Markus Persson — BrandWiki

Markus Persson

Overview

Markus Persson

birth date	June 1, 1979
birth place	Stockholm, Sweden
birth name	Markus Alexej Persson
other names	Notch
occupation	Video game programmer designer
years active	2004–present
notable works	Minecraft
title	Founder of Mojang Studios
spouse	Elin Zetterstrand (m. 2011-2012)‡R1R‡

Markus Alexej Persson (, ; born 1 June 1979), known by the pseudonym Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is the creator of Minecraft, the best-selling video game in history. He founded the video game development company Mojang Studios in 2009.

Persson began developing video games at an early age. His commercial success began after he published an early version of Minecraft in 2009. Prior to the game's official retail release in 2011, it had sold over four million copies. After this point Persson stood down as the lead designer and transferred his creative authority to Jens Bergensten. In September 2014 Persson announced his intention to leave Mojang, and in November of that year the company was sold to Microsoft reportedly for US$2.5 billion, which made him a billionaire.

Since 2016 several of Persson's posts on Twitter regarding feminism, race, and transgender rights have caused public controversies. He has been described as "an increasingly polarizing figure, tweeting offensive statements regarding race, the LGBTQ community, gender, and other topics." In an effort to distance itself from Persson, Microsoft 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.[4]

Early life

Markus Alexej Persson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to a Finnish mother, Ritva, and a Swedish father, Birger,[5] on 1 June 1979.[6][7] He has one sister.[8] He grew up in Edsbyn until he was seven years old, when his family moved back to Stockholm.[9][1][8] In Edsbyn, Persson's father worked for the railroad, and his mother was a nurse.[1] He spent much time outdoors in Edsbyn, exploring the woods with his friends.

When Persson was about seven years old, his parents divorced, and he and his sister lived with their mother.[10] His father moved to a cabin in the countryside.[8] Persson said in an interview that they experienced food insecurity around once a month.[10] Persson lost contact with his father for several years after the divorce.

According to Persson, his father suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and medication abuse, and went to jail for robberies.[1][8] 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.

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.[8] On it, Persson played bootleg games and loaded in various type-in programs from computer magazines with the help of his sister.[8] The first game he purchased with his own money was The Bard's Tale.[8] He began programming on his father's Commodore 128 home computer at the age of seven.[11] He produced his first game at the age of eight, a text-based adventure game.[9][11]

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.[8][12]

Persson, although introverted, was well-liked by his peers, but after entering secondary school was a "loner" and reportedly had only one friend. He spent most of his spare time with games and programming at home. He never finished high school, but was reportedly a good student.

Games

Minecraft

Persson's most popular creation is the survival sandbox game Minecraft, which was first publicly available on 17 May 2009[43] 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.[44]

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.[45] On 17 August 2011 Persson challenged Bethesda to a Quake 3 tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute.[46] On 27 September 2011 Persson confirmed that the lawsuit was going to court.[47] ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda Softworks, announced the lawsuit's settlement in March 2012.[48][49] The settlement allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark.[50] In 2018, Scrolls was made available free of charge and renamed to Caller's Bane.[51]

Cliffhorse

Cliffhorse is a humorous game programmed in two hours using the Unity game engine and free assets. The game took inspiration from Skyrim physics engine, "the more embarrassing minimum-effort Greenlight games", Goat Simulator, and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.[52][53] The game was released to Microsoft Windows systems as an early access and honourware game on the first day of E3 2014, instructing users to donate Dogecoin to "buy" the game before downloading it.[54] The game accumulated over 280,000 dogecoins.[55]

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.[56] However, the gameplay elements remained true and on 4 April, Mojang revealed 0x10c (pronounced "Ten to the C") as a space sandbox title.[57] 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.[58]

Shambles

In 2013, Persson made a free game called Shambles in the Unity game engine.[59]

Ludum Dare entries

Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions.[60]

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.[61][62]
Metagun is a 2D platformer created for Ludum Dare No. 18.[63]
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