Well-known game developer Markus "Notch" Persson has caused quite a stir on Twitter today. The outspoken Minecraft creator tweeted his thoughts regarding Electronic Arts releasing an "indie bundle" of games on Steam, telling the company in no short order that they aren't an indie developer and they should stop trying to ruin everything.
In follow-up tweets, Persson says that indies are saving gaming while EA is methodically destroying it and that he doesn't even consider his own studio (Mojang) an indie anymore. He doesn't have a problem with the titles in the bundle, calling them good, he's simply questioning EA.
As news of his messages has spread, Persson has since tweeted that Twitter quotes are not news and that the platform shouldn't be considered a news source. He seems to be a bit perturbed by all of the media attention, but when you are a public figure with nearly 680,000 followers, people listen to what you have to say.
CNET compares the gaming industry to that of the music industry where there are a handful of major labels and a multitude of independent firms. The publication says that most games created for mobile or console-based services like Xbox Live Arcade are considered independent while big name studios like Activision Blizzard, Take-Two and EA are typically classified as major publishers.
The indie bundle from EA contains six games: DeathSpank, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, Gatling Gears, Shank, Shank 2 and Warp. The titles were developed by independent studios and are published by EA. The studio is offering a 70 percent off promotion through May 9 for anyone purchasing the bundle.