[Switch] Markus Persson: The wizards behind the Minecraft game

Transferred from coqin Network

Markus Persson is the developer of the sandbox game Minecraft. In the game, the name of Notch is known to many players and is an absolute superstar in the game industry. David peisner, a columnist in American rock magazine, recently interviewed Persson to bring us closer to the fantastic game life.

Persson is a little bald, big, and has a brown and messy beard. He is a kind person, but often seems to have some reservation. When he laughs, he is almost as fond of being.

He developed Minecraft independently in 2009, and then jointly established mojang with Jakob porser. The company is now valued at $2 billion and has only 35 employees. Persson has also become Sweden's largest taxpayer.

Every Friday, Persson asked his employees to play games or be busy with their own projects, and they were not forced too hard for other work hours. The Office has a pool table, a bullet ball player, a screening room, and an automatic karaoke player. On the wall, employees are painted in the style of the 19th century artist.

Persson is a Playmates. He often holds some Parties and invites professional DJs. In 2011, he invited deadmau5 (Canada's top DJ) to perform at a party in Las Vegas. It is said that British Prince Harry had also secretly come to the event. In 2012, he turned a street in Paris into a world of fireworks and LED lights. He invited Skrillex (American DJ) and a-Trak (Canadian DJ) to perform the performances. Last year, Persson invited all employees and their lady to travel to Monaco. They took a special plane, drove Ferrari, took a helicopter, and held a party on the yacht. Mojang's co-founder porser said he wanted the company to become a place for employees to always want to work.

As early as 2011, Persson gave control of Minecraft to chief developer Jens bergensten. In a three-day interview with Persson by David peisner, apart from extremely short interviews, persson spent most of his time playing borderlands 2, the first-person shooting game ). Persson said that he had never done anything except programming for a while, but now he misses such days, but he is about to take his family to Maldives for 10 days with porser, there is no reason to start writing code now.

Persson lived in a town named edsbyn in northern Stockholm as a child. His father is a railway worker and his mother is a nurse. When Persson was 7 years old, his family migrated to Stockholm. When he was 12 years old, his parents divorced. His father moved to a small house in the village and had been suffering from depression, drinking alcohol, and drug abuse. He had a hard time in those years. In December 14, 2011, his father committed suicide with a gun after being drunk, which gave Persson a heavy blow.

Perssonstarted to use a Commodore 128 home computer to learn programming at the age of 7. He didn't finish high school, but he found a job in a web design company at the age of 18. Around 2000, he has done different jobs in several technology companies.

Stockholm is the home of independent games. Persson and porser met each other at work in a game studio named King. Porser thinks Persson is very interesting and strange. He is very happy, sometimes very unhappy, and rarely in the middle.

In 2009, Persson spent a week out of work writing the first version of Minecraft. Persson sold 20 thousand copies in the first year. His idea was to make enough money to make the next game. However, by the end of 2010, each day, Minecraft sold 20 thousand copies. In June 2013, the total sales of Minecraft had already exceeded 11 million. The gaming community continues to grow. gamers make teaching videos, raise bugs, set up podcasts, and talk about their adventure experiences. Minecraft is not just a game, but a platform. Persson is the most famous man in the game. He has 1.6 million Twitter followers.

Persson got married To Elin zetterstrand in 2011. zetterstrand thinks Persson looks good, smart, and gloomy. But they soon divorced again, and Persson thought that his career success had more or less led to a break-up of the relationship. In the past, he had no chance to explore the wonderful world. He had to stay at home and learn programming. Later, everything changed. He had the opportunity to do anything he wanted to do. He could go to New York at any time, which filled their lives with changes.

Persson now lives alone in a mansion in the rich area of Stockholm. Persson does not like this apartment. The room is empty, filled with white and weird stones, and looks like a castle in the Middle Ages. There is nothing in the room: the open kitchen is rarely used, and there is also a wine cellar. The stairway leads to the game room on the second floor, with only one chair on the third floor, offering great views of Stockholm through the window.

When asked whether he has a girlfriend, Persson smiled and said, "I don't want to call it a girlfriend, but use the words of a comedy House: 'If I say I have no girlfriend, A woman may be unhappy. '"

 

 

Persson did not spare any money. In March this year, he held a large fundraising event in San Francisco. He said: "It's silly to spend so much money, but why not? Money may come back and do something ."

Persson hasn't found the right successor for Minecraft yet. He has a 10-year plan for his employees. "I hope mojang can keep making money, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't make any money. We can play for 10 years. Then, in the last year, we said to our employees, 'If we still cannot make any money this year, mojang will be finished. So you 'd better find a new job. '"

This sounds lightweight, but Persson thinks it is to relieve stress, he said:

I think the only way to do something interesting is not to look forward to it. (I think the only way I cocould make something fun and big is if I don't have CT it to be .)