Kids love Minecraft. The procedurally generated survive-and-create game hides nothing more objectionable than some creepy monsters, but its multiplayer frontiers can get a bit more grimey.
"Our customers [for Realms] are parents who are tired of trying to act as server administrators on behalf of their kids," Manneh said. "Minecraft Realms will be a simpler kind of service, aimed at families and kids."
Subscribers get their own worlds, the same as any other single or multiplayer server. But Mojang provides an easy-to-manage friends list to determine access privileges, and only one player needs to have a Realms account per world.
Mojang hasn't nailed down a price yet, but it will likely be $10 to $15 a month. Manneh said he's curious to see how the community responds to Realms, which will also support Minecraft: Pocket Edition.
"[S]ince we have about 10 million paying PC gamers and, soon, as many mobile gamers, there's definitely potential," he said. "And yes, if we look ahead, I do think [Realms will] be the biggest source of income in the future, and to bring in more money in total than the game itself."
