Markus Persson: I'm leaving Mojang

Almost simultaneously with the confirmation of Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang, Minecraft author Markus Notch Persson published an appeal on his blog explaining why he is selling and leaving the company. We bring to your attention the full Russian version of his post.

I don’t consider myself a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, because I love games and I love programming, but I don’t make games with the intention of creating a hit, I’m not trying to change the world. Minecraft, of course, has become a huge hit, and people tell me that it has changed games. But I didn’t plan it. Although, it’s definitely flattering and exciting to be the center of attention.

Markus Notch Persson

Quite a long time ago I decided to move away from Minecraft development. Jens [Jens Bergensten – lead designer and programmer of Minecraft since the end of 2011, – approx. editors] – was an excellent candidate to lead the work on the game. And I wanted to try to work on new things. 

At first, everything went awry. I didn’t manage to do a big project the second time. For this reason, I decided to just do small prototypes and interesting tasks. I had a lot of fun doing this kind of work. But I wasn’t sure if I was suitable for Mojang, where people really work. But I was told that I was important for the culture [apparently, it was meant for the corporate culture and the community of players, – approx. editors], and I stayed. 

A couple of weeks ago, when I was lying around with a high temperature at home, the Internet attacked me in connection with some situation around the EULA [end user license agreement, – approx. editors], to which I had nothing to do [more about this – http://notch.net/2014/06/literally-worse-than-ea /,- approx. editorial]. I was confused. I didn’t understand why. In frustration, I posted this:

Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig.

— Markus Persson (@notch) June 17, 2014

Later I watched This is Phil Fish on YouTube and realized that I didn’t have the connection with my fans that I thought I had before. I became a symbol.

I don’t want to be a symbol responsible for something that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that constantly appeals to me.

I’m not a businessman, I’m not a CEO, I’m a boring programmer who likes to have his own opinion on Twitter.

As soon as the deal comes to an end, I will leave Mojang and return to Ludum Dare [speed game development competition. – Approx. editors] and their web experiments. If only I accidentally create something that starts to gain momentum, I may immediately stop developing.

Considering that my reputation has already been damaged, I don’t expect to get rid of bad words in my direction, but by selling the company, I will get rid of the obligation to read them.

I know that my action goes against many things that I have said publicly. And I don’t have a decent answer to that. I am also aware that many have used me as a symbol of some obscure confrontation. But I’m not a symbol. I’m human. 

I love you. All of you. Thank you for what Minecraft has turned into, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something so big. Now, in a sense, it belongs to Microsoft. In a much bigger sense, it has belonged to you for a long time, and it will never change. 

It’s not about the money. It’s about my mental health.

A source: http://notch.net/