Notch Steps Down as Lead Developer on Minecraft

[WMDogma]

Notch Steps Down as Lead Developer on Minecraft

Co-developer Jens Bergensten will be taking over future development of Minecraft.

In a post made to his personal blog this morning, Minecraft creator and Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson announced that he has stepped down as lead developer of the popular sandbox indie game.

Jens "Jeb_" Bergensten will be taking over as lead developer, having worked on updates for Minecraft for the past year.

"I'm amazed at how much in synch we two are when it comes to how to design the game. " Perrson said in regards to his decision to hand over control of Minecraft's design to Bergensten. "And when we don't agree, we discuss it and something much better comes out at a result.

"Personally, I will now rest for a while, then get back to work refreshed and eager." Persson continued. "I'll be helping out with Minecraft, of course, but also starting work on some new project."

Fans of Minecraft can follow Bergensten on Twitter at @jeb_ [http://twitter.com/#!/jeb_] or email him at [email protected].

Since in its initial alpha release in May of 2009, Minecraft has received continual updates and patches introducing new content and modes of play. Currently, the game has sold approximately 4 million units, and recently a full, final version of Minecraft was released this past November for the PC. Versions of the game have also been made available on the Andriod and iOS markets.

Source: notch.tumblr.com



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[AndyFromMonday]

His team did all the work anyways.

 

[Haxxle]

I guess he's now directing his focus on scrolls.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"Personally, I will now rest for a while, then get back to work refreshed and eager."

Inb4 Notch takes too many holidays.

I'm not interested in Scrolls, but I'll be keeping an eye on Mojang.

 

[mew4ever23]

It's just a title, anyway. The whole team did the work.

 

[DasDestroyer]

Does this mean we get Scrolls sooner?

 

[TimeLord]

There's an iOS version of Minecraft? WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS?

 

[redisforever]

Cool. This probably won't affect us, though, because as far as I know, Jens was doing the programming at this point, and as Notch said, they'll still be working together on it, so this is just a title for him. Congrats for it though.

 

[Something Amyss]

And now he has more time to make outlandish claims and be worshiped by Minecraft fans. If Notch says the sky is orange, the sky is orange, dammit.

His team did all the work anyways.

Hey, it worked for Steve Jobs.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

'This just in as well, apparently pigs are finally capable of flight!'

I honestly can't say that I ever saw Notch stepping down coming. The guy is practically the face of Minecraft.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

It did seem like Jeb was doing all of the work lately, so this is pretty much a formality.

It'll be nice to see how Scrolls starts coming along now, assuming Notch will take on doing posts and such about that now.

 

[Kopikatsu]

And now he has more time to make outlandish claims and be worshiped by Minecraft fans. If Notch says the sky is orange, the sky is orange, dammit.

His team did all the work anyways.

Hey, it worked for Steve Jobs.

Orange sky is probably only a few variable changes away for Notch. =x

 

[trlkly]

Sure, the team does the work, but, unlike Jobs, he did come up with the concept. And, like Jobs, he did give final approval for any ideas anyone else had.

 

[joshthor]

poor jens. if the past is any indication jens will do a fine job but everyone will say he sucks and is ruining minecraft.

personally, i always hated minecraft. so he has nothing to ruin.

 

[Toasty Virus]

Wooo! There haven't been any good news like this since Steve Jobs died! Maybe that other guy can make Minecraft fun, it has so many possibilities but fail completly.

Is it really needed to celebrate someone's death like that?

OT: Time to rest? Notch has had like 3 holidays this year!

 

[Sucal]

Does this mean we might see some code optimisation?

 

[Von Strimmer]

There's an iOS version of Minecraft? WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS?

Kinda not doing your avatar justice there Its just alpha version pretty much mixed with creative (no monsters) I wouldnt be spending the $7AUD just get. Get the freebie version and go from there

 

[Zachery Gaskins]

'This just in as well, apparently pigs are finally capable of flight!'

I honestly can't say that I ever saw Notch stepping down coming. The guy is practically the face of Minecraft.

I can definitely say after the Yogscast debacle, that if I were a responsible CEO I'd make sure "the face of my products" isn't prone to running his mouth off on Twitter when he's tired, hungover, and not aware of the full facts of situations he didn't witness. (Not that I think anyone's free of blame in what transpired, of course.)

Now that Mojang is an up-and-coming indie developer and not the crusade of one man, they're starting to make decisions like one, which includes knowing when to give someone the spotlight and when to reintegrate them into a team.

It ain't all about Notch anymore, and that's a good thing.