Markus Persson
Markus Alexej Persson (/ˈmɑːrkəs ˈpɪərsən/ ⓘ, Swedish: [ˈmǎrkɵs ˈpæ̌ːʂɔn] ⓘ; born 1 June 1979), also known as "Notch",[4] is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is best known for creating the sandbox video game Minecraft, which has since become the best-selling video game in history; and for founding the video game development company Mojang Studios in 2009.
Markus Persson | |
|---|---|
Persson at the 2016 Game Developers Conference | |
| Born | Markus Alexej Persson 1 June 1979 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Other names | Notch |
| Occupation(s) | Video game programmer and designer |
| Known for | Creating Minecraft, founding Mojang |
| Political party | Pirate Party[1] |
| Spouse | Elin Zetterstrand (m. 2011; div. 2012) |
| Children | 1 |
Persson began developing video games at an early age, making games both professionally and for pleasure for much of his life. He achieved critical success upon the publishing of an early version of Minecraft in 2009. Prior to the game's official retail release in 2011, it had sold over ten million copies.[5][6] After this point, Persson stood down as lead designer and transferred creative authority to Jens Bergensten.[7]
In September 2014, Persson announced on his personal website that he had concluded he "[didn't have the connection to his fans he thought he had]", that he had "become a symbol", and that he did not wish to be responsible for Mojang's increasingly large operation.[8] Persson left Mojang in November of that year, selling his company to Microsoft for a reported US$2.5 billion.[9][10] As the majority shareholder, the acquisition made Persson a billionaire.
Since 2016, public criticism of several of Persson's Twitter posts in which he wrote of his beliefs that transgender women are not women, that the QAnon conspiracy theory is "legit", and that those critical of a heterosexual pride day "deserve to be shot", has arisen.[11][12] In 2019, Persson's tweets were censured by Microsoft, who subsequently removed mentions of his name from Minecraft (excluding one instance in the game's end credits) and did not invite him to the game's tenth anniversary celebration.[13][14]
In 2015, he co-founded a separate game studio called Rubberbrain.[15][16]
Early life
Markus Alexej Persson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to a Finnish mother Ritva[17] and a Swedish father Birger[18] on 1 June 1979.[19][20][17] He has a sister.[17][21] He grew up in Edsbyn until age 7, before his family moved back to Stockholm.[22][23][21] In Edsbyn, Persson's father worked for the railroad and his mother was a nurse.[24] He spent much time outdoors in Edsbyn, exploring the woods with his friends.
When Persson was around age seven,[25] his parents divorced, and he and his sister lived with their mother.[26] His father moved to a cabin in the countryside.[21] Persson said in an interview that they experienced food insecurity around once a month.[26] Persson lost contact with his father for several years after the divorce.[25]
According to Persson, his father suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and medication abuse, and went to jail for robberies.[23][21] While his father had somewhat recovered during Persson's early life, his father relapsed, contributing to the divorce. His sister also experimented with drugs and ran away from home.[17]
He had gained interest in video games at an early age. His father was "a really big nerd", who built his own modem and taught Persson to use the family's Commodore 128.[21][27] On it, Persson played bootleg games and loaded in various type-in programs from computer magazines with the help of his sister.[21] The first game he purchased with his own money was The Bard's Tale.[21] He began programming on his father's Commodore 128 home computer at the age of seven.[25] He produced his first game at the age of eight, a text-based adventure game.[22][25]
By 1994, Persson knew he wanted to become a video game developer, but his teachers advised him to study graphic design, which he did from ages 15 to 18.[21][28]
Persson, although introverted,[17] was well-liked by his peers, but after entering secondary school was a "loner" and reportedly only had one friend.[27] He spent most of his spare time with games and programming at home.[27] He managed to reverse engineer the Doom engine, which he continued to take great pride in as of 2014[update]. He never finished high school, but was reportedly a good student.[17]
Career
Persson started his career working as a web designer.[21][28] He later found employment at Game Federation, where he met Rolf Jansson. The pair worked in their spare time to build the 2006 video game Wurm Online.[28][29][30][25] The game was released through a new entity, "Mojang Specifications AB". Persson left the project in late 2007. As Persson wanted to reuse the name "Mojang", Jansson agreed to rename the company to Onetoofree AB.[27]
Between 2004 and 2009, Persson worked as a game developer for Midasplayer (later known as King).[22][25] There, he worked as a programmer, mostly building browser games made in Flash.[27][28] He later worked as a programmer for jAlbum.[30][31][32][33]
Minecraft and Mojang
Inspiration for Minecraft
Prior to creating Minecraft, Persson developed multiple, small games. He also entered a number of game design competitions and participated in discussions on the TIGSource forums, a web forum for independent game developers.[27][30]
One of Persson's more notable personal projects was called RubyDung, an isometric three dimensional base-building game like RollerCoaster Tycoon and Dwarf Fortress.[34] While working on RubyDung, Persson experimented with a first-person view mode similar to that found in Dungeon Keeper. However, he felt the graphics were too pixelated and omitted this mode.[35][32]
In 2009, Persson found inspiration in Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game. Infiniminer heavily influenced his future work on RubyDung, and was behind Persson's reasoning for returning the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals to the game.[35]
RubyDung is the earliest known Minecraft prototype created by Persson.[36]
Release and success of Minecraft
On 17 May 2009, Persson released the original edition (later called "Classic version") of Minecraft on the TIGSource forums. He regularly updated the game based on feedback from TIGSource users.[37][27][38] Persson released several new versions of Minecraft throughout 2009 and 2010, going through several phases of development including Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev.[32] On 30 June 2010, Persson released the game's Alpha version.
