Where Markus Persson lives. Minecraft Sold Microsoft for $ 2 billion Marcus "Notch" Persson leaves the company. Creator of the game "Mincraft"
In Stockholm seven o'clock in the evening, Monday. Marcus Persson Sits on the balcony of his nine-story office and savor the high-speed cocktail, where the vodka is mixed with redbull. Three hours ago, he said that he was not going to drink today, because he had not yet moved away from the alcohol race of 12 cocktails on Thursday and the inflammation of the middle ear. But already holds a glass with an impressive portion of Belvedere and looks carefully, as in the windows of neighboring office buildings, workers work at their keyboards. "Something does not go to this," says Persson, showing a man in a building on the contrary, who rubs his face with his palms and looks intently into the computer monitor.
After a few more seconds of observation of this person, Persson, apparently, becomes not in itself and he dramatically leaves the balcony. The last five years 35-year-old Swede spent this way: behind the computer monitor, in constant concern about his creation - Minecraft, the most popular computer game of all time. Although the word "game" sounds not too appropriate. Minecraft, which already downloaded more than 100 million users, has become a real new space for creative expression. Players fall into an empty virtual space, where with the help of cubes and building blocks, similar to LEGO, can build anything with the condition that others can interact with this creation. Most players are children who build ordinary homes or villages, and then rush there parties or reflect zombies. But there are also obsessed adults, conducting hundreds of hours for the construction of full-scale replicas Star Stars, a skyscraper Empire State Building or cities from the series "Game of Thrones". The word "Minecraft" by the number of requests to Google went around the Bible, Harry Potter and Justin Bieber. This game for the history of its existence has earned more than $ 700 million - For the most part of net profit.
So what is Minecraft?
Playing "survival mode" is quite simple: your character (also known as "Steve") turns out to be in the middle of the conditioned generated landscape. He needs to extract resources to make it necessary for the survival of the thing. Close to the tree and "knock" it to get brushes of wood, from which you can pull the shovel. Then use it to dig a hole or dig a mine in the mountain. Make tools from stones, and then from iron. If before the night you do not have time to build a shelter, then you will be threatened with different monsters. In the "creative mode" you can build anything: Big Ben, disco club, mansion. The only difference of this modern version of LEGO is that you can interact with other players and different creatures.
"Minecraft needs to be compared with other popular games, but with religious products that went beyond the same industry, - He speaks Jan Bogost, Professor of the Georgia Institutespecializing in the video game industry. - It's like LEGO for a new generation or even as a microprocessor of our time. "
In this virtual world of Persson, or rather, its acute in the tongue is an eccentric Internet character named Notch became practically the deity for millions of gamers, establishing the rules of the game with the authority of Zeus himself. BUT B. real life Persson differs from his character straightening. In personal communication he is polite, explicitly simple words And evades questions about yourself. Very rarely agreed on an interview. The need to meet the expectations of gamers who demanded not difficult attention to the development of the game, over time, led to the fact that the Persson began to carefully select words in a conversation with other people.
Three months ago, Persson decided to move away from all cases and sold Minecraft Microsoft Corporation for $ 2.5 billion in cash. Having received money for 71 percent In the playing game of Mojang, he replenished the ranks of the billionaire list Forbes. .
It turned out that a person who did not live as early as half of his life, managed to create a whole universe, to become a real deity in it, and then heave her inhabitants and get off Olympus. Now he will understand who he really is. So far, it turns out not very: he throws him from side to side. Deciding to get a house in Beverly Hills, the Persson not looking posted $ 70 million For a huge mansion of 7,000 square meters, the most expensive house at the most expensive area. Then it became known that Persson had gained in Nightclubs Las Vegas, where he left up to $ 180,000 per night. Together with the second founder Mojang Jacob Pizeror He established Rubberbrain, in case they are the idea of \u200b\u200ba new game. But so far I did not reach ideas.
His conversation S. Forbes. - This is the first interview with Persson about the sale of Minecraft and followed by this period in his life. Apparently, the only conclusion to which he came is that it is time to find herself. Persson is confident that to leave Minecraft was right. Commenting on your fateful decision, he quotes Leonardo da Vinci: "The work of art can not be finished, they can simply stop doing."
The beginning of Saga Minecraft was laid in the small Swedish town of Edsbin, located in the forests, somewhere between Stockholm and the Polar circle. Most children are engaged in the fact that in the summer they chase football, and in winter in hockey with a sword. But Persson, quiet and not too sociable, the clock was played by LEGO. When Marcus was seven, his father who worked on the railway company brought home computer Commodore 128. To eight years, the Son has already written its first computer program. He studied the Perssk well, but in school he was not easy, especially when after the second class the family moved to Stockholm. It was difficult for him to make friends, and he spent even more time at a computer, where games were installed as an eight-bit puzzle of the Boulder Dash and role-playing action The Bard's Tale. In the book "Minecraft: the incredible story of Marcus" Notcha "of Perspson" His mother Ritva recalls how his son pretended that he had a stomach hurts, so as not to go to school and spend the whole day at the computer.
Computer games have become for Perspson to escape from reality in which his parents divorced when he was 12 years old. Father drank, and then addicted to amphetamines. Markus's younger sister began to experiment with drugs and eventually left home.
When Persheson could not finish school, his mother, who worked as a nurse in a night shift, made him sign up for online programming courses. It turned out to be an excellent investment of time and money. His children's hobby has grown into professional interest in the development of games, and in 2004, at the age of 24, he settled in Midasplayer, which later became known as King.com - the developer of Candy Crush.
At the work of Persson met Jacob Porser, the same shy young programmer. "It was a great place to start a career,- says Porser. - We could develop games based on Flash and do everything yourself, with the exception of graphics. " Two developers began to invent games, some of which became popular on the independent websites of gamers. But the leadership did not like it. "In our opinion, it is wrong, when employees at the same time with work we have been developing our own company on production of games», - He speaks coordinant Midasplayer Lars MarcGranwho received perille to work.
