In 2016 Microsoft bought all of Minecraft. Well, not entirely… A particular little part of it called the ending wasn't.
Background/Recap: Eleven years ago, I wrote the ending to Minecraft. I never signed a contract, so I retained copyright. Then Microsoft bought Minecraft for 2.3 billion dollars, I was put under pressure to sign a contract giving them my copyright, I refused, and things got messy.
Julian Gough – the author of the ending poem of Minecraft – wrote a short thread on Twitter highlighting what happens when you don't sell your creation off to the highest bidder and instead set it free, want to tell the world about it, and then Microsoft gets involved…
The not-so-nice-story that acts as the prequel is also an interesting read about indie development, contracts, production, and work-for-hire.
I wrote a story for a friend. But in the end, he didn’t treat me like a friend. And I’m hurt.
That’s the core of what I want to say. But because the story I wrote was the ending to a game that has sold two hundred and thirty-eight million copies, and affected a lot of lives… I need to say a little more.