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Markus Persson

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Markus Persson
File:Notch receives the Pioneer Award at GDC 2016 (cropped).jpg
Persson at the 2016 Game Developers Conference
Born
Markus Alexej Persson

(1979-06-01) 1 June 1979 (age 45)
Stockholm, Sweden
Other namesNotch
OccupationVideo game programmer and designer
Known forCreating Minecraft, founding Mojang
Spouse(s)Elin Zetterstrand (m. 2011; d. 2012) [1][2]
Website

Markus Alexej Persson (Swedish: [ˈmǎrkɵs ˈpæ̌ːʂɔn] (Audio file "Sv-Markus_Persson.ogg " not found); born 1 June 1979),[3] also known as Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is best known for creating the sandbox video game Minecraft and for founding the video game company Mojang in 2009.

Persson's principal venture for founding Mojang was Minecraft which gained popularity and support since its tech demo in 2009.[4] Since then, he has gained significant notability within the video game industry, winning multiple awards and establishing relations with the industry's figureheads.[5] He retained his position as the lead designer of Minecraft until the game's official launch in 2011, after which he transferred creative authority to Jens Bergensten.[6] He had continued to work on Minecraft until he left Mojang in November 2014, after its acquisition by Microsoft for $2.5 billion.[7] Microsoft eventually dissociated from Persson following controversial comments regarding topics such as race and gender on his Twitter account.[8]

Biography[]

Persson was born in Stockholm,[9] Sweden, to a Finnish mother and a Swedish father on 1 June 1979.[10] He lived in Edsbyn for the first seven years of his life[11] before his family moved back to Stockholm.[12] He began programming on his father's Commodore 128 home computer at the age of seven.[13] Having experimented with various type-in programs he produced his first game at the age of eight, a text-based adventure game.[11][13] Professionally he had worked as a game developer for King for over four years, until 2009.[11][13] Afterwards he worked as a programmer for Jalbum.[14] He is also one of the founders of Wurm Online,[15] though he no longer works on it.[14] Outside of work, he has made seven games for competitions.[14] He is the central figure of Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, a documentary by 2 Player Productions about the rise of Minecraft and Mojang.

Personal life[]

Persson is a member of the Swedish chapter of Mensa.[16] In 2011, he married Elin Zetterstrand and had a daughter.[17] On 15 August 2012, he announced that he and his wife had filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized later that year.[18]Template:Non-primary source needed

Persson has criticized both piracy[19][non-primary source needed] and the stance of large game companies on piracy;[20] additionally, he is a member of the Pirate Party of Sweden.[21] He is an atheist and has donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).[22] Under his direction, Mojang contributed a week to developing Catacomb Snatch for the Humble Indie Bundle; the $458,248 raised was donated to charity.[23]

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.[24]

Games[]

Minecraft[]

Main article: Minecraft

Persson's most popular creation is the survival sandbox game Minecraft, which was first publicly available on 17 May 2009[25] 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.[26]

Caller's Bane[]

Main article: 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.[27] On 17 August 2011, Persson challenged Bethesda to a Quake 3 tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute.[28] On 27 September 2011, Persson confirmed that the lawsuit was going to court.[29] ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda Softworks, announced the lawsuit's settlement in March 2012.[30][31] The settlement allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark.[32]

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.[33][34] 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.[35] The game accumulated over 280,000 dogecoins.[36]

0x10c[]

Main article: 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.[37] However, the gameplay elements remained true and on 4 April, Mojang revealed 0x10c (pronounced Ten to the C) as a space sandbox title.[38] 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.[39]

Ludum Dare entries[]

Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions.[40]

  • 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.[41][42]
  • Metagun is a 2D platformer created for Ludum Dare no. 18.[43]
  • 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.[44][45] It is a small top-down game with similarities to Zelda and influenced by Minecraft. It is written in Java.

Awards and nominations[]

Year Recipient Award Result
2011 Minecraft Best Debut Game, Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game Game Developers Choice Awards Won [46]
2012 Minecraft BAFTA Special Award BAFTA Won [47][48]
2016 Minecraft Pioneer Award Winner Game Developers Choice Awards Won Award formerly known as the First Penguin Award [49]

Controversies[]

Persson has received criticism for political and social opinions he has expressed on Twitter, such as referring to feminism as a "social disease" and claiming that most feminists are "overtly sexist against men."[50][51] In June 2017, Persson faced criticism for referring to video game developer Zoë Quinn as a "cunt".[50] Later in June 2017, he tweeted in support of a heterosexual pride day, calling opponents to the idea "cunts" and stating that they "deserve to be shot".[51][52] 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."[53] In November 2017, Persson was criticized for posting a tweet which reads "It's ok to be white."[54] In follow-up tweets, he said he believed privilege is a "made up metric".[55]