How IT Corporations can get away from taxation
Having bought Minecraft, Microsoft was able to dispose of billions of dollars accumulated abroad (outside the zone of the reach of American taxpayers). Here is a review more companies suitable for such purposes. - R.M.
Spotify.
Evaluation: $ 4 billion
Investments received: $ 540 million
Potential Buyer: Google
Google has already made an attempt to buy the Streigning music based in Stockholm, but the price turned out to be too high. Now Spotify plans to attract $ 500 million, which will increase the valuation cost of the company to $ 6 billion.
Powa.
Evaluation: $ 2.7 billion
Investments: $ 176.7 million
Potential Buyer: Amazon
Having bought a competing Hong Kong MPayMe in June 2014, the British application for mobile payments has grown in price to $ 2.7 billion. The Wellington Management Foundation has invested another $ 80 million in Powa to help enter the American market.
Asden
Evaluation: $ 1.5 billion
Investments received: $ 266 million
Potential Buyer: PayPal
Through the payment system based in Amsterdam is $ 30 billion per year. Among customers: Groupon, Spotify, Bookings.com and Facebook.
Shazam
Evaluation: $ 1 billion
Investments: More $ 125 million
Shazam's 100 million users brought more than $ 45 million income in 2013. But this is the ingeniously made app until it makes a profit. In January, the company received $ 30 million investments from the source, which is not disclosed.
TransferWise
Evaluation: $ 1 billion
Investments received: $ 90.4 million
Potential Buyer: Facebook
This summer to the British startup, which offers cheap international transfers, invested Richard Branson.
SoundCloud.
Evaluation: $ 700 million
Investments received: order $ 125 million
Potential Buyer: Apple
Last spring to the German site, which gives users the ability to exchange music files, closed twitter. Now SoundCloud is negotiating the receipt of $ 150 million investments that will raise the company's cost to $ 1.2 billion.
In 2009, Persson left MidasPlayer to get a programmer in Jalbum, an online service for posting photos. There, his second work did not pay attention. All free time he gave his non-standard looking creation, where the players mined the resources such as a tree and a stone to design different things from them - from axes and shovel to houses and cities. Persson called this minecraft game game And placed its unfinished version on the Internet in May 2009, on the site for independent Tig Source gamers. The first users of the game were experienced and technically savvy players who had to test all her mistakes, even create a whole community to find out how to play it. Minecraft was not the first game in the sandbox, he was not the first interactive program that offered players to extract resources for survival in a hostile world. (In the original version, exploding monsters could attack at nights). But the time of the release of this market turned out to be decisive: parents just began to give laptops, smartphones and tablets to children who have not reached Facebook and Instagram, but could already create content on the Internet.
By June 2010 sales games grew up to 400 per day, on $ 6 for loading. Persson and Corson went away from their main works, and the first even grabbed her boss with him, director General of Jalbum Karl MannechSo that he engaged in the organization of business. A new company was called Mojang that translated from Swedish means "gadget".
The secret gun Minecraft has become a character notch. It was not just a name, for Persson it was a way to communicate with the world. Through blogs, forums and Twitter, he answered every question of fans, whether about the game, developing or about problems in real life. Every appearance on server Minecraft. perceived by users as a phenomenon Elvis Presleybefore fans. Notch became for players inspirer change. His profile in a hat with fields became synonymous with independent developers with large corporations. Alter Ego Persson had an audience from more than 2 million Twitter users who have been filled with each word about "cynical bastards" from Electronic Arts, producing under its indie-game brand, or inventor helmem virtual reality Oculus VR, which sold the right to the invention by the "merciless" Facebook.
Persson did not spend a single crown on marketing - the popularity of Minecraft grew due to viral distribution. The pace was accelerated after Mojang added versions for Android and iOS, which to this day enter the top three most popular paid applications in the United States. In May 2012, Mojang released a version for Microsoft's Xbox 360, which sold over 1 million copies for the first week (today -
15 million). Then they went licensed agreements. Clothing with Minecraft symbols manufactured in the San Diego company J! NX has become a bestseller among youth audiences, like books on the creation and rules of the game. Egmont Publishing International publishing house, which has released several such guides, as a result, has sold 7.5 million copies in more than 60 countries. Last year, Warner Bros. Booked at Mojang the right to decreep.
The company has all about 30 Employees, therefore, Mojang arrived seems exemplary. In 2012 she got $ 230 million from sales, and profit before taxes amounted to more than $ 150 million. $101 Millus from this amount Persson paid himself in exchange for intellectual property rights. (He immediately bought the most expensive apartment in Stockholm).
Investors tirelessly cut around the company circles. Mannech tells that at that time he met with more than 100. Venture Funds, including an elite landing from the Silicon Valley in the face of Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners. But before the investment did not affect, simply because Mojang they were not needed. Then she came billionaire Sean ParkerWho on his personal plane was overlooked Perspson, Breasther and Mannech to London, where he arranged a rapid party. But he did not even take the money.
"We first flew on a private plane,"- remembers Mannech. But not in the last. A company not enjoying investors has brought such a profit to its owners that they ordered the portraits of employees in the style of Italian Renaissance written by oil. To celebrate the 10-million download of the game, the entire state of the company was taken to Monaco, where they saw champagne and ride on the yacht for three days. And although the company's shares belong to the three founders, in 2012 Persson thanked employees with bonuses for a total amount $ 3 million.
The world was at his feet, but Persson more and more often felt as if he was carrying all the burden of the world on his shoulders. After the official launch of Minecraft at the end of 2011, on the first "mining" in Las Vegas, he stated that he had from the post of the main developer to search for new ideas for games and devote more time to his bride, which was his wife.
But this passage was temporary. Person's father, unsuccessfully fantastic with drug addiction and depression, committed suicide before Christmas. The death of the father became a blow to Marcus. He felt that he did not know what he wanted from life. With his wife, he divorced a year after the wedding. "From today I" not married "# do not know," - He wrote to Twitter. And when after a short break, Persication returned to the office, it turned out that the ideas are waiting for it, on scale comparable to the first hit.
At the same time, Persson continued to be face Minecraft. It does not matter that he has departed from the development, notch still remained to whom the players paid all their requests for the improvement of the code or eliminate errors. Even small changes to the rules, for example, related to sending messages on a virtual forum, caused a flurry of complaints and invalid to notch, who did not have the slightest relationship. In responses to the tweets of Perspson or in responses, under any video on YouTube, where the notch lit up, you can find comments like "Notch always looks like an idhum" or "Notch - greasy freak."
"I can't understand why people on the Internet are so evil, - Says Persson. - When you see such comments, it seems that they are even written by a larger font. "A person who created a bright Internet character began to sense himself a target of hostile opinions addressed to this character. Therefore, Persson began to think about to get out of the game.
It all started from the most ordinary tweet. June 16, 2014 Persson woke up with a runny nose and did not go to work. On that day, Minecraft users went on the war path, because the company began to require the execution of the items of the User Agreement prohibiting the players to recoup from other fees for certain functions in the game, such as improving weapons strength. The rate of appearance of negative reviews in Twitter has already reached several hundred per hour, when irritated perille, which fever from temperature, wrote a post out of 129 letters in the hearts, forever changed his life.
"No one wants to buy my stake in Mojang so that I can live calmly? - he asked. - And then I'm tired of listening to insults for trying to do everything according to the rules. "
CEO Mojang Carl Mannech on this day was a family at home. He just finished reading this tweet, as the phone call rang. One of the key Microsoft employees with which Mojang led the negotiations and signed contracts, wanted to know whether Persson is really ready to sell its share in the company. "I don't know, let's call me back,"said Mannech.
The Persson wrote his tweet of hemisphan, but the idea of \u200b\u200bparting with Mojang, already launched roots. A person once publicly swear, which will never be sold to "corporations of evil", now felt that his head was circle. Over the next week, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and others were indisputable to him. Negotiations with Activision gradually went to no. Persson retains mysterious silence about EA, but mentions Mojang immediately refused to consider potential buyers who have a "other approach to games." Microsoft, apparently, managed to pass this facingontrol. An additional motivation for the mega-corporation was the fact that the transaction made it possible to avoid paying part of taxes. Microsoft at that time did not know what to do with accumulated profits in the amount of $ 93 billionwhich the company did not want to import to the USA not to pay the uncle Sam's share.
Therefore, Mannech managed to impose their terms of the transaction: all three founders can get out of the company without any obligations in front of it. In addition, having remembered about the staff reductions after Microsoft bought Nokia, Mannech demanded not to dismiss any of the employees. (Although under the state in 47 people This question, most likely, would not stand.)
From Microsoft negotiations conducted chapter X Box Phil Spencerwho communicated exclusively with Mannech. Persson and the porser from negotiations were eliminated, although Spencer and met with them in the old Stockholm-Skom restaurant, where they argued the tincture of the tincture of the game industry. Chapter Microsoft Satya Never appeared in Scandinavia to follow the progress of the largest transaction in the history of his leadership company. He only twice called Mannech to speed up the solution of issues.
September 15 Microsoft announced that Mojang buys for $ 2.5 billion. During a couple of hours after the announcement, Persson wrote his last blog on the site, explaining why it goes away. "It's not about the money, He stressed. - I want to keep my mind. "
Looking at that time, Persson says that he expected from the fans of Minecraft worse reaction. "On the day, when we announced a deal, I was going to remove my account on Twitter, because I was afraid that I could not cope with the whole negative, - He says. - But they perceived it quite calmly. I read my explanations and wrote: "Well, we hope that you will solve your problems."As for his statements that he will never sell a big corporation, the Perssmon shakes his shoulders and says that he will have to reconcile with this contradiction price at $ 2.5 billion. "Of course, for your words you need to answer," he says. "But I would not say that I was so much ashamed for the fact that I changed my mind."
Mojang employees have much more acutely perceived the dramatic shift of the wind in the sail. Although they all got bonuses from the transaction (Porser - more than $ 300 million clean; Mannech - more than $ 100 million), Many of them, according to wishing to remain an unknown employee, felt "disappointment and devastation." Some still keep the distance and with chilly belong to Persson.
"We spoiled them, their reaction I was very upset,"- Says Persson. Nevertheless, he managed to cope with it. In November, when the transaction finally ended, Persson, Porser, Mannech and twin Brother Mannech flew in Miami and St. Barts to celebrate the deal. Persson called their little vacation "Voyage to Share."
Now the Persson is worthwhile to make a shameful posts in Twitter much less attention than the exchange of bars in Whats App, where his close friends united into a group with the vulgar name "Perduny". Freed from Minecraft, Persson regressed to adolescence. In the temporary office of his new company, Rubberbrain constantly sounds jokes "below the belt" and rolling laugh, followed by an irritated knock on the neighbors from above. Persson This knock ignores the same way as the opinions of Internet trolls. He says that now he has the "ignore" button in Twitter, which allows you to block user messages without notifying them about it.
Sometimes curiosity wins, he reads their posts and cannot resist not to answer. Especially viciously configured users sends a frame from the movie "Zombiland" with Woody Harrelsonwiping the tears with a bundle of money. "I know it's a little stupid, -sharing Persson shoulders. - But what to do. "He is just as frank with people who like him. He sends his photos from vacation and private aircraft in Snapchat. As for girls ... "I tried Tinder, -he says - I did not like. In Sweden it is useless, there are four people sit there. "From here and invoices $ 180,000 From nightclubs.
"I'm trying to catch up a little bit. When I was 20, I just did what I programmed, -he says. - Entertainment is not the most healthy way to spend money, but this is fun. When we were young, we had no money, so I always knew that if it was growling, I would not be one of these bore people who never spend on anything. "
Now its costs include the situation in the new office: he has a long-standing fantasy about the bar, the DJ racks (he himself learns to twist the turntables) and secret Room. And all this despite the fact that Rubberbrain is a company that has nothing yet, except the name.
The fact that inspiration does not come - quite explained. The Persson in his new office spends time on Twitter and Reddit, and the porser reads the forums of the fans of a hockey team, for which he played in childhood, and plays the simplest online games, where you need to gain points, exploding beetles or some more creatures.
"We have here as a kindergarten for adults, - Says Persson. - Sometimes the concept is born, we are discussing it a couple of days, and then again begin to play games. " Maybe this period will end. But around many other perms marks - is a lattern and more active. On the question of this, the Minecraft Creator replies that it is quite satisfied with the role of the author of one hatman. Huge wealth and premature depletion of creative resources, apparently, is better than stress related to the responsibility of the virtual nation, which at the same time you guardian and despises.
"People began to perceive notch as some ideal, -he tells about his character. - Sometimes I remember how I first met with idols and thought: "Damn, because this is an ordinary person." So here. My relationships with fans were not at all as I thought. "
At the exit from the office of Rubberbrain, Perspson's assistant extends him a letter written from the Game from America. A dollar banknote has been pinned to the sheet filled with round letters as if with the removed hand of a diligent five-grader. The author of the letter asks Persson to add to Minecraft new function. "We were sent a bribe, "The perlms jokes, read in the written and frowns. Then it shows on the dollar: - Well, will send it back? ".
The richest people in the industry of computer games
|
Gayiv Newel Valve. $ 1.3 billion One of the most respected figures in business. Newella owns more than 50% in Washington based on Valve, producing software. Their development - game platform Steam - is the main in the industry by the Internet sales channel. |
Marcus Persson Mojang. $ 1.3 billion Game designer created a hit hit construction game Minecraft. In the controlling company Mojang, he owned a share of 71%. Mircosoft bought Mojang for $ 2.5 billion in cash. |
Mark Pincus Zynga. $ 990 million The status of the co-founder and the former CEO of Zynga is now much less than in the Farmville game era, when its shares cost more than $ 14.50 per piece. Now the price has fallen up to less than $ 3, but early investment in Napster, Twitter and Facebook allow you to feel moles comfortably. |
Melvin Morris King Digital. $ 627 million Morris made his first state at the expense of dating site udate.com, and the second earned as a chairman and co-founder based in London Studios, developing light games. They released the invariably popular game Candy Crush. Morris left from the post of King Chairman in November. |
Riccardo clock King Digital. $ 548 million Yeshe, one who became a millionaire by Candy Crush. Italian Riccardo heads the company from the first days, but his condition, like other co-founders, has decreased since in March 2014 she went to the IPO. |
Palmer Lucky Oculus Vr. $ 500 million OCULUS RIFT virtual reality helmet inventor was only 21 years old when he sold his Facebook company for $ 2 billion. Lucky is the first person in history, so got rich at a similar age. Now he works on the first user version of the product, which is expected to enter the market closer towards the end of the year. |
Ilkka Panen. Supercell. $ 400 million CEO and founder of the most popular in the Finnish Game Studio market. Few companies manage to create such a hit as Clashof clans - the flagship game Supercell. And almost no one managed to repeat the success, releasing the second in a row hit, such as Boom Beach. |
In Stockholm Monday, seven in the evening. Marcus Persson sits on the balcony of his office, sipping Red Bull with vodka - a cocktail, which quickly pours a person with legs. Three hours ago, he swore that he would not drink today, because at no further as on Thursday he poured 12 portions of alcohol, trying to cope with the ear infection. Nevertheless, he generously distinguishes Belvedere vodka on wine glasses, and we see how people working in multi-storey office centers in the neighborhood are tirelessly knocking on their keyboards.
"He looks concerned," says Persson, pointing to a person in a building on the contrary, which helplessly rubs his face, staring in a computer screen. The Persson watches the office worker a few more seconds, then it hurts him and his attention switches to us. In the past five years, most of the time this 35-year-old Swede spent, as a person in the window opposite: he was in constant voltage because of his brainchild, Minecraft is the best-selling game in the entire history of computer games. However, the words "game" is clearly not enough to describe the essence of this phenomenon. Minecraft, the amount of downloads of which exceeded 100 million and continues to grow, turned into a site for self-expression of people. Players start in an empty virtual space where bricks and blocks that resemble the LEGO constructor can be used (which can be "mine" - Mine), to create anything with one important condition: other players will also be able to interact with objects created by them. Most players are children who build ordinary houses or villages, and then arrange parties in them or hide from zombie robbers. But adults who truly immerse themselves in this game are spending hundreds of hours, creating full-scale Star Death Stars, Empire State Building or Cities from the Game of Thrones.
The word "Minecraft" in Google is gaining more often than the "Bible", "Harry Potter" and "Justin Bieber".
And this game brought from the moment more than $ 700 million revenue is created, most of which are net profit.
"It cannot be compared with other popular games," says Yen Bogos, Professor of the Georgia Institute of Technology, studying video games. - It stands in one row with popular phenomena more large scale. Minecraft is essentially the current generation. "
In this virtual world of Persson, or rather his Internet character, a gorgeous eccentric notch with a hat on his head, became for millions of gamers a god-like figure that establishes and clarifying the rules of the game with the authority of Zeus. In the life of the Persson, the least similar to self-confident extrovert. In personal communication, he is polite, frank and hidden (with the press, it is rare). The expectations and requirements of the game fans, which are waiting for notch, that he will develop his virtual world, turned it into a shy eccentric.
Therefore, three months ago, Persson shouted all this, completing the sale of Minecraft Microsoft for $ 2.5 billion in cash. 71% of the shares in Mojang's Minecraft standing for Mojang turned it into a new and very vivid participant in the World List of Forbes billionaires. And now a person who has left to live even more than half of life, the creator of the whole universe, whose symbol was his own character, a person who was hit by the furious wrath of the community when he decided to leave him, to find out who he really was.
The results are not impressive yet: his actions resemble a dog hunt for passing cars. Deciding to buy a house in Beverly Hills, Persson posted $ 70 million for a mansion of more than 2000 square meters. M - the most expensive house in this elite area in his entire history.
