In 2009, a programmer from Stockholm, Sweden, named Markus Persson began working on a game alone. After turning it into one of the most popular titles in entertainment history, he sold Minecraft and the company behind it to Microsoft for a staggering $2.5 billion. Learn about how the beloved game unexpectedly began and the massive payday that resulted from its titanic success.
From Solo Side Project to Global Phenomenon
Before Minecraft became such a huge deal that it inspired a movie, TV shows, and a merchandise empire, its creator spent four years working on flash games for a major developer. As a September 2010 ARS Technica article quoted Markus Persson explaining, he was unsatisfied with that role and began working on the game that changed his life. “I decided to leave that job and see if I couldn’t make a game on my own. So I started working on Minecraft in June 2009.”
In perhaps the ultimate proof of the fact that Persson created and developed Minecraft alone, the outlet quoted him stating that he originally had a different plan for the game he was going to complete. He then discussed what inspired him to pivot and make the game that took the world by storm.
“The original idea was to make a game similar to Dwarf Fortress in tone, but with a Rollercoaster Tycoon-type interface. As I was playing around with a first person mode I stumbled upon a game called Infiniminer that used low-res textures in a 3D environment, and I realized that was a perfect fit for both my artistic skills and the type of game I wanted to make.”
While talking to Game Developer in January 2011, Persson was asked when he realized he needed to bring in other people to help work on Minecraft. In response, he revealed that it took months for him to co-create Mojang, the entity that became Minecraft’s parent company, and bring other people on board.
“In the early fall of 2010, I realized that there was more work needed to be done than I could keep up with, and I just wanted to get back to programming, so me and two friends started Mojang.”
The $2.5 Billion Microsoft Minecraft Acquisition
Just over five years after the first version of Minecraft was released, the game had become an absolute behemoth. As a September 2014 PBS article noted, it had sold more than 50 million copies and generated more than $100 million in profit. That success led to Microsoft buying Minecraft’s parent company, Mojang for $2.5 billion at that time. In response to the sale, Majong issued a statement explaining Markus Persson’s decision to sell the company.
“Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we’re massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never [Mr. Persson’s] intention for it to get this big. … He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance.”
