Notch never wants to have another hit

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson doesn’t want to be responsible for a best-selling game ever again.

In a personal statement, the Minecraft creator said the Microsoft acquisition of his studio Mojang is "not about the money – it’s about my sanity".

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

The statement was made on his own website, where he said the public image of him as become "a bit skewed", referring to a recent incident with Minecraft’s EULA that saw internet hate directed towards him – a situation he said he actually had nothing to do with.

"I’ve become a symbol," Notch wrote. "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 like to have opinions on Twitter."

Persson plans to return to smaller projects, adding that Minecraft became a far bigger title than he had ever intented.

"I don’t see myself as a real game developer," he wrote. "I make games because it’s fun, and because I love game 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.

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

Persson, who stepped down from working directly on Minecraft "a relatively long time ago", goes on to write that he tried making "something big" but failed, and has since found himself enjoying his work more when focusing on small prototypes. He became unsure how he fit in at his own studio, but stayed when the team insisted he was important to Mojang’s culture.

He also acknowledged that the deal is likely to result in yet more negative comments about him but adds: "at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them."