While working on the pre-Alpha version of Minecraft, Persson continued working at jAlbum. In 2010, after the release and subsequent success of Minecraft's Alpha version, Persson moved from a full-time role to a part-time role at jAlbum. He left jAlbum later that same year.[34]
In September 2010, Persson travelled to Valve Corporation's headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, where he took part in a programming exercise and met with Gabe Newell. Persson was subsequently offered a job at Valve, which he turned down in order to continue work on Minecraft.[39][18]
On 20 December 2010, Minecraft moved into its beta phase and began expanding to other platforms, including mobile. In January 2011, Minecraft reached one million registered accounts. Six months afterwards, it reached ten million. Mojang held the first Minecon from 18–19 November 2011 to celebrate its full release, and subsequently made it an annual event.[34] Following this, on 11 December 2011, Persson transferred creative control of Minecraft to Jens Bergensten and began working on another game title, 0x10c, although he reportedly abandoned the project around 2013.[23][7]
In 2013, Mojang recorded revenues of $330 million and profits of $129 million.[40]
Leaving Mojang
Persson has stated that, due to the intense media attention and public pressure, he became exhausted with running Minecraft and the company.[17]
In June 2014, Persson tweeted "Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig", reportedly partly as a joke.[34][17] Persson controlled a 71% stake in Mojang at the time.[17] The offer attracted significant interest from Activision Blizzard, EA, and Microsoft.[17] Forbes later reported that Microsoft wanted to purchase the game as a "tax dodge" to turn their taxable excess liquid cash into other assets.[17]
In September 2014, Microsoft agreed to purchase Mojang for $2.5 billion, making Persson a billionaire.[17] He then left the company after the deal was finalised in November.[34][17]
Activities after leaving Mojang
Since leaving Mojang, Persson has worked on several small projects.[41] Around 2015, he founded a company with Porsér called Rubberbrain, but the company had no games by 2021, despite spending SEK 60 million.[17][42] Persson expressed interest in creating a new video game studio in 2020, and in developing virtual reality games.[43][44] He has also since created a series of narrative-driven immersive events called ".party()", which uses extensive visual effects and has been hosted in multiple cities.[45]
Since leaving Mojang, Persson has criticized the direction of Minecraft on several occasions. He described Minecraft as a "dead game" in 2021.[46]
Personal life
In 2011, Persson married Elin Zetterstrand, whom he had dated for four years before.[24] Zetterstrand was a former moderator on the Minecraft forums.[21] They had a daughter together, but by mid 2012, he began to see little of her.[47] On 15 August 2012, he announced that he and his wife had filed for divorce.[17] The divorce was finalized later that year.[47][21] He has not since remarried.[48]
On 14 December 2011, Persson's father committed suicide with a handgun[21] after drinking heavily.[23] In an interview with The New Yorker, Persson said of his father:[21]
When I decided I wanted to quit my day job and work on my own games, he was the only person who supported my decision. He was proud of me and made sure I knew. When I added the monsters to Minecraft, he told me that the dark caves became too scary for him. But I think that was the only true criticism I ever heard from him.
