Minecraft developer Mojang hopes to release its first publishing venture, Cobalt, for PC this Friday.
Speaking to us this afternoon, managing director Carl Manneh told us that Cobalt, a side-scrolling action game developed by fellow Swedes Oxeye Game Studio, would be released on Friday as long as Mojang can tie up a few loose ends.
"We haven't told anyone [about the release date] yet because we're aiming for Friday, but we don't know if we can make it," he said. "But I think we can."
The biggest hurdle, Manneh told us, is the implementation of single Mojang log-in, which the studio announced last week; players will be able to log in to Minecraft, Cobalt and the upcoming Scrolls with the same account.
The game itself needs a final polish, with Manneh explaining: "The game has been demoed at PAX and Minecon, but there are certain things we need to make sure are ready…You have to make sure that the user experience works without having someone holding your hand, like we can when standing next to people at events."
Like Minecraft, Cobalt will be released in an alpha state, with those buying the game receiving all subsequent updates for free and player feedback taken into account as development progresses. This, Manneh explains, is a further headache: "We're also looking at the roadmap: What is the minimum release we can get out in the first version? Then [we need] a plan to update the game to really make sure that people understand that this is the first step in many iterations to come."
Cobalt will be Mojang's first step into publishing, and the deal with Oxeye is appropriately atypical, the developer describing it as "more of a team effort than the usual developer-publisher combo."
"The relationship we have with [Oxeye] helps," Manneh said. "It's not like we found them and don't know them, the whole team knows them well. [And] we think it's a great game.
"They're a great bunch of people and culture-wise it's a very good fit with Mojang. They like to work in the same way we do, and when we present ideas to each other we're very much in sync. It's very easy to work with them."