If you have been living on Planet Earth (at least since Monday), you would have learnt that Microsoft just purchased a game called “Minecraft” for 2.5 Billion US$. That’s 15,000 CRORES of Indian Rupees ROKDA.
This is what the game looks like (hold your breath)
This is the illustrious founder of the Game – Markus Persson “Notch”
So, let me ask you this:
Imagine selling a SINGLE GAME to a Company like Microsoft for Rs 15,000 CRORES. Imagine the achievement, the sense of accomplishment, the high!
What would your FIRST communication be to the world after this AWESOME fait accompli?
At least I would talk about the journey, the challenge of having built something from scratch, the pleasure and the pain, etc.
BUT, I have NOT made a game and sold it for 2.5 billion USD. “Notch” has.
This is what HE WROTE on the day after the sale was announced (hold your breath again)
I’m leaving Mojang – see original post here
September 15th, 2014
A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development. Jens was the perfect person to take over leading it, and I wanted to try to do new things. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges, I’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.
I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand. I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.
As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.
Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.
I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling with you.
I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.
It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.
****
My takeaways:
– Life is NOT about planning to be successful. It just happens. As Deepak Chopra says, (paraphrasing) “The Universe is a series of random accidents and incidents, linked to each if you care to see…”
– The HARDER you try, the worse it becomes. Last month, in a conference, Donald Trump said, “Don’t try too hard”.
– Money is NOT what makes people really happy. As I have blogged somewhere else, the day I made my first Crore (150k US$) – that day I worked harder, was grumpier and had ‘just another day’ at the office.
– Sometimes, things like ‘what people say’ and ‘what people think’ really matters to people. Enough for them to give up what really makes other people dream about doing!
****
What would be your takeaways from this incident? Please do comment!!
*****
Monish Odrani
I Like the first two takeaways
Keep on Sharing
Be happy
Stay curious
Keep on experimenting
You will collide while experimenting, somethings will teach you, sometimes you will fall, and sometimes giant like Microsoft will find you.
Nilesh Gamit
My takeaways:
Do your karma. Be happy in what you’re doing. Let universe decide your destiny.
If you give attention to ‘what people say’ and ‘what people think’, you’ll be mentally doomed as the time passes.
Money is not everything.
Sukanya Chatterjee
I guess success comes to those who continue persistently with their passion without thinking about ‘achieving’ success. Its always the passion which drives one to do what he/she does best.
Realizing one’s active and dormant qualities and consciously moving towards perfection because its the love of WHAT I do and not WHY (what I get in return) I do.
Brilliant letter 🙂
Anand Nair
Its very interesting to see how this has played out and happened but am not able to understand the sentiment behind “Don’t try too hard”.
Don’t we have to give ALL we have so that WE know that the best possible has been done? Then there will be no regrets.
Ian Pinto
Good Read Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal.
This news definitely reinforces the fact that creating value through persistence and improvisation by acting wiser each day eventually rewards you. What could be more flattering for Markus “Notch” Persson than having the Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s quote “It’s the one game parents want their kids to play”; well of course the $2.5 Billion buyout of the Minecraft creator Mojang that says it all. This sure inspires me (and scores of others) to do the same in any personal or collaborative endeavours I engage in.
The reward may be elusive when it goes unnoticed for a long period of your life’s work, but the emergent value is constantly being built, and that’s what really matters in some sense 🙂
P.S., Just a thought pattern! Lately most of the coveted Billion $ acquisitions (Minecraft, Whatsapp, Oculus Rift, etc) in the news have been of online digital mass market (appeal) businesses which don’t make sense to the man in the street. Is there a pattern emerging here. And also as far as I know, any Indian has so far not made the news recently for anything that remotely fits this pattern.
Aditya Mishra
Thanks Alok for sharing your thoughts on this.
My 2 take-aways :
a) do what’s in your control. That’s the karma! He kept doing that…and of course, you do. And many others. I hope, all these folks focused on karma make it big on some day so that millions appreciate how important karma is!
b) One cannot control the results which come out as a result of several things. The 3-most important factors are possibly, the karma, luck and the previous karma. I think, Notch did this well and will possibly keep doing!
And keep us inspired as always, Alok!