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'''Markus Alexej "Notch" Persson''' (born 1 June 1979) is a [[Swedish people|Swedish]] [[video game programmer]] and [[video game designer|designer]]. Persson was the owner of [[Mojang]], the video game company he founded alongside Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser in late 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1075326804/hiring-some-people-getting-an-office-and-all-that|title=Hiring some people, getting an office, and all that!|work=[[Tumblr]]|first=Markus|last=Persson|date=6 September 2010|accessdate=8 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ripten.com/2012/05/05/mojang-founder-speaks-out-regarding-eas-indie-bundle|title=Notch Speaks Out Regarding EA’s “Indie Bundle”|publisher=ripten|first=Chris|last=Young|date=5 May 2012|accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref> His principal venture for founding Mojang was ''[[Minecraft]]'', a [[First-person (video games)|first-person]] [[Open world|sandbox]] video game that has gained popularity and support since its tech demo in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pc.ign.com/articles/113/1133465p1.html|title=This is Minecraft|publisher=[[IGN]]|first=Jeremy|last=Ashdown|date=11 November 2010|accessdate=8 March 2012}}</ref> Since the release of ''Minecraft'', Persson has gained significant notability within the [[video game industry]], having won multiple awards and establishing relations with the industry's figureheads.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/markus-persson/|title=How the Creator of Minecraft Developed a Monster Hit|publisher=[[Wired (website)|Wired]]||first=David|last=Thomas|date=29 November 2011|accessdate=[http://web.archive.org/web/20120303065347/http://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/markus-persson/ 3 March 2012]}}</ref> Persson 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/notch-steps-down-as-lead-developer-on-minecraft-to-focus-on-new/|title=Notch steps down as lead developer on Minecraft to focus on 'new project'|publisher=[[Joystiq]]|first=Christopher|last=Grant|date=2 December 2011|accessdate=8 March 2012}}</ref>
'''Markus Alexej "Notch" Persson''' (born 1 June 1979) is a [[Swedish people|Swedish]] [[video game programmer]] and [[video game designer|designer]]. Persson was known as the owner of [[Mojang]], the video game company he founded alongside [[Carl Manneh]] and [[Jakob Porser]] in late 2010, until he announced publicly that he officially left Mojang.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/|title=I'm leaving Mojang.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1075326804/hiring-some-people-getting-an-office-and-all-that|title=Hiring some people, getting an office, and all that!|work=[[Tumblr]]|first=Markus|last=Persson|date=6 September 2010|accessdate=8 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ripten.com/2012/05/05/mojang-founder-speaks-out-regarding-eas-indie-bundle|title=Notch Speaks Out Regarding EA’s “Indie Bundle”|publisher=ripten|first=Chris|last=Young|date=5 May 2012|accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref> His principal venture for founding Mojang was ''[[Minecraft]]'', a [[First-person (video games)|first-person]] [[Open world|sandbox]] video game that has gained popularity and support since its tech demo in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pc.ign.com/articles/113/1133465p1.html|title=This is Minecraft|publisher=[[IGN]]|first=Jeremy|last=Ashdown|date=11 November 2010|accessdate=8 March 2012}}</ref> Since the release of ''Minecraft'', Persson has gained significant notability within the [[video game industry]], having won multiple awards and establishing relations with the industry's figureheads.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/markus-persson/|title=How the Creator of Minecraft Developed a Monster Hit|publisher=[[Wired (website)|Wired]]||first=David|last=Thomas|date=29 November 2011|accessdate=[http://web.archive.org/web/20120303065347/http://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/markus-persson/ 3 March 2012]}}</ref> Persson 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/notch-steps-down-as-lead-developer-on-minecraft-to-focus-on-new/|title=Notch steps down as lead developer on Minecraft to focus on 'new project'|publisher=[[Joystiq]]|first=Christopher|last=Grant|date=2 December 2011|accessdate=8 March 2012}}</ref>