Persson later admitted that he himself suffered from depression and various highs and lows in his mood.[21][23]
Persson, a member of the Pirate Party of Sweden,[1] has criticized piracy[49][non-primary source needed] and the stance of large game companies on piracy,[50] yet once stated publicly that "piracy is not theft," viewing unauthorized downloads as potential future customers.[51]
He has donated to numerous charities, including Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).[52] Under his direction, Mojang spent a week developing Catacomb Snatch for the Humble Indie Bundle and raised $458,248 for charity.[53] He also donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2012.[54] In 2011, he gave $3 million in dividends back to Mojang employees.[54][21]
According to Forbes, his net worth in 2023 was around US$1.2 billion.[48] In 2014, Persson was one of the biggest tax payers in Sweden.[24] Around 2014, he lived in a multi-level penthouse in Östermalm, Stockholm, an area he described as "where the rich people live".[24] In December 2014, Persson purchased a home in Trousdale Estates, Beverly Hills, CA for $70 million, a record sales price for Beverly Hills at the time.[55] Persson reportedly outbid Beyonce and Jay-Z for the property.[56]
Persson is a member of the Swedish chapter of Mensa.[57][48]
Controversy
Persson began receiving criticism for political and social opinions he expressed on social media as early as 2016.[26][58] He has since been accused of homophobia, racism, transphobia, and supporting conspiracy theories.[59][better source needed]
In 2017, to counter LGBT pride events, he proposed a heterosexual pride holiday, and wrote that those who opposed the idea "deserve to be shot." After facing backlash, he deleted the tweets and rescinded his statements, writing, "So yeah, it's about pride of daring to express, not about pride of being who you are. I get it now."[60][61][59]
In 2017, he wrote that feminism is a "social disease" and called video game developer and feminism supporter Zoë Quinn a "cunt",[62][63] although he was generally critical of the GamerGate movement.[26] He has described intersectional feminism as a "framework for bigotry" and the use of the word mansplaining as being sexist.[64][26]
On 30 November 2017, Persson tweeted that "It's okay to be white"[26][65][66] stating his belief that privilege was a "made up metric", although he denounced generalisations and differential treatment solely on the basis of skin colour.[65]
In 2017, he stated that he believed in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.[67] In 2019, he tweeted in support of QAnon, saying "Q is legit. Don't trust the media."[68]
On 10 March 2019, he tweeted in response to a pro-transgender internet meme that "You are absolutely evil if you want to encourage delusion. What happened to not stigmatizing mental illness?"[68] He then also promoted claims that people were fined for "using the wrong pronoun".[69] However, after facing backlash, he tweeted a day afterwards that he had "no idea what [being trans is] like of course, but it's inspiring as hell when people open up and choose to actually be who they know themselves as. Not because it's a cool choice, because it's a big step. I gues [sic] that's actually cool nvm".[70]
In 2019, Microsoft removed two mentions of Persson's name in the "19w13a" snapshot of Minecraft and did not invite him to the 10th anniversary celebration of the game.[71][72][73][60][74] A spokesperson for Microsoft stated that his views "do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang".[58][75]
Games
Minecraft
Persson's most popular creation is the survival sandbox game Minecraft, which was first publicly available on 17 May 2009[76] and fully released on 18 November 2011. Persson left his job as a game developer to work on Minecraft full-time until completion. In early 2011, Mojang AB sold the one millionth copy of the game, several months later their second, and several more their third. Mojang hired several new staff members for the Minecraft team, while Persson passed the lead developer role to Jens Bergensten. He stopped working on Minecraft after a deal with Microsoft to sell Mojang for $2.5 billion. This brought his net worth to US$1.5 billion.[77]
Caller's Bane
Persson and Jakob Porsér came up with the idea for Scrolls including elements from board games and collectible card games. Persson noted that he will not be actively involved in development of the game and that Porsér will be developing it. Persson revealed on his tumblr blog on 5 August 2011 that he was being sued by a Swedish law firm representing Bethesda Softworks over the trademarked name of Scrolls, claiming that it conflicted with their The Elder Scrolls series of games.[78] On 17 August 2011, Persson challenged Bethesda to a Quake 3 tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute.[79] On 27 September 2011, Persson confirmed that the lawsuit was going to court.[80] ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda Softworks, announced the lawsuit's settlement in March 2012.[81][82] The settlement allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark.[83] In 2018, Scrolls was made available free of charge and renamed to Caller's Bane.[84]
