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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.

I don’t think anyone reading this doesn’t know what Minecraft is. It’s one of the most popular games ever made with more than 200 million units sold since its release, and there are even minecraft hosting providers now, designed to give players full control of their gaming experience. YouTube certainly helped promote its popularity because videos on the game often gained tens of millions of views. It also changed how most other game developers view open-world survival games with many people still saying that hytale is just minecraft 2. While this isn’t necessarily true, it certainly took inspiration from Minecraft and people are excited about its potential.

Anyway, 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.

Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition_20140808122448

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