Minecraft Creator on Microsoft Deal: 'It's Not About The Money. It's About My Sanity'

Minecraft creator and Mojang majority shareholder Markus 'Notch' Persson has spoken about Microsoft's $2.5 billion acquisition of the game series and its developer.

In a post on his personal blog Persson explained that the deal is "not about the money. It's about my sanity" as well as confirming he would leave the developer as soon as the deal was finalised.

"I don't see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it's fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don't make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don't try to change the world," he explains.

"Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it's changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It's certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting."

As soon as this deal is finalised, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I'll probably abandon it immediately."

"I've become a symbol. I don't want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don't understand, that I don't want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not a CEO. I'm a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter."