Nordic & Baltic Startups That Keep ArcticStartup Running
We were talking today at the office about all the different applications we use on a day to day basis only soon to realise the most of the applications I use on a daily basis are from the Nordics and Baltics. In this post I've done a short analysis on each of the applications and services I use, but they really make up the most important applications outside of my e-mail client (Sparrow) and browser (Safari). One could assume that since I'm working on a Mac there wouldn't so much options out there, which of course couldn't be more wrong. I find the most beautiful apps to be on Mac and to my surprise many of them are made here in Northern Europe.
My work involves writing content, recording audio, e-mailing and sales work - just to name a few different tasks. I also invite you to add your own applications in the comments below - would be great to see how people in different functions use different applications. Oh, and if you're wondering why these products get to be on the list? They create amazing products. I've paid for all the programs below, meaning I haven't received any free licenses for any of them.
Mojang Acquires Bukkit Minecraft Modding Team
Minecraft, the runaway indie game success from Sweden, lets users build structures and buildings out of the blocks mined in the game, and the fill them with craft-able interactive items. There's no real plot to the game, but the unlimited style of gameplay is, however, somewhat limited by the difficulty modding new items and rules into the game. Yesterday Mojang, the creators of Minecraft, announced they are acquiring the popular Bukkit server development team, whose third party tools and platform have made it easier for independent developers to get into modding.
Mojang Raises Over $450k For Charity
Last weekend, Mojang spent some 2,5 days developing games at their offices for the good of charity. The worked together with the HumbleBundle folks through an event titled Mojam and raised money for four charities; Child's Play, Electronic Frontier Foundation, charity: water and the American Red Cross. During the weekend, they raised over $450 000 from over 81 000 people.
People were able to donate money and in doing so receive the games the Minecraft developers were building over the weekend. The average purchase thus was $5,62. Raising over $450 000 during a couple of days is phenomenal and just shows the amount of visibility and interest Mojang is able to attract.
#6 - I Try Not To Play Minecraft At Home
Unfair Advantage has reached its sixth episode and on the show we talk to Daniel Kaplan of Mojang. We've covered Mojang many times in the past and they are the creators of Minecraft, the hugely popular game where you...err.. listen to the show to hear how it's pitched. Daniel joined the company back in 2010 already and he was the first employee. It was only Markus Persson and him back then, so Daniel has enjoyed the company ride quite sometime.
Our sponsor for this week is Gapps.fi - a Helsinki-based company that brings the Google productivity tools to your workplace. They've got a special offer for all those who ping them and say they came from ArcticStartup.
LEGO Minecraft Blocks Soon To Become A Reality
Minecraft has long been compared as a digital version of the LEGO building blocks, but now that comparison is one step closer to becoming a reality. The idea of creating the blocks came up through LEGO CUUSOO, a sort of official crowdsourcing idea generator for new LEGO sets. Through LEGO CUUSOO, LEGO fans can submit new ideas, and if the project gains the support of 10,000 people, it will become a reality if passed by the LEGO jury.
Mojang Releases Cobalt, First 3rd Party Game As Publisher
The creators of Minecraft have released their first third-party game as a publisher: Cobalt. The game is a 2D platformer with fighting robots that looks like it has similar elements to Super Smash Brothers. It should also be noted that currently there are no single player campaigns, only co-op and multiplayer. The game is only available on Windows initially, with OS X and Linux support arriving in "Beta."
Minecraft Reaches 18 Million Downloads
Minecraft, the super popular Swedish indie game, has reached 18 million downloads. This can be seen from the statistics on the game website. In addition to the 18 million downloads, the game has been bought by 4.3 million people. With current price of 19,95€ a piece that translates to a over 80 million euros in revenue. However, the game has been priced differently over the years so this is just a guiding figure.
Minecraft Hits 4 Million Downloads A Week Before Releasing Version 1.0
Minecraft has become an insane success story for the Swedish and Nordic indie games community. The game began alpha development in 2009, and shot up in popularity in part due its open style of play and creator Markus Persson's constant interaction with its vocal community. After hitting 4 million total sales this week, Minecraft (as opposed to Minecraft Beta) will be released sometime during their convention, Minecon, two weekends from now in Las Vegas.
Minecraft And Shadow Cities Victorious At GDC Online
The annual Game Developer Conference Online is on its way on the new continent. Every year the conference also looks at the gaming scene to award the best online games out there. This year, Mojang with their Minecraft game and Grey Area with their Shadow Cities mobile game were victorious and won their categories. Mojang actually took home two awards (little over 6 months ago they took home 5 awards at GDC).
The conference is probably amongst the more reputable ones out there. It's attended by thousands of people and the top gaming companies of the world. Therefore it's a great place to be winning.
Mojang Releases Minecraft Pocket Edition
The Swedish indie (does it really account for indie anymore?) gaming company Mojang has released Minecraft Pocket Edition, according to Wired. The company release the game for Sony Ericsson's Android powered Xperia Play gaming phone. The game is currently available for the Xperia Play at first, but the company plans to release the game to other Android devices "in about a month's time", according to the Wired article.
Minecraft Coming To The Xbox 360
Mojang, the Sweden based developer of Minecraft, has announced in the E3 game conference along with Microsoft that their game will be made available to the Xbox 360. The development on the game is just getting started so it'll take some time to get it out to everyone. Carl Manneh, wrote on the Mojang blog that they expect the game to be ready during the coming winter.
Minecraft Developer Mojang Eyes Co-Publishing Indie Games
Swedish indie game developer, Mojang recently announced its interest in co-publishing indie games alongside other developers with plans of releasing a title by the end of this year. The company has also announced this year that they're working on another title of their own.
Minecraft Generated About 5 M Euros In March
Mojang's Markus Persson, the lead developer of the hit indie game Minecraft, answered community questions in Reddit revealing a lot of interesting information about the game, but also the company. Perhaps the most interesting is the confirmation of the business potential of the game. It has sold more than 1.8 million copies of which 800 000 at 9,95 euro and over 1 million at 14,95 euros. While PayPal takes a small cut from all this, Minecraft has essentially generated over 20 million euros of revenue for Mojang.
Minecraft Takes Home 5 Awards From GDC
The Swedish indie game developer Mojang has won 5 different awards last night in two different competitions, organised in conjunction with the GDC 2011 conference. Markus Persson, the creator of the game tweeted about this earlier today. Minecraft is still officially in beta, but millions of people are already playing and most importantly, paying for the game. To be precise, at the time of writing this Minecraft has 4 884 884 registered users and 1 470 357 have paid for the game (that's over a 30% conversion!).
