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Computer Code
Markus was working with computer code by the time he was 8 years old. So he had an early start -
Strong Start
He never finished high school, Persson landed a programming job when he was 18. -
Business Friend
Persson befriended Jakob Porsér, a developer, and the friendship would redefine Persson’s life path. -
First Game
It wasn't long before he was creating his own games on the side, and his first release, Minecraft, would be a massive international success. Persson eventually sold his software company, Mojang, and the game that put him on the map, to Microsoft for $2.5 billion. -
Changing course
in 2009, Persson left Midasplayer for jAlbum and began spending all his free time creating. Persson would write his first big game, Minecraft, in just a week, and it was rushed so he could simply get to the next one. Minecraft featured an open-world, Lego-like playing field in which players would collect various implements and natural resources and use them to build anything from other implements to houses and cities. -
Widely Popular
Despite Persson’s pushing the game before he even considered it finished, Minecraft struck a chord with players, and soon it became something of a phenomenon, with 400 copies selling per day for about six dollars per download. -
Popular face
Without a doubt, Persson was the witty, often cantankerous mayor of that community, and with a large online presence (known widely as Notch or xNotch), he became a gaming superstar. -
Life Changes
On December 2011, Persson’s father committed suicide, and his short marriage to Elin Zetterstrand came to an end a half a year after. -
Popular again
But Persson was still riding the Minecraft train, and May 2012 saw its xBox release sell more than a million units in the first week alone. -
Change of pace
That year, Mojang had around $230 million in sales, but just two years later, Persson was getting burned out, and a tweet he sent out in June 2014 — “Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life?” — made his phone ring off the hook. -
Selling Mojang
By September, he had sold Mojang to Microsoft for $2.5 billion. To celebrate, Persson bought a 23,000 square-foot Beverly Hills home, for which he paid $70 million. -
Money in Business
Microsoft expected the purchase of Minecraft/Mojang to make it a lot of money. And that is why Microsoft bought Minecraft -
Popular again
Which they were right, during the year 2020 it started to become wildly popular after many youtubers started to play the game. Including a very popular youtuber dream. -
Game is still alive
Minecraft is not dying, plain and simple. On every platform combined, there are over 70,000,000 players. That's at least one copy for every 100 people globally. The game has been released on every modern gaming platform, and has consistently been one of the top selling games on any and every console. -
Updates
Microsoft still updates Minecraft frequently to keep its audience active and it’s working.