Cliffhorse
Cliffhorse is a humorous game programmed in two hours using the Unity game engine and free assets. The game took inspiration from Skyrim's physics engine, "the more embarrassing minimum-effort Greenlight games", Goat Simulator, and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.[85][86] The game was released to Microsoft Windows systems as a honorware early access game the start day of E3 2014, instructing users to donate Dogecoin to "buy" the game before downloading it.[87] The game accumulated over 280,000 dogecoins.[88]
0x10c
Following the end to his involvement with Minecraft, Persson began pre-production of an alternate reality space game set in the distant future in March 2012. On April Fools' Day, Mojang launched a satirical website for Mars Effect (parody of Mass Effect), citing the lawsuit with Bethesda as an inspiration.[89] However, the gameplay elements remained true and on 4 April, Mojang revealed 0x10c (pronounced "Ten to the C") as a space sandbox title.[90] Persson officially halted game production in August 2013. However, C418, the composer of the game's soundtrack (as well as that of Minecraft), released an album of the work he had made for the game.[91]
Shambles
In 2013, Persson made a free game called Shambles in the Unity game engine.[92]
Ludum Dare entries
Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions.[93]
- Breaking the Tower was a game Persson developed for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 12 competition. The game takes place on a small island, where the player must gather resources, construct buildings, and train soldiers in order to destroy a large tower on this island. The game received brief gaming media attention.[94][95]
- Metagun is a 2D platformer created for Ludum Dare No. 18.[96]
- Prelude of the Chambered is a game Persson developed for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 21 competition. Prelude of the Chambered is a short first-person dungeon crawler video game.
- Minicraft is a game developed for Ludum Dare No. 22, held 16–19 December 2011.[97][98] It is a small top-down game with similarities to Zelda and influenced by Minecraft. It is written in Java.
Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Award | Result | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Minecraft | Best Debut Game, Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game | Game Developers Choice Awards | Won | [99] | |
| 2012 | Minecraft | BAFTA Special Award | BAFTA | Won | [100][101] | |
| 2016 | Minecraft | Pioneer Award Winner | Game Developers Choice Awards | Won | Award formerly known as the First Penguin Award | [102] |
References
- ^ a b Maxwell, Andy (3 March 2011). "Piracy is Theft? Ridiculous. Lost Sales? They Don't Exist, Says Minecraft Creator". TorrentFreak. from the original on 4 September 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^ "The Wizard of Minecraft". rollingstone.com. 7 May 2014. from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ^ "Inside the post-Minecraft life of billionaire gamer god Markus Persson". forbes.com. from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Persson, Markus. . notch.net. Archived from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ Ashdown, Jeremy (11 November 2010). . IGN. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
- ^ Thomas, David (29 November 2011). . Wired. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
- ^ a b Grant, Christopher (2 December 2011). "Notch steps down as lead developer on Minecraft to focus on 'new project'". Joystiq. from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
- ^ Persson, Markus (15 September 2014). . notch.net. Archived from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ "Minecraft sold to Microsoft for $2.5bn". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (15 September 2014). "Notch on leaving Mojang: 'It's not about the money. It's about my sanity'". Polygon. from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Steven, Asarch (11 March 2019). "'Minecraft Creator Markus "Notch" Persson Says Trans Women Aren't Women". Newsweek. from the original on 12 March 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ Staff, Ars (29 April 2019). "Minecraft creator Notch unwelcome at 10th anniversary due to online conduct". Ars Technica. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ Fields, Sarah (30 April 2019). "Minecraft Creator Notch Not Invited to Anniversary Due to Controversial Tweets". Game Rant. from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Persson, Markus (28 July 2014). . notch.net. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ "Notch i stor intervju: "Jag skäms inte för att jag har ändrat mig"" (in Swedish). 3 March 2015.