== Biography ==
== Biography ==

Revision as of 03:13, 26 September 2014

Markus Persson
Markus Persson at GDC
Born (1979-06-01) 1 June 1979 (age 46)[1]
Stockholm, Sweden
NationalitySwedish
Other namesNotch
xNotch[2][3]
Markus Alexei[4]
Known forCreating Minecraft, founding Mojang
SpouseElin Zetterstrand (2011–2012)
Website

Markus Alexej "Notch" Persson (born 1 June 1979) is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. Persson was known as the owner of Mojang, the video game company he founded alongside Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser in late 2010, until he announced publicly that he officially left Mojang.[6][7][8] His principal venture for founding Mojang was Minecraft, a first-person sandbox video game that has gained popularity and support since its tech demo in 2009.[9] Since the release of Minecraft, Persson has gained significant notability within the video game industry, having won multiple awards and establishing relations with the industry's figureheads.[10] Persson 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.[11]

Biography

Persson was born in Stockholm,[12] Sweden, to a Finnish mother and a Swedish father on 1 June 1979.[13] He lived in Edsbyn for the first seven years of his life[14] before his family moved back to Stockholm.[15] He began programming on his father's Commodore 128 home computer at the age of seven.[16] Having experimented with various type-in programs he produced his first game at the age of eight, a text-based adventure game.[14][16] Professionally he had worked as a game developer for King.com for over four years, until 2009.[14][16] Afterwards he worked as a programmer for Jalbum.[17] He is also one of the founders of Wurm Online,[18] although he no longer works on this game.[17] Outside of work, he has made seven games for competitions[17] for the Java 4K Game Programming Contest such as "Left 4K Dead" and "MEGA4kMAN".[4][non-primary source needed] He has also entered the Ludum Dare competition. He is the central figure of a documentary by 2 Player Productions about the rise of Minecraft and Mojang called Minecraft: The Story of Mojang.

Games

Minecraft

Main article: Minecraft

Persson's most popular creation is the survival sandbox game Minecraft, which was released on 18 November 2011.[19] Persson quit his job as a game developer to work on Minecraft full-time until completion. In early 2011 Mojang AB sold their 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. A version for Android and iOS called Pocket Edition has also been released. An Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft was released on 9 May 2012. The Xbox edition also features certain new updates including a tutorial and skin packs.[20] None of the editions offer cross-platform play, and each require different dedicated server versions. He is planning to stop working on this game after a recent deal with Microsoft to sell Minecraft for 2.5 billion dollars.

Scrolls

Main article: Scrolls (video game)

Persson and Jakob Porsér came up with the idea for Scrolls including elements from board games and collectible card games.[21][non-primary source needed] Persson noted he will not be actively involved in development of the game and that Porsér will be developing it.[22][non-primary source needed] 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 it conflicted with their The Elder Scrolls series of games.[23] On 17 August 2011 Persson challenged Bethesda to a Quake 3 tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute.[24] On 27 September 2011, Persson confirmed that the lawsuit was going to court.[25] ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda Softworks, announced the lawsuit’s settlement in March 2012.[26] [27] The settlement allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark.[28]

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.[29] However, the gameplay elements remained true and on 4 April, Mojang revealed 0x10c (pronounced Ten to the C) as a space sandbox title.[30]

Ludum Dare entries

Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions.[31]

Breaking the Tower

Breaking the Tower was a game Persson created for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 12 competition.[32][non-primary source needed] The game was written in two days.[33][non-primary source needed] 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.[34][35]

Metagun

Metagun is a 2D platformer created for Ludum Dare no. 18.[36]

Prelude of the Chambered

Prelude of the Chambered is a game Persson created for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 21 competition.[37][non-primary source needed] He wrote the game in two days.[38][non-primary source needed] Prelude of the Chambered is a short first-person dungeon crawler videogame[39][non-primary source needed] entirely written in Java.

Minicraft

Main article: Minicraft

Minicraft is a game created for Ludum Dare No. 22, held 16–19 December 2011.[40][41] It is a small top-down game with similarities to Zelda and influenced by Minecraft. It is written in Java.[42][non-primary source needed]

Personal life and other ventures

On 13 August 2011, he married Elin Zetterstrand, who goes by the nickname "Ez" in the Minecraft community, and "ezchili" on Twitter.[4] On 15 August 2012, he announced that he was now single.[43] He is a member of the Swedish chapter of Mensa[44] and also makes electronica music under the name "Markus Alexei".[4][non-primary source needed] He also made an appearance in the movie Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. He has criticized both piracy[45] as well as the stance of large game companies on piracy[46] and he is a member of the Swedish Pirate Party.[47] Persson is an atheist, and cited his theological and moral views as one of the principal donors to Médecins Sans Frontières during the Thanksgiving charity event of 2011.[48] Under his direction, Mojang contributed a week to developing Catacomb Snatch for the Humble Bundle Mojam, for which the $458,248.99 raised would be donated to charity.[49] In May 2012, Persson expressed his views towards Electronic Arts and their release of the "Indie Bundle", calling them a "bunch of cynical bastards". "EA releases an 'indie bundle'? That's not how that works, EA," he said, "Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it."[50] On 19 December 2012, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that Persson had donated $250,000 to the EFF's Defend Innovation project.[51] On 25 March 2014, Persson announced that an Oculus Rift version of Minecraft will never happen after Facebook bought Oculus. "Facebook creeps me out", he stated on Twitter.[52][53] In September 2014, he left Mojang after selling the company to Microsoft.[54][55]

