Markus Persson
Who was Markus Persson?
Swedish video game programmer who created Minecraft and founded Mojang Studios before selling the company to Microsoft for $2.5 billion.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Markus Persson (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Markus Alexej Persson, better known as Notch, was born on June 1, 1979, in Stockholm, Sweden. He's a video game programmer, designer, and producer most famous for creating Minecraft, the best-selling video game ever. Persson got into programming at a young age, teaching himself on a Commodore 128 computer borrowed from his father when he was about seven. This early start in software development led to a career that changed the gaming world.
Persson started his career at various software companies, including King, known for Candy Crush Saga. He worked there as a game developer while also pursuing his own independent projects. In 2009, he released an early version of Minecraft, a sandbox game focused on block-based building and survival. The game's simple look and open-ended play quickly gained a large following, and by its official launch in November 2011, it had sold over four million copies. In the same year, Persson founded Mojang Studios to handle the game's development and sales.
As Minecraft's popularity grew, Persson stepped down as lead designer and handed creative control to Jens Bergensten. In September 2014, Persson said he planned to leave Mojang because of the stress and challenges of managing such a large community. In November 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang Studios for about $2.5 billion, making Persson a billionaire and marking one of the biggest deals in gaming history at that time. He received the British Academy Games Special Award in 2012 for Minecraft's impact.
Persson was married to Elin Zetterstrand, and they later divorced. In 2015, he co-founded a new game studio called Rubberbrain, which was rebranded in 2024 as Bitshift Entertainment, showing renewed interest in game development. However, his years after Microsoft were controversial. Starting around 2016, Persson made posts on social media that were heavily criticized for comments about race, gender, feminism, and transgender rights. In response, Microsoft removed his name from Minecraft's branding and left him out of the game's tenth-anniversary celebrations, mentioning his name only once in the end credits.
Before Fame
Markus Persson grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, and showed a knack for programming early on. By the time he was around seven, he was writing simple programs on a Commodore 128 computer. By his early teens, he had already created basic games. He taught himself coding during the 1980s and 1990s, a time when home computing was becoming more common and independent game development was starting to be an option for tech-savvy people.
Before gaining international fame, Persson worked in the Swedish games and software industry, including a job at King, which was mainly a web games developer at the time. He kept experimenting with personal projects during these years, drawing inspiration from games like Dwarf Fortress and Infiniminer. These influences directly shaped the mechanics and visual style of Minecraft, which he started as a side project before it gained worldwide attention.
Key Achievements
- Created Minecraft, the best-selling video game in history
- Founded Mojang Studios in 2009
- Sold Mojang Studios to Microsoft for a reported US$2.5 billion in 2014
- Received the British Academy Games Special Award in 2012
- Co-founded Rubberbrain in 2015, later relaunched as Bitshift Entertainment in 2024
Did You Know?
- 01.Persson taught himself to program at approximately age seven using a Commodore 128 computer that belonged to his father.
- 02.Minecraft sold over four million copies before its official retail release in November 2011, driven entirely by word of mouth and online community interest.
- 03.Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang Studios in 2014 for US$2.5 billion was one of the largest video game company purchases at that time.
- 04.Despite being the creator of Minecraft, Persson was not invited to the game's tenth anniversary celebration in 2019 due to his controversial social media activity.
- 05.Persson co-founded a game studio called Rubberbrain in 2015, which was later relaunched in 2024 as Bitshift Entertainment.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| British Academy Games Special Award | 2012 | — |