http://notch.tumblr.com/post/13633493969/och-med-dom-orden-s...
I'm more familiar with games than with startup culture - does the same thing apply there?
I think this is a problem of attitude. If you are so desperate for something new, why not create it yourself? The indie has every right to do what they feel like with their content, time, energy & money. They're not your monkey to dance & sing whenever you please. If you disagree with how they're spending their time, then spend your time making something you'd rather see.
And yeah, they of course have the right to make what they want and I can in no way take that away from them. Remaking the same game might even be worth it, financially. But it doesn't build value like getting going making new IP can, and it doesn't give me something exciting and new to play. I'm allowed to ask, they don't have to give it to me.
And as a customer, I'm more interested in new awesomeness than addaddons.
Too many websites; make existing ones better
Too many songs; make existing ones better
Some people are better at starting new things, and some people are better at maintaining and expanding on existing things. I'm happy to hear that Notch has some new ideas that he's itching to get started on.
The future of this game is definitely all about mods, custom maps, and new game formats. There is tremendous potential, some of which has already been realized, but only through elaborate unofficial hacks.
Let's get the good out of the way first, Minecraft is an awesome game, and Notch (and his team) deserves every bit of kudos they've gotten for it. I bought the game back in alpha, and I've gotten more than my money's worth.
The bad? Lingering (big) problems that aren't being dealt with. SMP is still a mess when it comes to performance. There are a ton of bugs in what is supposed to be a final 1.0 release (Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXO6tYkjYMc)
I don't have to be a full time developer or a company owner to make a judgement call on whether that is a bad thing or not. Minecraft seems to be suffering from the same kind of featuritis that plagued Second Life for so long.
Mojang. Please. Fix old, no new.