The video game Minecraft, developed by Swedish Markus “Notch” Persson, has sold 300 million copies. This makes Minecraft the best-selling game ever, according to AFP. TV4 Nyheterna met Markus Persson in January 2011.
– I wanted to make a game that I wanted to play myself, he said then.
Minecraft was released on November 18, 2011 and became one of the world’s most played games. Swedish Marcus “Notch” Persson is behind the game. TV4 Nyheterna met Markus in 2011 at a cafe in Kärrtorp in southern Stockholm.
– I wanted to make a game that I wanted to play myself and I was a bit lucky with the timing, when people started to be prepared to pay for games on the internet, he said then.
By then, almost a million copies of the game had been sold, and Marcus, in turn, had earned around SEK 85 million. Then Markus described it as flattering and proof that people liked the game. At the same time, it was unclear what he would do with all the money.
– It feels a little surreal at the same time. I don’t have any expensive hobbies to put it on, it’s just a lot of money. Maybe buy an apartment at some point or travel.
One of the world’s most famous Swedes
When TV4 Nyheterna met Markus, he had just started a company, Mojang AB. Three years later, the company was bought by Microsoft for SEK 18 billion. Persson was then one of the world’s most famous Swedes and featured on the front page of Forbes and was listed as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.
The annual report for 2021 shows that Markus Persson treated himself to a dividend of a whopping SEK 500 million. We don’t know exactly what Markus Persson is doing today, but today the news came that Minecraft reached the magical limit of 300 million copies sold. This makes the game the best-selling ever, according to AFP.
“A milestone no one could have dreamed of when we all built our first earthen houses!”, writes the company in a statement.