It is known as a person who deals more than $ 180,000 at night in Las Vegas nightclubs.
Together with Jacob Porser, another founder of Mojang, he founded a new Rubberbrain company in case they come up with some new gameBut until it can focus on whatever. This conversation with Forbes is the only interview with the Person, in which he tells about the transaction for the sale of Minecraft and what followed it. It turned out that severe self-examination was the main result of the unexpected richness of unexpected wealth. And the only thing he is absolutely sure is that he did correctly, swaying with Minecraft. Explaining his decision, the Persson leads the saying attributed to Leonardo da Vinci: "The work of art can not be finished, but you can only throw."
Swedish games.
Minecraft dizzying Saga began in the small Swedish town of Endsbin, numbering 4,000 inhabitants and located among extensive forests between Stockholm and the polar circle. While other children played football in summer or to the local kind of hockey with the ball in the winter, Introvert Personsson for hours. Untreated with designer LEGO.. His father, railway worker, dragged the Commodore 128 to the house, when the Persson was seven years old. To eight years, his diligent son has already written its first computer program.
Persson studied well, but after his family moved to Stockholm, when he was in the second grade, he began to consider school life difficult. Do not know how to make it easy to make new friends, he spent more and more time at the computer, which offered entertainment like a 8-bit puzzle Boulder Dash or Role games them Bard's Tale. In the book "Minecraft: the inapproprible story of Marcus" Notcha "Perspson" His mother Ritva recalls how her son pretended to suffer from pain in the stomach, so as not to go to school, and sat for hours in front of the computer.
Young Persson began to find even more consolation in the computer after his family was broken. Parents divorced when he was 12.
The father abused alcohol and hooked on amphetamines.
The younger sister also began to experiment with drugs and eventually ran out of the house.
The Persson himself never graduated from high school. His mother, a nurse, who worked at night at the local hospital, made him sign up for online programming courses. It was a wise investment. Give the will of his children's passion, he began a furnace of the game as pancakes and in 2004 at the age of 24, was at Midasplayer, which later under the name King.com released the popular game Candy Crush.
There he became friends with Jacob Porser, as a closed young developer. "It was a great place to start," recalls the porser. - We produced small games On Flash, and it was possible to create the whole game alone alone, not counting the graphs. " They began to write scenarios of their own games, some of which have gained fame on independent game sites. Their bosses did not like it. "We felt that we could not allow someone to work for us and at the same time created his own company," says Lars Marcgran, one of the founders of Midasplayer, who hired Persson.
In 2009, Persson left MidasPlayer to Jalbum, network service According to the exchange of photographs, whose leadership was indifferent than the programmer was engaged in part-time. Soon he began to devote all his free time to a strange project, where players gathered resources, such as a stone or a tree, using them to create different things, from axes and shovel to houses and cities. The Persson called his creation Minecraft and in May 2009 poured him as an unfinished program on an independent game portal TIGSource. There was a lot of new in the game. technical solutionsBut the documentation was almost absent, and the first players were forced to form a community to figure out how to play it. Minecraft was not the first creative game in the genre of the "sandbox" and did not first forced the players to collect resources in the virtual world to survive in a hostile environment. (With the onset of the night in the virtual world of the players, the suddenly appeared creatures, called the "cripers", could attack.) But to launch the game, the perfect moment was chosen: she came out at that time when the new generation of children was still too young for Facebook and Instagram, But already enough adults in order to strive to do something online, laptops, smartphones and tablets began to appear.
By June 2010, PC users bought 400 copies per day, approximately $ 6 for loading. Persson and the porser threw their main work. Persson even moved to the startup of his former chief, the Director General of Jalbum Charles Mannech, so that he would take commercial leadership. They called the newborn company Mojang, which in Swedish means "device". Secret minecraft arms There was notch. It was not just an online pseudonym, notch allowed the Persson to overcome the introversion characteristic of him in real world. Through blogs, forums and Twitter, he answered every question of his fans on the game, her development and life.
Notch became a sample for followers: acute character-icon in the hat spoke on behalf of independent game manufacturers. With this alter-ego, Persson acquired more than 2 million follovers in Twitter, which sympathetically read his accusatory speeches against the "cynical bastards" from Electronic Arts, which deigned to release a whole series of independent games, or a manufacturer of technical devices for the virtual reality Oculus VR, for That he sold the "nasty" Facebook.
The Persson did not spend on marketing a single crown, and Minecraft has grown as a viral way as Mojang has produced the version for Android and IOS smartphones, which still remain among the three most popular paid downloadable applications in the United States, according to App Annie. In May 2012, Mojang released a version for Microsoft Xbox 360, which for a week was sold in the amount of more than 1 million copies (today sold more than 15 million copies). Then they went licensed agreements. Minecraft clothing, promoted on the market J! NX from San Diego, became a hit selling among young game fans, and the books of Egmont Publish International, dedicated to the Minecraft world, instantly became bestsellers - the company sold more than 7.5 million copies in more than 60 countries. Last year, Warner Bros. I bought at Mojang the right to shoot a feature film.
Mojang, where only about 30 employees worked, brought profits, and it seemed that it would be forever. She completed 2012 with revenue of about $ 230 million and gross profit of more than $ 150 million, of which $ 101 million Persson paid itself in exchange for the intellectual property of Minecraft. (Soon after that, he bought the most expensive apartment in Stockholm.)
Investors promoted. Mannech says that at that time he talked with hundreds of venture houses, including such famous sharks of the Silicon Valley, like Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners, but did not take money from anyone, because Mojang simply did not need them. To them even came to the billionaire Sean Parker, who was taken by Persssel, Porser and Mannech on his private plane to London, providing them with a stormy night entertainment program. Nevertheless, they rejected his money.
"We for the first time in life happened to fly on a private plane," recalls Mannech. But not in the last. Being a private company without third-party investors, growing as on the yeast Mojang ordered portraits of oil characters. Noting 10 million downloads, they brought all employees for three days in Monaco to drink champagne and ride a yacht. And although all the shares of the company owned three of its founder, Persson in 2012 thanked all employees with a $ 3 million bonus team.
