What price sanity for the creator of Minecraft? A cool $2.5bn
The creator of Minecraft has claimed that he sold the video game sensation to Microsoft for $2.5 billion to preserve his sanity, not to make money.
Markus Persson, a co-founder of Mojang, the Stockholm-based gaming company, said in a letter to Minecraft fans posted on his blog that he was not a chief executive or an entrepreneur but a “nerd” who “likes to have opinions on Twitter . . . I make games because it’s fun and because I love games and I love to program. I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits.”
Mr Persson said that he would concentrate on smaller projects in future, adding: “If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.”
Minecraft has built up a cult following of more than 100 million players since it was launched in 2009. Players create and destroy buildings and other structures in a vast, low-fi world of giant 3D cubes.
Mr Persson said: “I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of [licensing] situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand.
“[I] started to realise I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.”
Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser, who co-founded Mojang with Mr Persson, are also leaving the company.
I’m leaving Mojang I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.
A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development. Jens was the perfect person to take over leading it, and I wanted to try to do new things. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges, I’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.
I was at home with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago when the internet exploded with hate against me over some kind of EULA situation that I had nothing to do with. I was confused. I didn’t understand. I tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.
As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.
Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them.
I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling with you.
I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.
It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.
This article is provided by http://www.Orignative.com
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