- ^ @notch (8 April 2017). "We named our new company "Rubberbrain", but don't have a logo yet, so I'm buying @HarmfulOpinions's logo" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Mac, Ryan. "Inside The Post-Minecraft Life Of Billionaire Gamer God Markus Persson". Forbes. from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ a b Johnson, Eric (9 December 2013). "Book Excerpt: How Minecraft Creator Markus Persson Almost Took a Job at Valve". AllThingsD. from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ "Markus Persson". Biography. 21 April 2015. from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- ^ Cat_Fernim (21 September 2011). . IGN. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "The Creator". The New Yorker. 5 April 2013. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ a b c 2 Player Productions (8 November 2013). "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang". YouTube. from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e Peisner, David (7 May 2014). "The Wizard of Minecraft". Rolling Stone. from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d Peisner, David (7 May 2014). "The Wizard of Minecraft". Rolling Stone. from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Handy, Alex (23 March 2010). "Interview: Markus 'Notch' Persson Talks Making Minecraft". Gamasutra. from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
my first own program when I was eight years old. It was an extremely basic text adventure game
- ^ a b c d e f Glasgow, Brad (3 August 2016). "The Tao of Notch – Beyond Twitter". from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cheshire, Tom (15 September 2014). "Changing the game: how Notch made Minecraft a cult hit". Wired. from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d Russell, Jamie (14 March 2012). "Markus Persson: Interview". Bafta Guru. from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ McDougall, Jaz (29 July 2010). "Community heroes: Notch, for Minecraft". PC Gamer. from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- ^ a b c Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). "Minecraft mastermind Markus Persson to receive Bafta special award". Gamasutra. from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ 2 Player Productions (8 November 2013). "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang". YouTube. from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c Handy, Alex (23 March 2010). "Interview: Markus 'Notch' Persson Talks Making Minecraft". Gamasutra. from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
- ^ Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). "MINECRAFT MASTERMIND MARKUS PERSSON TO RECEIVE BAFTA SPECIAL AWARD". Gamasutra. from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Cox, Alex (13 June 2018). "The history of Minecraft". TechRadar. from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ a b Persson, Markus (30 October 2009). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ Whitworth, Spencer (27 March 2022). "When was Minecraft first created? Exploring history behind most popular sandbox game". www.sportskeeda.com. from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ "Minecraft (alpha)". forums.tigsource.com. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ Smith, Graham (6 February 2012). "The First Moments of Minecraft". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ "Notch turned down job offer at Valve to create Mojang". Engadget. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ "Minecraft Is Still Generating Insane Amounts of Cash for Developer Mojang". Time. 18 March 2014. from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Tamburro, Paul (14 January 2018). "Notch Could be Working on a Minecraft Successor". GameRevolution. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Pettersson, Leo (4 August 2021). "nota för nya studion: 60 miljoner kronor". Aftonbladet. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Contaldi, Lou (4 January 2020). "Minecraft Beleaguered Co-Creator Notch Mulls Creating a New Studio". DualShockers. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Lang, Ben (21 January 2020). "'Minecraft' Creator Praises 'Boneworks', Considers Starting a VR Game Studio". Road to VR. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Beer, Jeff (14 July 2022). "This narrative-driven party, hosted by the creator of Minecraft, could be the future of live events". Fast Company. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Zhang, Carol (23 June 2021). "Minecraft Creator Notch Says It's A Dead Game". ScreenRant. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ a b Persson, Markus (15 August 2012). . Twitter. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ a b c "Markus Persson". Forbes. from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Persson, Markus (6 April 2011). "IAmA indie game developer who made a commercially successful game. AMAA". reddit. from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^ Edwards, Tim (2 March 2011). "Notch on piracy: "if a pirated game is a lost sale, should bad reviews be illegal?"". PC Gamer. from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^ . web.archive.org. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ Morris, Kevin (5 December 2011). . The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (20 February 2012). "Humble Bundle Mojam raises nearly $500k for charity". Eurogamer. from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ a b Stone, Madeline. "The Fabulous Life Of Notch, The Hard-Partying Founder Of Minecraft". Business Insider. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Carlyle, Erin (18 December 2014). "'Minecraft' Billionaire Markus Persson Buys $70 Million Beverly Hills Contemporary with Car Lift". Forbes. from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Stone, Madeline. "The Fabulous Life Of Notch, The Hard-Partying Founder Of Minecraft". Business Insider. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ Högberg, Jonas (1 December 2010). "Minecraft kan bli fyra gånger större". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Minecraft creator Notch unwelcome at 10th anniversary due to online conduct". Ars Technica. 29 April 2019. from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Minecraft creator Notch unwelcome at 10th anniversary due to online conduct". Ars Technica. 29 April 2019. from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ a b Saavedra, John (28 August 2020). "Minecraft Creator Notch Deletes Twitter Account After Asking GMTK to "Drop the Politics"". Den of Geek. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Morris, David Z. (2 July 2017). "Minecraft Creator Sparks Cries of Homophobia". Fortune. Time Inc. from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