But even when the world lay at his feet, the Persication of times felt like he pressed him on his shoulders. After the official release of Minecraft at the end of 2011 at the first congress of fans of the game in Las Vegas (Mineceon), Persson left the post of main developer for the sake of experiments with new games and lives with his girlfriend, which in the summer of that year became his wife.
But his happiness was short. Person's father, still abused drugs and depressed, committed suicide on the eve of Christmas. It greatly shook the perille, and he more and more behaved like a person who does not know what he wants. He divorced his wife a year after the wedding. "Today I have a single: # mixtures," he wrote to Twitter. And when Persson returned to work after his brief creative vacation, he felt obliged to recreate the magic of his first hit.
And at the same time, Persson remained face and voice Minecraft. Despite the fact that he stopped engaged in the daily development of the game, Notch still remained a figure, which players wrote letters about new code modifications or left messages to Twitter when it seemed to them that something was wrong with the game. In response to minor changes in the mechanics of virtual ships, users were broken down by poisonous messages notch, which did not have the slightest relationship to these changes. Check out the responses of Persson to Twitter or any video on YouTube, in which the Minecraft creator appears, and you will most likely come across the comments like "I am always amazed what a notch fantastic cretin" or "Notch is a fat loser."
"I could not understand why people in the network are so unfair," says Persson. "You see evil comments, and it seems that they are always written by a larger font." A person who identified himself with his network character was trapped, faced with a negative that provoked such identification. And Persson began to think about how to get out of the game. Its expulsion began with a simple message on Twitter. In the sixteenth of June 2014, Perssl was lying in his penthouse with a cold. Meanwhile, Minecraft users have tightened the company for the decision to strategly apply a license agreement that did not allow the players to sell virtual items, such as more powerful swords.
When hundreds of messages arrived at Twitter, the Persson, who stayed in feverish excitement due to a cold, broke out by the answer, which had only 129 characters, and this answer forever changed his life.
"Someone wants to buy my stake in Mojang so that I could do my life? - he asked. - Call universal hatred, trying to make the right things, not my horse. "
CEO Mojang Carl Mannech sat at home with his family when he saw this record. 30 seconds after he read it, the bell rang. One of the leaders of Microsoft, who was responsible for cooperation with Mojang, wanted to know how serious the statement of Persson. "I don't know, let me talk to him," Mannech replied.
And although the Persson wrote it half a half, the idea that he could part with Mojang, seized them. The man who once publicly swore is that it is not selling evil corporations, changed his mind.
Along the next week, Mannech had a telephone. Interest in the deal was shown by Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and others. Negotiations with Activision stalled immediately. The Persson did not want to discuss what happened to the Electronic Arts, but mysteriously stated that Mojang excludes potential buyers, "who cost the games as we do not like." But Microsoft clearly passed the selection.
Ultimately, for Microsoft, the main motive in this transaction was to save on taxes. The giant, producing software, has accumulated abroad with the colossal reserves of $ 93 billion in cash and cannot translate them to the US territory, without paying the Uncle Sam's share.
As a result, the Terms of Sale dictated Mannech: Persson and Porser wanted to get out of the case, having broke all ties with the company. In addition, given the massive reductions in Microsoft after the absorption of Nokia, it was stipulated that there should be no dismissal in the business (in the company only 47 employees, therefore such a condition did not threaten the buyer with serious material costs).
Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox division in Microsoft, was dealing exclusively with Mannech. Persson and Corson refused to participate in the negotiations, although Spencer still spent some time behind the Swedish tincture on herbs, arguing about the direction of the development of the gaming industry. The General Director of Microsoft Sathya did not appear in Stockholm, despite the fact that it was the largest deal during his stay in office. He only twice called Mannech to accelerate the course of negotiations.
As long as lawyers worked around the clock to close a multi-billion dollar deal, only indirect data was searched in the press. Microsoft behaved quite hidden, in July Message to employees told only that he invests in games, calling them the "largest phenomenon of digital life in the world of mobile devices."
Usually, the word-word Persson also kept silence. He launched small ideas for new games and studied programming languages. Seven September, he published a post where he described his work with the DART language, on which I rewrote the first version of the classic Doom shooter, and hinted at the coming selling, - Doom served him a metaphor for Mojang. "If I really do something new, I am sure that someone is more patient than I can take on the observation of the project," he wrote. "I can't be tied to him all the time." Fifteenth of September Microsoft announced that it was ready to pay $ 2.5 billion in cash for Mojang. A few hours after this, the ads of Persson wrote his final post in the blog, explaining the details of the departure from the company created by him.
Looking back, Persson says that he expected a more severe reaction of Minecraft fans on the announcement of the sale of the game. "That day, when we announced a deal, I was going to close my Twitter, fearing could not cope with him," he says. - But people reacted as surprisingly calmly. They read my explanation and said: "Okay, I hope, everything will be fine with you". "
What about his former promises are not for sale, especially corporations? Persson shakes his shoulders and says that the contradiction of the price of $ 2.5 billion does not prevent him.
"Of course, you need to answer for your words," he recognizes, "but, honestly, I don't feel a big shame because I have changed point of view."Mojang employees understand the sharp change of the position of their former boss was more difficult. Although they received bonuses from the amount due to the Persderson (the share of the porter after paying taxes was more than $ 300 million, the share of Mannech - more than $ 100 million), many felt "disappointed" and "empty" when heard his game finals, says one of the employees Who wished to remain unnamed. Some still closely belong to Persson.
"We were upset them, and their reaction hurts me," Person says. But in spite of everything, he intends to move on. In November, when the transaction is closed, Persson, Porser, Mannech and twin brother Mannech fly in Miami and on Saint-Bartelemi to celebrate it. Persson calls this briefwag out "CARE TURKE". The Persication now pays less attention to the vascular comments on Twitter and more - to insult his address from close friends in the WhatsApp group, which they rudely called "Perdezh".
