- Wikipedia

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Markus Persson
Persson at the 2016 Game Developers Conference
Born	Markus Alexej Persson (1979-06-01) 1 June 1979 (age 45) Stockholm, Sweden
Other names	Notch
Occupations	\n Video game programmer \n designer \n
Years active	2004\u2013present
Notable work	Minecraft
Title	Founder of Mojang Studios
Spouse	\n Elin Zetterstrand \n (m. 2011; div. 2012) ^[1]^[2]
Children	1

Markus Alexej Persson (/\u02c8p\u026a\u0259rs\u0259n/ ^\u24d8 PEER-s\u0259n, Swedish: [\u02c8m\u01cer\u02d0k\u0275s \u02c8p\u00e6\u030c\u02d0\u0282\u0254n] ^\u24d8; born 1 June 1979), also known as Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is the creator of Minecraft, which is the best-selling video game in history. He founded the video game development company Mojang Studios in 2009.\n

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 ten 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 on his personal website that he had concluded he \"[didn't have the connection to his fans he thought he had]\", that he had \"become a symbol\", and that he did not wish to be responsible for Mojang's increasingly large operation. He left Mojang in November of that year, selling his company to Microsoft reportedly for US$2.5 billion. The acquisition made Persson a billionaire.\n

Since 2016 several of Persson's posts on Twitter regarding homosexuality, race, and transgender rights issues have caused public controversies. In 2019, his posts were censured by Microsoft, who subsequently 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. In 2015, he co-founded a separate game studio called Rubberbrain, which was relaunched in 2024 as Bitshift Entertainment.\n

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Year\n	Nominated work\n	Category	Award\n	Result	Notes	Ref.\n
2011\n	Minecraft\n	Best Debut Game, Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game\n	Game Developers Choice Awards\n	Won\n	\n	^[86]\n
2012\n	Minecraft\n	BAFTA Special Award\n	BAFTA\n	Won\n	\n	^[87]^[88]\n
2016\n	Minecraft\n	Pioneer Award Winner\n	Game Developers Choice Awards\n	Won\n	Award formerly known as the First Penguin Award\n	^[89]\n

v t e Markus Persson
Games designed	\n Wurm Online (2006) \n Prelude of the Chambered (2011) \n Minecraft (2011) \n Minicraft (2011) \n 0x10^c (cancelled) \n
Companies	\n Code Club AB \n Mojang Studios \n
In culture	\n Minecraft: The Story of Mojang (2012 documentary film) \n Minecraft (2013 book) \n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States Norway Sweden Poland
Artists	ULAN MusicBrainz 2 Museum of Modern Art

Early life

Career

Minecraft and Mojang

Inspiration for Minecraft

Release and success of Minecraft

Leaving Mojang

Activities after leaving Mojang

Games

Minecraft

Caller's Bane

Cliffhorse

0x10c

Shambles

Ludum Dare entries

Personal life

Social media comments

Awards

References

External links

0x10^c

Markus Persson

Talks

17 May, 2009