Minecraft on Steam would make it hard to control registered users

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has said Mojang is constantly considering putting the game on Steam, but is not sure how to work through issues with user registration.

Persson has said in the past that he has a philosophical objection to putting Minecraft on Steam - namely, that he's reluctant to allow Steam to dominate the PC gaming market - but while speaking to the PA Report, he said that there's an important practical issue too.

"We have so many registered users, and with Steam we can’t really control those users. So for us it can’t really go on Steam. But for many other developers it makes a lot of sense," he said.

"I’m constantly debating whether or not we should put it up on Steam anyway. Because the people could even get a Steam code if they buy the game, I don’t know what they would really do.

"Or if we should just not do Steam at all and try to come up with our own thing, or whatever. Right now we don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re just focused on the games still. It’s an interesting opportunity, so we try not to waste it."

On Steam in general, Persson seems pretty enthusiastic - with one caveat,

"I think Steam is a very good service for the customers. The only thing I don’t like is that they reserve the right to remove all your games and account, which is bullshit. I understand the legal reasons, and they have to do it for their partners, and I don’t think they’re going to do anything, they’re not going to remove it. But having that constant threat is not cool," he said.

"I want to buy a game and be able to play it in 20 years. I still play Doom, I don’t want it to be Valve closes down and I can’t access my games, and then I have to do it through piracy. That’s the only thing I don’t like towards the players."