In the temporary office, Rubberbrain jokes on the themes below the belt cause laughter, from which the ceiling and a neighbor hangs on top of the floor to the floor.
Persson ignores the angry knock over his head, as before he did not notice the Internet trolls. He admits that he loves a button in Twitter, which allows him to turn off unpleasant people, without informing them that they are blocked. Nevertheless, sometimes curiosity takes up, and he answers. He recently answered his hater animated figurine Woody Harrelson from the film "Welcome to Zombiland", which watched tears with a pack of money. "I understand that you are somewhat stupid to respond to Twitter with the help of a picture," he shrugs. He is just as embarrassing and with those who he likes when he conducts a report on his vacation on the chartered plane in Photo Service Snapchat. What about girls? "I tried to use Tinder (dating app. - Forbes), but it did not help. In Sweden, he works terribly: they enjoy a person four. " Hence the bills in nightclubs by $ 180,000.
"I now partly promote what I missed when I was sitting and programmed at 20 years old," he admits. - Tusovka is not the most reasonable way to spend money, but it's funny. When we were young, we had no money at all, so I thought that if I ever got rich, then I would never become one of those boring bodies that would not spend money. "
Now he spends them on his new company. Her office is a fantasy of a teenager, where there is a full service bar, and the DJ cabin (he learns to install discs), and hidden rooms hidden behind the bookshelves. And this is despite the fact that Rubberbrain is just the name of the company that is waiting for her founders to visit some idea.
It seems that inspiration will certainly come. Persson spends a lot of time in the office, following the updates in Twitter and Reddit, and the porser clears the forums of fans of the hockey team of their childhood and plays meaningless network gamein which you need to click on the mouse, blasting beetles and other albums for coins.
"It looks like a kindergarten for us, a kindergarten for adults," Persson occurs. "Whenever some idea appears, we have it for a couple of days, and then we return to the games."
Perhaps it will pass. But there is still a lot of Persico Marcuses, which are less expensive and more sensitive to what the next generation of children wants. When he was asked about this, the Creator Minecraft replies that he feels quite well and the author of one hit. Such trumps like the insane wealth and status of a person who has come from affairs, can overlap stress from liability for the population virtual Mirawhich reads you, despises.
"People began to see an ideal in notch," he argues, analyzing his two hypostasis. - I remember how I met my own idols and realized that these are real people. And this discrepancy has become very clear for me. I did not have the relationship with my fans with my fans that I imagined. "
Leaving the office of Rubberbrain, Assistant Perspson gives him a note of one of his American fans. To the letter written by the round or fifth grade student, the dollar bill was enpited, and the author asks him to add several new elements to him in Minecraft.
"We were bribe today," I joked for Persson, before you managed to read the note and frown your eyebrows.
Then he turned in his hand dollar: "We must probably send it back?"
This game is lately attracted to me huge number Players. The number of people who play this game exceeds one hundred million people. It is about which consists of a variety of small blocks.
In the process of the gameplay, the hero, managing his avatar, builds, miners and shifts these blocks from place to place. In addition, the player fights with mobs that attack his home at night.
This popular game, which attracted great attention to himself, has its legendary author, a man who is her Creator. Who "minecraft" created? This question is asked by many children who play this virtual designer. From this article you will learn about who "minecraft" has created. The name of this person is interesting and some adults.
Creator of the game "Mincraft"
The name of the author is Marcus Persson. Markus programmer from Sweden, as well as a game designer. It is much more known under his notech pseudonym (notch). He created his first game for only 9 years on the home computer. Having matured, he became the owner of Mojang AB. The founders besides him were also Karl Mannech and Jacob Porser. The company was established in 2009.
Office Notcha
Now the company employs more than 35 people. Marcus is one of the largest taxpayers of Sweden. His company is estimated at two billion dollars. Attitude towards employees in the company notch is very loyal. Every Friday Markus allows people who work for him, play games, as well as working on their own projects.
Very remarkable. It is made in the style of "Hunting house in his office there is a billiard table, a room for displaying a variety of films, a music machine, as well as a Pinball Machine. In addition, there are even a wall with portraits of employees. These portraits are very unusual. They Oil written, people posing in the clothing of the 19th century aristocracy. If we look at the portrait of Notch, we will see that there he is in an evening costume and Fedor sits on a chair with an arrogant view. Next to him as a significant subject of the interior is a big globe.
The atmosphere in the company of Persson
All this became possible thanks to his key project "Minecraft". The author of this game, which became the most unexpected breakthrough in this area over the decade, attracted a lot of attention. For him, a common thing to arrange a party with a DJs of the stadium level. According to rumors, the British prince Harry was also present at one of such parties.
In 2012, Notech even made a feast of pyrotechnics in one of the Parisian institutions. The musical accompaniment of this action provided "Skrillex". Markus carries its employees with their families in Monaco. In the photo album, which lies on the table for negotiations in his office, there are several pictures, where employees bring a whole fleet of aircraft, also in these photos they drive around "Ferrari", arrange a holiday on a yacht, ride helicopters. Commenting on these photos, a co-owner of the company Porster says: "We wanted to make a" MODZHANG "by a place in which we would always wanted to work."
Unexpected success of a strange game
Notch and there is a person who "minecraft" has created. And although in this game there is no script or levels (there is not even an obvious goal), players can explore the almost endless world. They can collect resources and build almost everything. Create whole worlds with your attractions. These are the faithful followers of the Marcus of Persson and make.
Well, now you have learned who "minecraft" created. We wish you to get acquainted with this magnificent game and more often to open colorful endless worlds in everyday life.
Rumors were confirmed: Microsoft acquired the rights to Minecraft and the Mojang Developer Studio for Crazy 2.5 billion dollars. Immediately after the announcement of the news, the creator of Minecraft Markus Persson announced that he leaves Mojang. We publish a farewell letter of Notch, in which he explains the reasons for his decision.
"I'm leaving Mojang.
