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0x10c, the upcoming space flight simulator from Minecraft developer Mojang, could feature a subscription-based model for players to access vital ship components, lead designer Markus "Notch" Persson said in a PC Gamer interview.
The pricing model, which Notch confessed is still just a "rough idea," would charge players a recurring fee to own a power source for a ship's functions. The extra income is required because of the server load required to host each ship's on-board CPU — a fully-functional virtual computer that players can use to customize their ships. With the pay-for-power model, ship owners would have to choose how to allocate their power, while players without generators could still explore the universe as crew members on their allies' rigs.
"The idea is that one subscription gives you one generator," Notch explained. "If a CPU in the game costs us this much money to emulate then it has to consume an equal proportion of the wattage from the generator. So several people could play on one ship with one generator if they wanted. I think that'd be the most fun, but I know a lot of people just want to pilot their own ship."
"And we don't really develop games in ways where it's a big risk, anyway."
Notch also said that Mojang won't turn to Kickstarter for funding to finish developing the game, simply because the company doesn't need it. He said he wants to avoid political issues associated with an established developer seeking crowd-funding — like Peter Molyneux's 22Cans, which received a bit of heat after asking for money for its upcoming project, Godus.
"I don't know if Peter Molyneux has a lot of money, I have no idea," Notch said. "They're established developers, sure, but they don't have a lot of money in the company and they need to fund it somehow. If Peter was to fund it privately, I don't know if it's the best way to do it. But Mojang have so much money just in the company we don't need to raise money before making a game.
"And we don't really develop games in ways where it's a big risk, anyway," Notch added. "Right now 0x10c has two people working on it, so it's not a huge investment compared to Minecraft sales. So no, I wasn't tempted for that reason."
