Minecraft of the alpha version of the game expanded. Persson continued to update the game with releases distributed to users automatically. These updates included new items, new blocks, new mobs, survival mode, and changes to the game's behavior (e.g. how water flows). To back the development of "Minecraft", Persson set up a video game company, Mojang, with the money earned from the game. On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that "Minecraft" was entering its beta testing phase on 20 December 2010. He further stated that bug fixes and all updates leading up to and including the release would still be free.
Minecraft mods owners more control over their "Minecraft" environments. With the release of the alpha version, the first client-side mods began to appear; these added relatively simple things, like other textures or amendments to the in-game compass. Towards the end of 2010, new mods were released which featured more content than previous ones. "Minecraft" was now preparing to move into its beta development phase, and popular mods such as "IndustrialCraft", "Railcraft" and "BuildCraft" were first released to the public. As opposed to their predecessors, these mods had the potential to change the entire game instead of simply tweaking minor aspects of it.