I do not see myself a real game developer. I make games because it is fun, and because I love them, and I love to program. But I do not make games with an eye to ensure that they become huge hits, I'm not trying to change the world. Minecraft, of course, became such a huge hit, and people constantly tell me that he changed modern video games. I never assumed that it would happen. Of course, all this flattened me, and I found myself in the spotlight of the public, it was interesting.
But for quite a long time I decided to leave the development of Minecraft. Jens was ideal candidate for the head of this project, and I wanted to do some new things. At first, my plans fell away, because I was waking up to do something big and large-scale again. Since then, I have decided to concentrate on small prototypes and interesting concepts - and I received great pleasure from it. I was not sure that this my "work" brings great benefits of the company (while people around me really worked in the sweat of the face), but i always said that I was important for the company's culture, so I remained.
A couple of weeks ago, I was lying around at home with a strong cold, when the Internet exploded the flue of hatred in my direction, based on some licensing agreement, to which I had nothing to do. I was scary upset. I did not understand what was happening. I even left such a tweet:
Anyone Want To Buy My Share Of Mojang So I Can Move On With My Life? Getting Hate for Trying to Do The Right Thing Is Not My Gig.
A little later I looked this is a video phila Fisha And I realized that I actually do not possess the understanding of the fans, which I always counted. I became a symbol. I do not want to be a symbol responsible for something that I do not understand, what I do not want to work on, and that he constantly overtakes me in life. I'm not an entrepreneur. I am not the CEO. I am an ordinary backstage programmer who sometimes loves to express his opinion on Twitter.
As soon as the details of the transaction [with Microsoft] are finalized, I will leave Mojang and continue to participate in the GEYMDUM DARES Game Dares competitions and other small online experiments. If I ever do something else that becomes popular, - then, I most likely be immediately abandoned and this project..
My public image has repeatedly criticized, so I do not even hope that my actions will be delivered from your negative comments. But now I at least I do not feel responsible that I should read everything.
I understand perfectly well that all of the above is a bit walks against the fact that I used to speak in an interview and in public. I have nothing to add to this. I also know that many of you for some reason consider me a symbol of the fight of indie with large publishers. I am not as a symbol, I am an ordinary person, and I participate in this struggle on a par with you.
I love you. All of you. Thank you for making Minecraft to what he became today. But you too much, and I can not be responsible for something of such huge sizes. In some sense, now he belongs to Microsoft. In a much broader sense, he always belonged to all of you, and it will never change.
It's not about the money. The case is in my mental balance. "
Marcus Alexey Persson
Games developer, owner and founder of Mojang
Elin Zetterstrand (2011-2012)
Biography
Persson was born on June 1, 1979, in the city of Stockholm ,. First time lived in Denmark, and then moved with my parents to Sweden. Began to program at 7 years old on the Commodore 128 home computer. Four and a half years (until 2009) worked in King.com developer of games.
Also participated in the development of Jalbum and Wurm Online. In May 2009, founded Mojang Specifications.
August 13, 2011 married Elin Zetterstrand, but on August 15, 2012, in Twitter, Persson reported that he was now single.
Personal life
Marcus Persson lives in Stockholm. He is a member of the organization MENSA, composes electronic music under the pseudonym "Markus Alexei". Criticates large companies for their attitude to piracy, is a member of the Pirate Party of Sweden.
Games
Minecraft.
The most popular game of Marcus in the genre of the sandbox, which moved to Beta on December 20, 2010. Even when she was still in Alpha, the game became very popular in the Internet environment. Jeb (since Marcus resigned) develops Minecraft, improving and changing the game until it is finished. In early 2011, Mojang AB sold 1 million copies of the game, and six months later, 2 million more people bought the game.
Breaking the Tower
The game was created within 48 hours. The action of the game happens on a small island, where the player must collect resources, build buildings, as well as teach soldiers to destroy a large tower on the island.
Metagun.
Another game made in 48 hours as part of the Ludum Dare contest. 2D platformer with an original idea in which the weapon of the main character shoots small men who are already shooting with real bullets. Another feature of the game is the head hero hat, which gives him invulnerability from the bullets while she is dressed on it, and which flies when one bullet gets. After catching the hat, the hero again becomes invulnerable. In some gaming zones, you can also choose additional hats, the number of which will be counted at the end of the game.
Scrolls.
Marcus and Jakob Porser came to mind the idea of \u200b\u200bthe game Scrolls.. The game seeks to combine elements from traditional card games and traditional board games In the genre of strategy. Marcus stated that he would not take an active part in the development of the game, but Jakob would develop it.
0x10c.
New project Marcus. The plot unfolds then when they were launched spaceships With people, but the system failed and the figure 0x0000 0000 0000 0001 has changed to 0x0001 0000 0000, and people began to wake up only at 281,474 976 712 644. A distinctive feature of the game is the need to program on an assembler for a fictional DCPU-16 processor.
Links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
- Palmayeir, Marcos
- Prok, Marcus
Watch what is "Persson, Marcus" in other dictionaries:
Persson - (Swede Persson) The surname of Swedish origin means "Son of Pen (the Swedish form of the Christian name" Peter ")." Analogue in Denmark and Norway Pedersen. Famous media: Perssl, Axel (1888 1951) Swedish archaeologist and antiquity historian. Persson ... Wikipedia
0x10c. - This article describes computer gameDesigned in development. After the release of the game, the information provided here may be incorrect, and the content of the article can change significantly ... Wikipedia
Unlimited Detail - This article or section of the article contains information about the scheduled or expected future. softwarewhich is currently in development. The content of the article may vary ... Wikipedia
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Washer Hockey World Cup 2011 - 2011 IIHF World Championship Majstrovstvá Sveta V ľadovom Hokeji 2011 Championship Details Country: Wikipedia
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Books
- Minecraft. The incredible story of the Marcus "Notch" of Persslov and the game that has changed the world, Larsson Linus, Goldberg Daniel. Minecraft -Megapular game that conquered the hearts of millions of fans around the world. At the same time, it does not look like any of the games that came to her. What is the secret of her success? Like Swedish ...