Marcus Persson is the creator of one of the most iconic and successful games of the last ten years. Minecraft does not even fit into the definition of a regular game - it is something more than a regular multiplayer sandbox. Around it built a lot of fan services, communities and much more. In this article, you will find out who invented Minecraft and some facts from the creator’s biography.
How did it all start?
At the beginning of his career, Persson could not imagine what his venture with the original cubic game would turn into. The developer does not like to give interviews to various online resources and print media.
As a child, Marcus was a homely and calm child. Instead of partying and fun with the guys in the yard, he preferred to sit at home and collect various figures from the LEGO designer. Acquaintance with computers and directly with programming began at the age of 7. Persson's father brought home an old personal computer, and the boy immediately became involved in the study. Within a couple of years, he wrote the first program.
The boy's life crippled at 12 years old. His parents divorced, and he stayed with his mother. Because of this, he could not even finish high school. Out of hopelessness, his mother enrolled him in programming courses. And it was this event that became key in the life of Marcus. By 2004, the guy began to punch the game like on a conveyor belt. Having settled in the company of King, he became involved in the development of the large game Candy Cash. After 5 years, the already completed programmer moved to another company, where he was given great freedom. Thanks to this, the developer could take up his Minecraft project. Finally, the childhood dream that Marcus Persson had hatched began to materialize - Minecraft, a strange game about cubes and collecting resources. In 2009, the first raw alpha version of the game appeared on the Internet. At first, people were not very interested in the project. No one knew who invented Minecraft and what was the idea of the game itself. However, everything changed a year later.
Project takeoff
By the summer of next year, the game began to diverge like hotcakes. More than 400 copies sold in one day allowed the creator to quit his regular job. Marcus also managed to lure the former boss into his small studio as a finance manager. Persson remained in the shadows under the pseudonym Notch. This allowed him to attract the attention of the largest publishers and companies to his mysterious person, as well as get more than 2 million followers on Twitter.
Minecraft, the translation of which means “mining craft” (which is what you will have to do most of the game time), was not advertised anywhere. At the same time, copies of the project and information about it were distributed with the speed of viral advertising. In 2012, there was not a single person left who would not know who invented Minecraft and what he was talking about.
Demand and fame
Small company Mojang began to be interested in everyone. Countless investors, advertising agencies and many others came to the studio with offers almost every day. But the company constantly refused investment and existed completely apart. 2012 ended for Mojang with a peak profit of $ 230 million.
But few knew that Marcus stepped down as chief executive officer at the end of 2011. After the take-off of the game, he acquired the most expensive apartment in Stockholm, got married and became involved in the implementation of new ideas. But he remained the representative and face of Minecraft.
Crucial moment
However, the happiness of the developer did not last long. A year later, he divorces his wife, and after that one of his parents dies. He had no choice but to return to his game.
Marcus Persson was surprised at how his project lost all its “magic”. He faced a difficult task - to return the very appeal of Minecraft. After hundreds of angry tweets and insults from the players, the developer's patience snapped and he decided to sell the company to Microsoft.
Persson fell even more negative messages, because earlier he claimed that he would never sell his project and company to anyone. Microsoft offered $ 2.5 billion for the game.
From that moment, the one who invented Minecraft began to pay attention to himself and his entertainment, paying less attention to anger on the Internet. And his cult project still lives and develops. Despite a decent age for an online project, Minecraft is gaining an audience, albeit not at a dizzying scale. And the father of the “strange game about cubes and endless collection of resources” decided to make up for his youth when he paid attention only to programming.