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Minecraft's Markus "Notch" Persson Talks About His Millionaire Status

Markus "Notch" Persson has made a lot of money from Minecraft, but it doesn't seem like it has changed him very much. Persson made $101 million in 2012 and his big expenditure might be a car. He's still thinking about it.

Persson spoke about his wealth on Reddit, responding to a post about the money Minecraft earned last year. Here's his post below:

It's weird as f***. I grew up in a relatively poor family, but once I got a decent job, I never really had to worry about money. My hobbies were playing games and programming, so there wasn't any real drain. I could eat out when I wanted to, and go to the movies without having to save up for it. I still had to save up for trips and to be able to buy computers or consoles, but that just felt normal.

Now, all of the sudden, as a result of how modern society works, I managed to somehow earn a s***-ton of money. I still like playing games and programming, and once I had the latest computer and consoles, there really isn't much more to spend the money on than traveling. I might eventually get a driver's license so I can buy a car.

I think the right way to use money like this is to set a decent portion aside to make sure my family is comfortable, spend some on living out your dreams, and then try to put the rest towards making society a better place. For me, this includes charities that help children, and charities that help promote freedoms I think are vital in the coming dozens of years, such as the EFF.

[via Kotaku]

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Comments
  • From rags to riches, I've heard that story before.
  • via Kotaku? More like via Reddit.
  • Don't care. Really tired of people publishing whatever Notch says.
  • He doesn't have a drivers license?
  • His wealth is all well and good, but does anyone else notice that he has become increasingly obnoxious in his views of the game industry?
  • "then try to put the rest towards making society a better place. For me, this includes charities that help children, and charities that help promote freedoms I think are vital in the coming dozens of years, such as the EFF." Wish more people were like him. The world would be a better place (and a more creative one too).
  • and making a windows 8 version of minecraft.
  • Notch isn't 100% deserving of this, Jeb has made most of the game. He barely does anything now except VACATIONS.
  • Self made indeed.

  • Charity is good. That's great of him.

  • And why should he mince words when saying how awesome it is to be rich? Some skill, lots of luck. That's how it is for most rich people. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing; hell, I'm super jealous of him, but I don't hate him for having money. All we can do is just go along with what we get in life, and try to be as happy as possible with it.
  • It's nice to see a guy like that get filthy rich.  Good for Notch.

  • Wow, did this guy just become one of my favorite game developers?

  • I am happy for him. Some people get rich for the wrong reasons, thinking of the wrong motives. His wealth is a consequence of the success of his labour, and his plans seem respectable enough.

  • If it happened to me, I would actually spend my money the exact same way.
  • He deserves it!

  • Do you guys ever do any of your own research for this magazine/website or just surf Reddit all day and repost? Lazy as f***.
  • Awesome, wish all the devs were more like that guy

  • Notch has a very unique personality.

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