The Fabulous Life Of Notch, The Hard-Partying Founder Of Minecraft

When Markus Persson, or "Notch," as he's known in the gaming community, created Minecraft in 2009, he had no idea how drastically it would change his life.The game, which allows players to build and interact with an easy-to-use, Lego-like digital environment, has been downloaded more than 100 million times.And after Microsoft bought Mojang, the studio responsible for creating Minecraft, Persson's net worth soared to an estimated $1.5 billion."Well, on one hand I don't mind having loads of money at all," he said in a Reddit AMA in 2013. "On the other, it's a bit strange that I can create something once and keep getting paid over and over and over for it. If you build a car, you can only sell it once. If you paint a fence, you only get paid for it once. If you create a piece of software that's essentially free to reproduce, you can keep getting paid over and over perpetually."Notch leads a lifestyle to match his newfound wealth, one that's filled with private jets, EDM concerts, and multimillion-dollar mansions.Persson was born on June 1, 1979 in Edsbyn, a rural town north of Stockholm. He taught himself to code and was hired as a programmer at a web-design company when he was just 18. Source: Rolling StoneIt took him just a week to design Minecraft, which explains the crude appearance of the game's graphics. "I just wanted to make a game that could make enough money to make another game," he told Rolling Stone. Notch released the alpha version of Minecraft in May of 2009. As time went on, he added more and more features to the game, allowing players to build and explore increasingly complicated Lego-style worlds. Source: ForbesEven before it was released as a full game, Minecraft was a huge hit. In September 2010, Persson and best friend Jakob Porser founded a video game company they called Mojang, to help them develop Minecraft and other games. Carl Menneh was brought on as CEO. Source: ForbesSee the rest of the story at Business Insider
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