![]() ![]() ![]() “Partying is not a sane way to spend money, but it’s fun. “I’m a little bit making up for lost time when I was just programming through my twenties,” he told Forbes. Since the deal, Persson has been doing his best to make the most out of his newfound free time and wealth. A few hours later he published an apologetic post on his blog, “It’s not about the money,” he wrote. Following an episode of particular harsh words from the online community, “Notch” took to Twitter to ask: “Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life?” Just a couple of weeks later, on SeptemMicrosoft announced it would pay $2.5 billion in cash for Minecraft parent Mojang, enabling Persson to make a clean break from Minecraft. In his first, and so far only interview, after selling his 71% stake of Minecraft parent Mojang to Microsoft, Persson told Forbes that the demands and expectations of fans looking to him to keep the success going turned him into a self-conscious wreck. That is, until he did what he had promised never to do, and sold out. In an unprecedented way, “Notch” created a new type of video game, and launched himself from anonymous programmer in Stockholm into a disruptor of an industry with a product so tied to his own name that it was hard to separate his personality from his creation. The Microsoft Xbox 360 version of the game sold more than 1 million copies in the first week. To this day, the $6.99 smartphone versions of Minecraft rank among the top three paid downloads in the U.S., according to App Annie. Amazingly, the company did not spend a single krona on marketing. Persson’s status online, along with the game's embrace by those into showcasing their creations, pushed Minecraft to grow virally. Alongside the exploding popularity of Minecraft, Persson - or rather his online persona “Notch” - emerged as deity-like figure for millions of gamers, using his newfound position on the throne of indie development to bash his corporate counterparts. This single game, released in alpha-stage in 2009, has grossed more than $700 million, most of which is pure profit. The urge by players to showcase their creations online helped build a viral, organic community, unparalleled by any video game developed before. It was released just as a new generation of kids, too young for Facebook and Instagram but old enough to want to make things online, were getting laptops, smartphones and tablets. Minecraft is a sandbox game in which players mine resources in the online world to build all sorts of structures. If you have spent time around kids the last couple of years, there is a good chance you’ve witnessed the obsession many have with Persson’s creation. Now a jet setting billionaire after selling his popular video game Minecraft to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014, the soft-spoken Swede has vowed never to create anything successful ever again. Single-handedly, 35-year-old Markus Persson created one of the most popular video games of all time, and built an online following of millions as he challenged the giants of the video game industry. ![]()
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