Markus Persson: creator of Minecraft and co-founder of Mojang

Biography

Markus Alexej Persson was born on June 1, 1979, in Stockholm. His mother is from Finland and his father from Sweden, and the family lived in Edsbyn for part of his childhood. He wrote his first lines of code at the age of seven, on his father's Commodore 128.

Persson started his career in web design and went on to work at the Swedish studio Midasplayer (later King, the makers of Candy Crush Saga). Before Minecraft he worked on the sandbox MMO Wurm Online together with Rolf Jansson, and he made small games for game jams such as Ludum Dare.

Infiniminer, by Zachtronics Industries, was an inspiration for Minecraft. Persson released the first public version of the game in May 2009. Minecraft was developed in early public versions and sold millions of copies even before the official 1.0 release in November 2011.

Role in Minecraft

At first, Markus Persson was Minecraft's only programmer and designer. He wrote the engine, the block system, the terrain generator and many of the core mechanics that still form the backbone of the game: mining, crafting, survival, building, creative mode, the day and night cycle and multiplayer. Many iconic elements came about almost by accident: the Creeper is said to have started as a modeling mistake, when Notch mixed up the height and width of a pig model.

After Jens Bergensten joined the team in 2010, Persson gradually handed more areas of the game over to him. In early December 2011, about two weeks after the release of Minecraft 1.0 at MineCon in Las Vegas, Bergensten took over as lead developer. You can read more about the game's history in a separate entry on the history of Minecraft.

Persson left a trace in the game itself: the splash text Made by Notch! used to appear at random on the title screen.

The sale of Mojang and his departure

On September 15, 2014, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Mojang AB for $2.5 billion. The deal officially closed in November 2014. Persson left the company at that point, together with the other founders, Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh.

Persson explained his decision in a long post on his blog, writing that he had become a "symbol" and could no longer handle that responsibility, and that he wanted to go back to making small games for himself. Soon after the sale he bought a mansion in Beverly Hills for $70 million.

In 2019, references to Notch were removed from the game: the splash text Made by Notch! and other splash texts mentioning him were taken out in snapshot 19w13a, and his name still appears in the end credits. Microsoft said that Persson's comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang, and he was not invited to the game's 10-year anniversary event.

Current activity

Persson is active on X (formerly Twitter), where he runs a personal account.

His activity on social media has repeatedly sparked controversy. Some of his posts alienated part of the former community, and Microsoft has publicly distanced itself from his comments. On this page we describe these events factually, as part of the brand's history, without going into the content of individual statements.

Persson remains one of the richest creators in the history of the industry. Meanwhile, Minecraft under Mojang Studios has sold more than 425 million copies (Xbox figures from September 2026) and is still being developed, this time without its original author. See also the current list of Minecraft versions and the latest news about the game.

Other games by Notch

Before he created Minecraft, Markus Persson had spent years coding small, experimental games. He worked on the sandbox Wurm Online together with Rolf Jansson, and he made miniature games for game jams such as Ludum Dare, among them Breaking the Tower and Metagun.

At Mojang, Persson also took part in creating Scrolls, a card game with strategy elements, which was later renamed Caller's Bane. He also revealed the sci-fi project 0x10c in 2012, a space game with a simulation of a 16-bit onboard computer. Development was halted in 2013.

For comparison, take a look at the profile of another icon of the scene, Technoblade, or of Jens Bergensten, who took over Minecraft's development from Notch.

Fun facts

• The Creeper is said to have come from a mistake: while making a pig model, Notch mixed up its height and width values.
• The splash text Made by Notch! was removed from the game in snapshot 19w13a in March 2019, in the lead-up to the 1.14 update.

FAQ: common questions about Notch

Will Notch return to Mojang and Minecraft?

Not at the moment. Markus Persson left Mojang when Microsoft bought the company in 2014, and he is no longer involved in developing Minecraft. The game is developed by Mojang Studios.

Will Mojang invite Notch to official events?

Not at the moment. In 2019, references to him were removed from the game, and he was not invited to the game's 10-year anniversary event. Microsoft said that his comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang.

See also