A March 2019 Minecraft update removed all mentions of Persson from the game's menu, though his name is still in the credits.[56] Microsoft did not explain this action, but its timing led multiple news outlets to conclude it was related to the controversies associated with him.[56][57] Persson was not invited to the game's tenth anniversary event later that year, with Microsoft saying that his views "do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang".[8][58] Microsoft then dissociated from Persson due to his controversial comments on his Twitter account.[8]

References[]

  1. ↑ "The Wizard of Minecraft". rollingstone.com. {{cite web}}:
  2. ↑ "Inside The Post-Minecraft Life Of Billionaire Gamer God Markus Persson". forbes.com. {{cite web}}:
  3. ↑ Persson, Markus (29 May 2009). "Turning 30 is scary". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2011. {{cite web}}:
  4. ↑ Ashdown, Jeremy (11 November 2010). "This is Minecraft". IGN. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012. {{cite web}}:
  5. ↑ Thomas, David (29 November 2011). "How the Creator of Minecraft Developed a Monster Hit". Wired. https://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/markus-persson/. Retrieved 3 March 2012. 
  6. ↑ Grant, Christopher (2 December 2011). "Notch steps down as lead developer on Minecraft to focus on 'new project'". Joystiq. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012. {{cite web}}:
  7. ↑ Goldberg, Daniel; Larsson, Linus (2 June 2015). "The Unlikely Story of Microsoft's Surprise Minecraft Buyout". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020. {{cite web}}:
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Fields, Sarah (30 April 2019). "Minecraft Creator Notch Not Invited to Anniversary Due to Controversial Tweets". Game Rant. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020. {{cite web}}:
  9. ↑ "Markus Persson". Biography. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2022. {{cite web}}:
  10. ↑ Cat_Fernim (21 September 2011). "20 Things You Might Not Know About Notch". IGN. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2012. {{cite web}}:
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 2 Player Productions (8 November 2013). "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang". YouTube. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Peisner, David (7 May 2014). "The Wizard of Minecraft". Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-wizard-of-minecraft-20140507. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Handy, Alex (23 March 2010). "Interview: Markus 'Notch' Persson Talks Making Minecraft". Gamasutra. Archived 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 {{cite web}}:
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). "MINECRAFT MASTERMIND MARKUS PERSSON TO RECEIVE BAFTA SPECIAL AWARD". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020. {{cite web}}:
  15. ↑ McDougall, Jaz (29 July 2010). "Community heroes: Notch, for Minecraft". PC Gamer. http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/07/29/community-heroes-notch-for-minecraft/. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
  16. ↑ Högberg, Jonas (1 December 2010). "Minecraft kan bli fyra gånger större" (in sv). Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/spela/article8210456.ab. 
  17. ↑ Peisner, David (2014-05-07). "The Wizard of Minecraft". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-11-22. {{cite web}}:
  18. ↑ Persson, Markus (15 August 2012). "Twitter / notch: As of today, I am single". Twitter. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012. {{cite web}}:
  19. ↑ Persson, Markus (6 April 2011). "IAmA indie game developer who made a commercially successful game. AMAA". reddit. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2011. {{cite web}}:
  20. ↑ Edwards, Tim (2 March 2011). "Notch on piracy: "if a pirated game is a lost sale, should bad reviews be illegal?"". PC Gamer. http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/02/notch-on-piracy-if-a-pirated-game-is-a-lost-sale-should-bad-reviews-be-illegal/. Retrieved 18 July 2011. 
  21. ↑ Enigmax (3 March 2011). "Piracy is Theft? Ridiculous. Lost Sales? They Don't Exist, Says Minecraft Creator". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 30 August 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2011. {{cite web}}:
  22. ↑ Morris, Kevin (5 December 2011). "Reddit atheists upvote fundraising for Doctors Without Borders". The Daily Dot. http://www.dailydot.com/society/reddit-atheists-doctors-without-borders-charity/. 
  23. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (20 February 2012). "Humble Bundle Mojam raises nearly $500k for charity". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020. {{cite web}}:
  24. ↑ Carlyle, Erin (18 December 2014). "'Minecraft' Billionaire Markus Persson Buys $70 Million Beverly Hills Contemporary with Car Lift". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/12/18/minecraft-billionaire-markus-persson-buys-70-million-beverly-hills-contemporary-with-car-lift/#690727f72a3b. 
  25. ↑ "Minecraft was released 10 years ago. Do you feel old?". Tampa Bay 10 News. 17 May 2019. {{cite web}}:
  26. ↑ "Minecraft founder Markus Persson: From 'indie' tech champion to potential billionaire on Microsoft deal". Archived 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. {{cite web}}:
  27. ↑ Webster, Andrew (10 August 2011). "Elder Scrolls vs. Minecraft dev: "scrolls" is our word". Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2012. {{cite web}}:
