Persson: Why Minecraft Isn't On Steam

Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson has explained why the hit indie game is currently not available via Valve's Steam service, noting that there is an "inherent incompatibility" between how the two companies want to do business. While Persson was quick to profess his love for the digital distribution service, admitting, "Steam is the best digital distribution platform I’ve ever seen," he said that with the way Steam currently works, Minecraft is not an appropriate fit. "Being on Steam limits a lot of what we’re allowed to do with the game, and how we’re allowed to talk to our users," he explained. "We (probably?) wouldn’t be able to, say, sell capes or have a map market place on minecraft.net that works with Steam customers in a way that keeps Valve happy." He continued, "It would effectively split the Minecraft community into two parts, where only some of the players can access all of the weird content we want to add to the game." However, he did note, "We are talking to Valve about this, but I definitely understand their reasons for wanting to control their platform." "There’s a certain inherent incompatibility between what we want to do and what they want to do," he concluded. Earlier this month, Minecraft reached a significant sales milestone, surpassing 3 million sales in total. The total now currently stands at 3.3 million sales.