Mojang Used Fans to Crowdsource Scrolls Legal Defense

The developers at Mojang, the indie developer that is behind the hit video game Minecraft, have announced that their engagement with the fan community goes beyond talking about the video game and about its future.

Carl Manneh, who is the chief executive officer at Mojang, has told Gamasutra that, “They say we're the first company in history to crowdsource a defense in court. We put out all the documents online and we got so much help from the community.”

In 2011, Bethesda and ZeniMax Media have decided to sue Mojang over its upcoming project Scrolls because it was too similar to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, although the two titles are very different both in terms of style and mechanics.

The indie developer defended itself in court and the game is now in full development, set to be launched later during 2012.

The relationship with the player community is built upon the idea that fans should always know exactly what the company is creating and have the chance to comment on the mechanics and ideas before they are implemented.

Minecraft had been in beta for years and this allowed those who played it and the developers to interact and choose what was the best course for the game’s evolution.

In the future Mojang plans to launch another two projects that have not yet been announced, one created in house and one that is linked to a third party.

The company could grow quickly in terms of developers, but that would not be in line with the actual culture of Mojang and Manneh stated, “A lot of people ask us how we relate to the gaming industry... I don't think we think about it that much. We don't do any analysis of 'this is how the industry does it, let's do it differently.' We just do it how it feels natural to us, basically.”