Infini-Minecraft

      Mojang released their official development intent yesterday. They are decreasing time between feature updates, increasing update streams, and generally increasing production for a game you already own. How?

      Minecraft isn't a live-service, it is a platform. Minecraft is really more of an engine at this point. Like Roblox and, to an odd extent, Unreal, it's core development is driven by a licensed modding community. One of the things that end-users rarely understand is how licensing is actually used. It isn't really protection like something like EULA is. Licensing is largely used to make money from someone else's work.

       Mojang's Minecraft Marketplace heavily relies on a well-made, legal framework that gives them the right to make money from the work of other people. Usually iron-clad, near evil, this legal framework gives people a license to make official Minecraft mods and gives Mojang the ability to charge a fee for that license.

       The fee is hidden in platform fees. Like Steam, EGS, or PSN, every transaction on Minecraft Marketplace has a fee built into it. Minecraft's License fee is currently 30% per transaction. 

      Mojang then uses that 30% to further develop the base engine of Minecraft. Carefully, Mojang adds engine function while balancing the engine's bloat. Unlike Unreal, Minecraft has to run on things like Fire tablets (double barf). So when your favorite influencer says "just push everything, you have already developed it", just know that there is a reason they make videos and not software engines.

      Mojang is funding the development of Minecraft, as an engine, with Marketplace purchases which means they heavily rely on people to keep making Minecraft mods. Creating another platform, like Minecraft 2, would destroy their ability to fund engine development as it would split their developer base (like PS VR did for Hulst Studios). 

    Minecraft is the new Second Life. Their business plan now relies on an infinitely popular game. It's almost as if people forgot that this business model is as old as Second Life...