- ^ Bonazzo, John (13 June 2017). "Minecraft Creator Tells Women on Twitter 'Act Like a Cunt, Get Called a Cunt'". Observer. from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- ^ Kane, Vivian (29 April 2019). "Minecraft's Creator Excluded From the Game's 10th Anniversary Due to Racist, Sexist, Transphobic Comments". The Mary Sue. from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- ^ Smith, Gwendolyn (12 March 2019). "The Minecraft creator went on a transphobic rant & Twitter wasn't having it". LGBTQ Nation. from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ a b "The Creator of 'Minecraft' Tweeted Some Dumb Stuff About Race". GQ. from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (29 April 2019). "'Minecraft' Creator Excluded From Anniversary Due to 'Comments and Opinions' (Exclusive)". Variety. from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ Valens, Ana (30 August 2017). "Minecraft's Notch thinks bogus Pizzagate conspiracy theory has some merits". Daily Dot. from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ a b "From Q-Anon to transphobia, the creator of 'Minecraft' has takes". Newsweek. 11 March 2019. from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ "Minecraft creator Notch unwelcome at 10th anniversary due to online conduct". Ars Technica. 29 April 2019. from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
- ^ Smith, Gwendolyn (12 March 2019). "The Minecraft creator went on a transphobic rant & Twitter wasn't having it". LGBTQ Nation. from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ Thubron, Rob (28 March 2019). "Microsoft removes references to game creator Notch in latest Minecraft update". TechSpot. from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Wood, Charlie. "Minecraft deleted references to its controversial creator Notch after his increasingly erratic behaviour". Business Insider. from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Lanier, Liz (28 March 2019). "Some References to 'Minecraft' Creator Notch Removed From Game". Variety. from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (29 April 2019). "'Minecraft' Creator Excluded From Anniversary Due to 'Comments and Opinions' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Arif, Shabana (29 April 2019). "Minecraft creator Notch won't be included in the game's 10 year anniversary event". VG247. from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^ "Minecraft was released 10 years ago. Do you feel old?". Tampa Bay 10 News. 17 May 2019. from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ "Minecraft founder Markus Persson: From 'indie' tech champion to potential billionaire on Microsoft deal". from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
He's also collected more than US$100 million in dividends since 2011, which would give him a total net worth of US$1.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (10 August 2011). "Elder Scrolls vs. Minecraft dev: "scrolls" is our word". from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (19 August 2011). "Minecraft maker jokingly calls Quake challenge "poor choice," vows fight". from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ Persson, Markus (27 September 2011). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
- ^ Parrish, Kevin (12 March 2012). "ZeniMax, Mojang Settle "Scrolls" Dispute". from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
- ^ Persson, Markus (29 September 2011). "The eventual release, and the legal documents". Tumblr. from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ Orland, Kyle (12 March 2012). "Bethesda, Mojang settle trademark dispute over Scrolls name". from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ "Status update – Caller's Bane". callersbane.com. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ^ Khaw, Cassandra (9 June 2014). "'Minecraft' creator's new game makes a statement with weird horse physics". The Verge. from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Minecraft creator accepts Dogecoin donations for new game". the Guardian. 9 June 2014. from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ Savage, Phil (9 June 2014). "Notch's new game is Cliffhorse. It's free, and features cliffs and a horse". PC Gamer. from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Notch launches Cliffhorse, a game about horses on cliffs". Engadget. from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ Fields, Rebecca (31 March 2012). . Shadowlocked. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012.
- ^ Knapp, Alex (3 April 2012). "Mojang Registers Website For Its New Game '0x10c'". Forbes. from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Andy Chalk, Minecraft composer releases 0x10c tracks, muses on Notch's departure from Mojang 23 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, PC Gamer, 17 September 2014.
- ^ Persson, Markus (2013). "Shambles". from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Persson, Markus (2011). . Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ Rossignol, Jim (20 August 2008). "Breaking The Tower". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ Tim W. (19 August 2008). . IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ Meer, Alec (26 August 2010). "Person Shooter: Metagun". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ Bradford, Matt (20 December 2011). "Markus "Notch" Persson creates Minicraft in two days". GamesRadar. from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (19 December 2011). "Notch makes Minicraft in two days". Eurogamer.net. from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ "Archive – 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". gamechoiceawards.com. 27 April 2021. from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ "Markus Persson – BAFTA Special Award". Bafta.org. 2 March 2012. from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). "Minecraft mastermind Markus Persson to receive Bafta special award". Gamasutra. from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ "Archive – 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". gamechoiceawards.com. 23 April 2021. from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.