References

  1. ^ Persson, Markus (29 May 2009). "Turning 30 is scary". Tumblr. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  2. ^ Persson, Markus (19 September 2010). "Twitter / notch: ok, signed up as xNotch. =)". Twitter. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  3. ^ Persson, Markus (25 September 2010). "Twitter / notch: Yay! I'm now @notch instead ..." Twitter. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d "Notch's Biography". Mojang. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  5. ^ "Minecraft founder Markus Persson: From 'indie' tech champion to potential billionaire on Microsoft deal". 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.
  6. ^ {{cite web|url=http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/%7Ctitle=I'm leaving Mojang.
  7. ^ Persson, Markus (6 September 2010). "Hiring some people, getting an office, and all that!". Tumblr. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  8. ^ Young, Chris (5 May 2012). "Notch Speaks Out Regarding EA's "Indie Bundle"". ripten. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  9. ^ Ashdown, Jeremy (11 November 2010). "This is Minecraft". IGN. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  10. ^ Thomas, David (29 November 2011). "How the Creator of Minecraft Developed a Monster Hit". Wired. Retrieved 3 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); External link in |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ Grant, Christopher (2 December 2011). "Notch steps down as lead developer on Minecraft to focus on 'new project'". Joystiq. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  12. ^ Persson, Markus (17 October 2012). "Twitter / notch: Wikipedia has a policy that ..." Twitter. Retrieved 17 October 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. ^ Cat_Fernim (21 September 2011). "20 Things You Might Not Know About Notch". IGN. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  14. ^ a b c 2 Player Productions (8 November 2013). "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang". YouTube. Retrieved 2 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Peisner, David (7 May 2014). "The Wizard of Minecraft". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  16. ^ a b c Handy, Alex (23 March 2010). "Interview: Markus 'Notch' Persson Talks Making Minecraft". Gamasutra. Retrieved 26 June 2010. my first own program when I was eight years old. It was an extremely basic text adventure game
  17. ^ a b c Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). "MINECRAFT MASTERMIND MARKUS PERSSON TO RECEIVE BAFTA SPECIAL AWARD". Gamasutra.
  18. ^ McDougall, Jaz (29 July 2010). "Community heroes: Notch, for Minecraft". PC Gamer. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  19. ^ Liebl, Matt (18 November 2011). "Minecraft Release Date and Time Officially Announced". GameZone.
  20. ^ "Announcing 'Arcade Next'". Major Nelson. 22 March 2012.
  21. ^ "Scrolls.com". Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  22. ^ Persson, Markus (2 March 2011). "Ah, I forgot!". Tumblr. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  23. ^ Webster, Andrew (10 August 2011). "Elder Scrolls vs. Minecraft dev: "scrolls" is our word". Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  24. ^ Schreier, Jason (19 August 2011). "Minecraft maker jokingly calls Quake challenge "poor choice," vows fight". Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  25. ^ Persson, Markus (27 September 2011). "Twitter / notch: The Scrolls case is going to ..." Twitter. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  26. ^ Parrish, Kevin (12 March 2012). "ZeniMax, Mojang Settle "Scrolls" Dispute". Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  27. ^ Persson, Markus (29 September 2011). "The eventual release, and the legal documents". Tumblr. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  28. ^ Orland, Kyle (12 March 2012). "Bethesda, Mojang settle trademark dispute over Scrolls name". Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  29. ^ Fields, Rebecca (31 March 2012). "MINECRAFT CREATOR SCORES APRIL FOOL WITH 'MARS EFFECT'". Shadowlocked.
  30. ^ Knapp, Alex (3 April 2012). "Mojang Registers Website For Its New Game '0x10c'". Forbes.
  31. ^ Persson, Markus (2011). "Notch Ludum Dare". Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  32. ^ "Breaking the Tower". Mojang. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  33. ^ Persson, Markus (11 August 2008). "Creating Breaking the Tower". YouTube. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  34. ^ Rossignol, Jim (20 August 2008). "Breaking The Tower". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  35. ^ Tim W. (19 August 2008). "Browser Game Pick: Breaking the Tower (Markus Persson)". IndieGames.com. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  36. ^ Meer, Alec (26 August 2010). "Person Shooter: Metagun". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  37. ^ Persson, Markus (22 August 2011). "Prelude of the Chambered". Tumblr. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  38. ^ Persson, Markus (30 August 2011). "Creating Prelude of the Chambered". YouTube. Retrieved 18 August 2012. within 48 hours
  39. ^ Persson, Markus (22 August 2011). "I made a dungeon crawler!". Ludum Dare. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  40. ^ Bradford, Matt (20 December 2011). "Markus "Notch" Persson creates Minicraft in two days". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  41. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (19 December 2011). "Notch makes Minicraft in two days". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  42. ^ Persson, Markus (19 December 2011). "Ludum Dare is a wonderful thing". Tumblr. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  43. ^ Persson, Markus (15 August 2012). "Twitter / notch: As of today, I am single. ..." Twitter. Retrieved 15 August 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  44. ^ Högberg, Jonas (1 December 2010). "Minecraft kan bli fyra gånger större" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  45. ^ Persson, Markus (6 April 2011). "IAmA indie game developer who made a commercially successful game. AMAA". reddit. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  46. ^ Edwards, Tim (2 March 2011). "Notch on piracy: "if a pirated game is a lost sale, should bad reviews be illegal?"". PC Gamer. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  47. ^ Enigmax (3 March 2011). "Piracy is Theft? Ridiculous. Lost Sales? They Don't Exist, Says Minecraft Creator". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  48. ^ Morris, Kevin (5 December 2011). "Reddit atheists upvote fundraising for Doctors Without Borders". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  49. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (20 February 2012). "Humble Bundle Mojam raises nearly $500k for charity". Eurogamer.
  50. ^ Good, Owen (3 May 2012). "Minecraft Creator Calls Electronic Arts a 'Bunch of Cynical Bastards'". Kotaku. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  51. ^ Jeschke, Rebecca (19 December 2012). "EFF Patent Project Gets Half-Million-Dollar Boost from Mark Cuban and 'Notch'". Electronic Frontier Foundation.
  52. ^ Martin, Graham (26 March 2014). "Oculus sold for $2bn to Facebook". News Statement. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  53. ^ Persson, Markus (25 March 2014). "Twitter / notch: We were in talks about maybe ..." Twitter.
  54. ^ Crecente, Brian (15 September 2014). "In the shadow of a $2.5 billion deal, one famed game dev slips away". Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  55. ^ Collins, Barry (16 September 2014). "Why Microsoft was forced to buy Minecraft". Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 17 September 2014.

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