  28. ↑ Schreier, Jason (19 August 2011). "Minecraft maker jokingly calls Quake challenge "poor choice," vows fight". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012. {{cite web}}:
  29. ↑ Persson, Markus (27 September 2011). "Twitter / notch: The Scrolls case is going to ..." Twitter. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2011. {{cite web}}:
  30. ↑ Parrish, Kevin (12 March 2012). "ZeniMax, Mojang Settle "Scrolls" Dispute". Retrieved 28 May 2014. {{cite web}}:
  31. ↑ Persson, Markus (29 September 2011). "The eventual release, and the legal documents". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011. {{cite web}}:
  32. ↑ Orland, Kyle (12 March 2012). "Bethesda, Mojang settle trademark dispute over Scrolls name". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012. {{cite web}}:
  33. ↑ Khaw, Cassandra (2014-06-09). "'Minecraft' creator's new game makes a statement with weird horse physics". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-07-10. {{cite web}}:
  34. ↑ "Minecraft creator accepts Dogecoin donations for new game". the Guardian. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2021-07-10. {{cite web}}:
  35. ↑ Savage, Phil (2014-06-09). "Notch's new game is Cliffhorse. It's free, and features cliffs and a horse". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2021-07-10. {{cite web}}:
  36. ↑ "Notch launches Cliffhorse, a game about horses on cliffs". Engadget. Retrieved 2021-07-10. {{cite web}}:
  37. ↑ Fields, Rebecca (31 March 2012). "MINECRAFT CREATOR SCORES APRIL FOOL WITH 'MARS EFFECT'". Shadowlocked. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. {{cite web}}:
  38. ↑ Knapp, Alex (3 April 2012). "Mojang Registers Website For Its New Game '0x10c'". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/04/03/mojang-registers-website-for-its-new-game-0x10c/. Retrieved 15 July 2020. 
  39. ↑ Andy Chalk, Minecraft composer releases 0x10c tracks, muses on Notch's departure from Mojang Archived 23 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, PC Gamer, 17 September 2014.
  40. ↑ Persson, Markus (2011). "Notch Ludum Dare". Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2012. {{cite web}}:
  41. ↑ Rossignol, Jim (20 August 2008). "Breaking The Tower". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}:
  42. ↑ Tim W. (19 August 2008). "Browser Game Pick: Breaking the Tower (Markus Persson)". IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}:
  43. ↑ Meer, Alec (26 August 2010). "Person Shooter: Metagun". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}:
  44. ↑ Bradford, Matt (20 December 2011). "Markus "Notch" Persson creates Minicraft in two days". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}:
  45. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (19 December 2011). "Notch makes Minicraft in two days". Eurogamer.net. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}:
  46. ↑ "Archive – 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". gamechoiceawards.com. {{cite web}}:
  47. ↑ "Markus Persson – BAFTA Special Award". Bafta.org. {{cite web}}:
  48. ↑ Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). "MINECRAFT MASTERMIND MARKUS PERSSON TO RECEIVE BAFTA SPECIAL AWARD". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2021. {{cite web}}:
  49. ↑ "Archive – 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". gamechoiceawards.com. {{cite web}}:
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Bonazzo, John (13 June 2017). "Minecraft Creator Tells Women on Twitter 'Act Like a Cunt, Get Called a Cunt'". Observer. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019. {{cite web}}:
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Kane, Vivian (29 April 2019). "Minecraft's Creator Excluded From the Game's 10th Anniversary Due to Racist, Sexist, Transphobic Comments". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019. {{cite web}}:
  52. ↑ "Minecraft creator Notch unwelcome at 10th anniversary due to online conduct". Ars Technica. April 29, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2022. {{cite web}}:
  53. ↑ Morris, David Z. (2 July 2017). "Minecraft Creator Sparks Cries of Homophobia". Fortune. Time Inc. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017. {{cite web}}:
  54. ↑ Crecente, Brian (29 April 2019). "'Minecraft' Creator Excluded From Anniversary Due to 'Comments and Opinions' (EXCLUSIVE)" (in en). Variety. https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/minecraft-creator-excluded-from-anniversary-due-to-comments-and-opinions-exclusive-1203200050/. 
  55. ↑ "The Creator of 'Minecraft' Tweeted Some Dumb Stuff About Race" (in en). GQ. https://www.gq.com/story/notch-whiteness-tweets. 
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 Thubron, Rob (28 March 2019). "Microsoft removes references to game creator Notch in latest Minecraft update". TechSpot. https://www.techspot.com/news/79403-microsoft-removes-references-game-creator-notch-latest-minecraft.html. 
  57. ↑ Lanier, Liz (28 March 2019). "Some References to 'Minecraft' Creator Notch Removed From Game". Variety. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020. {{cite web}}:
  58. ↑ Arif, Shabana (29 April 2019). "Minecraft creator Notch won't be included in the game's 10 year anniversary event". VG247. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019. {{cite web}}:

External links[]

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