, Patrick (15 June 2015). "Wait, It's Pronounced Mo-Yang?". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. ^ a b Shanley, Mia (4 February 2013). "Hit game Minecraft to stay private". Reuters. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  3. ^ Watson, Marc [@Marc_IRL] (17 May 2020). "Also a new identity means that we can reinvent both the logo and pronounciation [sic], so anything other than the hard J is incorrect now. 😋" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ Watson, Marc [@Marc_IRL] (4 March 2021). "I think this tweet is another reason I don't do it: everyone assumes that all ~600 people at Mojang directly create Minecraft Java and Bedrock 😂 And half the questions would be about that" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cox, Alex (13 June 2018). "The history of Minecraft". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Cheshire, Tom (15 September 2014). "Changing the game: how Notch made Minecraft a cult hit". Wired UK. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  7. ^ O'Connor, Alice (4 December 2012). "Wurm Online hitting version 1.0 after almost a decade". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  8. ^ Chung, Ernest (22 April 2015). "Interview with CEO of Code Club AB: Developer of Sandbox MMO – Wurm Online". Xsolla. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  9. ^ Smith, Graham (6 February 2012). "The First Moments of Minecraft". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  10. ^ a b Luckerson, Victor (18 March 2014). "Minecraft Is Still Generating Insane Amounts of Cash for Developer Mojang". Time. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  11. ^ Hinkle, David (10 December 2013). "Notch turned down job offer at Valve to create Mojang". Engadget. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  12. ^ a b c "Mojang uncovered". MCV/Develop. 23 November 2012. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  13. ^ a b c Crecente, Berian (5 April 2013). "Minecraft, Scrolls, 0x10c: The past, present and future of Mojang as seen through Notch's eyes". Polygon. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  14. ^ a b Martin, Joe (2 March 2011). "Minecraft developer announces Scrolls". Bit-Tech. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  15. ^ a b c Pitts, Russ (3 October 2011). "Mojang v. Bethesda, or: I Hate it When Mommy and Daddy Fight [UPDATE]". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  16. ^ Senior, Tom (17 May 2011). "Minecraft creators planning to co-publish other indie games". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  17. ^ Cobbett, Richard (25 August 2011). "Cobalt: a gorgeous 2D blaster published by Minecraft creators, Mojang". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  18. ^ Lahti, Evan (16 December 2011). "Mojang releases Cobalt alpha, you can buy it". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  19. ^ a b Good, Owen S. (17 January 2016). "Mojang-published Cobalt set to launch Feb. 2". Polygon. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  20. ^ a b Alexandra, Heather (30 November 2017). "Cobalt WASD Is 2-D Counter-Strike With Time Grenades And Super Suits". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  21. ^ Tarason, Dominic (2 December 2017). "Cobalt WASD gives the quirky platformer a competitive second lease of life". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  22. ^ Purchese, Robert (3 August 2011). "Minecraft convention Minecon announced". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  23. ^ Fletcher, JC (2 August 2012). "MineCon 2012 going to Disneyland Paris this November". Engadget. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  24. ^ a b c d e Mac, Ryan; Ewalt, David M.; Jedeur-Palmgren, Max (3 March 2015). "Inside The Post-Minecraft Life Of Billionaire Gamer God Markus Persson". Forbes. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  25. ^ a b Reilly, Jim (26 March 2012). "Minecraft Rakes In $80 Million". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  26. ^ Sarkar, Samit (1 February 2013). "Mojang tallied 2012 revenue of nearly $240M, looking to expand Minecraft to new markets". Polygon. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  27. ^ Peel, Jeremy (3 October 2010). "Mojang has a new vice president with a familiar face". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  28. ^ Browning, Kellen (10 June 2021). "How Microsoft Is Ditching the Video Game Console Wars". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  29. ^ Wingfield, Nick (30 April 2015). "Microsoft (Yes, Microsoft) Has a Far-Out Vision". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  30. ^ a b de la Merced, Michael J.; Wingfield, Nick (15 September 2014). "Microsoft Says It Will Pay $2.5 Billion for Company That Created Minecraft". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  31. ^ Wingfield, Nick; de la Merced, Michael J. (9 September 2014). "Minecraft Is Expected to Be Acquired by Microsoft". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  32. ^ Molina, Brett (15 September 2014). "Microsoft to acquire 'Minecraft' maker Mojang for $2.5B". USA Today. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  33. ^ a b Goldberg, Daniel; Larsson, Linus (2 June 2015). "The Unlikely Story of Microsoft's Surprise Minecraft Buyout". Wired. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  34. ^ Sarkar, Samit (6 November 2014). "Microsoft officially owns Minecraft and developer Mojang now". Polygon. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  35. ^ Leijonhufvud, Jonas (13 February 2018). "Mojang-miljardärerna in i ny investerargrupp – satsar på casinobolag" [Mojang billionaires into new investor group – investing in casino companies]. Di Digital (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  36. ^ Makuch, Eddie (4 June 2015). "Everyone Who Stayed at Mojang After Microsoft Buyout Got a Big Bonus". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  37. ^ Dring, Christopher (9 July 2020). "How Minecraft and Mojang taught Xbox how to buy studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  38. ^ a b McWhertor, Michael (10 December 2014). "Minecraft developer Mojang is finally releasing Scrolls". Polygon. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  39. ^ a b Fogel, Stefanie (20 June 2018). "Mojang's Card Game 'Scrolls' Gets New Name, Is Now Free-To-Play". Variety. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  40. ^ Williams, Mike (18 December 2014). "Minecraft Story Mode Is a Chance for Minecraft and Telltale to Expand". USgamer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  41. ^ "Mojang hires art guru Henrik Pettersson". MCV/Develop. 8 August 2011. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  42. ^ a b O'Connor, Alice (22 April 2016). "Minecraft Devs Release Crown And Council Free". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  43. ^ a b Caldwell, Brendan (31 January 2017). "Crown and Council gets royally updated, still free". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  44. ^ a b Bailey, Dustin (20 June 2018). "Free games: Mojang's Scrolls is now Caller's Bane, and it's out right now". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  45. ^ Dring, Christopher (14 May 2020). "Mojang returns to its indie roots with Minecraft Dungeons". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  46. ^ Conditt, Jessica (29 September 2018). "Meet 'Minecraft: Dungeons,' an adventure game with online co-op". Engadget. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  47. ^ Jones, Ali (8 May 2019). "Minecraft Classic is now available to play for free in your browser". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  48. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (17 May 2019). "Minecraft has sold 176 million copies worldwide". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  49. ^ Crecente, Brian (29 April 2019). "'Minecraft' Creator Excluded From Anniversary Due to 'Comments and Opinions' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  50. ^ Kerr, Chris (18 May 2020). "Minecraft developer Mojang rebrands as Mojang Studios". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 18 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  51. ^ Gurwin, Gabe (17 May 2020). "Minecraft Developer Mojang Has Changed Its Name". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  52. ^ Törner, Amanda (19 March 2021). "Mojangs lekfulla identitet ger guld till Bold" [Mojang's playful identity brings gold to Bold]. Resumé (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  53. ^ a b Brown, Matt (25 May 2020). "Minecraft Dungeons launch time, release date – and how to preorder". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  54. ^ a b Romano, Sal (12 June 2022). "Action strategy game Minecraft Legends announced for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  55. ^ Boddy, Zachary (2 December 2023). "Leadership changes at Mojang Studios see Helen Chiang take an expanded role, Åsa Bredin take over as studio head". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  56. ^ Fulton, Michael (21 March 2019). "Overview of Platforms Minecraft Is Available On". Lifewire. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  57. ^ Good, Owen (19 February 2012). "Mojam Raises $440,000, but Notch's Beard Appears to be Safe". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  58. ^ Conditt, Jessica (20 February 2013). "Humble Bundle Mojam 2: The Mojammening live stream up now". Engadget. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  59. ^ a b Wawro, Alex (26 November 2014). "Devs team up with Humble Bundle for anti-Ebola charity game jam". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  60. ^ Khaw, Cassandra (20 February 2012). "Humble Bundle Mojam Creation: Catacomb Snatch (Mojang)". Indie Games Plus. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  61. ^ Pearson, Craig (22 February 2012). "Ubering Catacomb Snatch". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  62. ^ Savage, Phil (25 February 2013). "Mojam comes to an end – get nine new games from Mojang and friends". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  63. ^ "Games Against Ebola – System Requirements". Humble Bundle. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  64. ^ a b c Stanton, Rich (9 December 2020). "A Lego Minecraft game called 'Brickcraft' was prototyped and greenlit – here's why it never happened". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  65. ^ Helgeson, Matt (26 July 2012). "Minecraft Creator Notch Cancels FPS Project". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  66. ^ a b Carmichael, Stephanie (27 July 2012). "Minecraft dev Mojang cans FPS project". GameZone. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  67. ^ O'Connor, Alice (23 March 2012). "Notch plans Elite-meets-Firefly space trading sim". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  68. ^ Keefer, John (3 April 2012). "Mojang, Notch tease next game, grab domains". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  69. ^ O'Connor, Alice (4 April 2012). "Mojang details space sim '0x10c'". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  70. ^ Khaw, Cassandra (16 August 2013). "Notch Puts 0x10c On Ice , Community Picks Up Torch". USgamer. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  71. ^ Peters, Jay (12 November 2019). "Minecraft Earth is now available in early access in the US". The Verge. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  72. ^ Walker, Ian (5 January 2021). "Minecraft Earth Ends This Summer". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  73. ^ Webster, Andrew (10 August 2011). "Elder Scrolls vs. Minecraft dev: "scrolls" is our word". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  74. ^ Hamilton, Kirk (3 October 2017). "Notch Offered to Give Up "Scrolls" Trademark, Bethesda Sued Anyway". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  75. ^ Rose, Mike (27 September 2011). "Mojang: 'Really Silly' Bethesda Scrolls Case Heads To Court". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  76. ^ Pitts, Russ (6 October 2011). "Mojang v. Bethesda Part 2: The Attorneys (and Notch & Pete) Weigh In". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  77. ^ Watts, Steve (7 October 2011). "Bethesda VP says company 'forced' into Scrolls dispute". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  78. ^ O'Connor, Alice (18 October 2011). "Scrolls defeats interim injunction in trademark case". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  79. ^ Purchese, Robert (12 March 2012). "Bethesda and Mojang settle: Scrolls will be Scrolls". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  80. ^ Orland, Kyle (13 March 2012). "Mojang can't use "Scrolls" name for potential sequels". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  81. ^ Paul, Ryan (21 July 2012). "Minecraft developer sued by aggressive litigator over DRM patent". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  82. ^ Rose, Mike (23 July 2012). "DRM firm Uniloc files infringement suit against Mojang's 'Mindcraft'". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  83. ^ "New Case: Uniloc USA, Inc. et al v. Mojang AB". Patent Arcade. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  84. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (23 July 2012). "Uniloc founder hits back after Minecraft fans vent fury in "disgusting" emails". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  85. ^ Mullin, Joe (25 March 2016). "Patent that cost Microsoft millions gets invalidated". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  86. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (10 July 2013). "Putt-Putt sues Mojang over user-generated maps". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  87. ^ Cook, Dave (10 July 2013). "Mojang & Don Mattrick receive cease and desist letters from Putt-Putt mini golf chain". VG247. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.

External links[edit]