NEW YORK. Giant deal was not about money – it was about Markus Persson would not go crazy.
Long before Microsoft on Monday announced the acquisition of Mojang 17.8 billion was the founder himself billionaire.
Now wires another so-so 12-13 billion of the total purchase amount into his account.
And that is exactly how they did not think it would go for the small independetbolaget who consistently refused outsiders owners and their money.
– I was surprised, says the author of the book about Minecraft, Linus Larsson.
gaming company Mojangs offices in the south of Stockholm had sat and cobbled on a version of the hit game Minecraft, adapted for the company Oculus new virtual reality goggles.
It would add a new dimension and make Markus Persson and his chief developer Jens Bergsten’s masterpiece even more attractive.
But then came Facebook into play in and with a takeover of Oculus, just a critical stage of the negotiations. Markus Persson pulled the handbrake.
He tweeted:
“We were talking about maybe taking a version of Minecraft to the Oculus. I stood right in the store. Facebook is creepy. “
It was not the first time Persson – ‘Notch’ called – acted emotionally in his business and turned his back on big business. Many were the ones waving wads of cash but had to turn out from the Mojangs award winning premises crestfallen.
Persson had no further experience of large companies.
He himself had made an attempt in that turn . He was employed by the Swedish gaming giant King, but was frustrated by the simple game stories and the calculated success not based on real innovation.
Here was the guy who dreamed all her life of getting to do fun (and been told, from including a syokonsulet that “it’ll never happen”) but was disappointed with the game world he saw himself operate.
He realized that the only chance to make the game that he wanted to be to break away and go it alone.
– It is difficult to say how long he was gone and nurtured the idea of just Minecraft. But if one is a bit philosophical, one might say that it was since the age of seven, says Linus Larsson, who along with Daniel Goldberg wrote the book “Minecraft – Block, pixels and to make some money.”
– All who knew him in his childhood, saying that it was very much about Lego. Lego and role play. And there you have the foundation in Minecraft.
For the first time players seem to Minecraft as a game from another era, before modern 3D graphics reached the gaming industry. But the game’s genius lies not in the technology but in how it appeals to the human desire to build, and rebuild.
The idea is that the block is assembled in formations.
most fascinating formations (do a search on youtube if you doubt).
You can also fight, but it’s not the game’s primary challenge, even if it is the player and the entire community that Minecraft created that determines its potential .
Got a standing ovation
Minecraft launched in spring 2009, 2011, during the first real “MinEcon” Conference held (the game’s own annual trade show) was released officially as a finished product. Until then, it was only a trial version that was out there for the fans.
For many, it was right there and then, at the Mandalay Bay Convention center in Las Vegas, as it went up which phenomenon Minecraft actually was.
People of all ages were there, all equally passionate. And everyone had traveled to Las Vegas and paid their admission to stand there.
Markus Persson received a standing ovation and was then, if not earlier, a father figure for the fans, witness Linus Larsson, who was in place.
– Video-game world is not like the record industry or the film industry. They do not usually get such stars as he was. It is usually the team that creates games, but Mark is personally very tightly linked to success, says Larsson.
But it was just that that was the problem.
It was not about the money; it was about the founder’s psyche.
It was what he said in his statement to Monday’s sales news.
sold for huge amount of money
SEK 17.8 billion was what Mojang cost Microsoft, which is obviously a huge amount of money. But Markus Persson had long tried to distance themselves from the Minecraft and the stardom he had been forced.
– Secretive is the wrong word, but he has a special way of relating to the public. At first he was very cautious and nervous, especially when it came to talking in front of people. But what happened was that he was on Twitter and in his blog could be very open and even playful, says Linus Larsson.
On Monday declared Persson, also on Twitter, that he would not give any interviews . But he wrote of himself his own thoughts in his blog.
Obvious to explain the unexpected in that he just, right now, got the idea to take lots of cash in exchange for his little empire.
“I see myself not as a ‘game developer’. I make games that I piece it’s fun, “he observes.
” I do not play for it to become big hits, I’m not trying to change the world. Minecraft was undeniably a big hit and people tell me that it has changed the world of gaming … I realize that I have become a symbol. I do not want to be a symbol. I do not want to be responsible for something so big that I do not understand. “
Although Linus Larsson was surprised by the news that Mojang is sold, so he understands Markus Persson. He who met him “Notch” during open and lengthy interviews understand where the decision comes.
– He has had a hard time making new games. That means a lot of pressure to have Minecraft. Only he mentions a word that he’s working on something new to the computer world is exploding and it leads to headlines. It’s what he does not want, says Larsson.
The sale means that Markus Persson breaks completely with his Mojang, allows Microsoft to take over and hopes to get peace and quiet.
– He has said he wants to make small-small projects. Compete in making games in a short time, that kind of stuff. He will probably make for a while. I would not be surprised if he keeps a low profile.
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