Marcus "Notch" Persson Turned Down a Job at Valve to Develop Minecraft

[Josh Engen]

Marcus "Notch" Persson Turned Down a Job at Valve to Develop Minecraft

Valve attempted to recruit Notch while he was working on Minecraft, but Mr. Persson politely declined.

Marcus 'Notch' Persson has become a kind of Robin Hood figure within the videogame community. The Minecraft creator isn't shy about handed out $3 million [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117071-Notch-Dumps-on-EA-Indie-Bundle] of his own cash to the other employees at Mojang. But Notch's career almost took a very different path.

According to a passage from Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus 'Notch' Persson and the Game that Changed Everything, Valve took an interest in Notch while Minecraft was still in beta. Persson was invited to visit Valve's headquarters in Kirkland, WA where he met with Gabe Newell and was offered a development position. But Notch politely declined. "Somehow, I felt that Minecraft was maybe my chance to create a Valve, rather than work at Valve," Notch remembers.

Declining Valve's offer was difficult for Markus. Minecraft had become moderately successful by that point, but Notch was fearful that it wouldn't last. In fact, he had just recently quit his day job to focus on gaming.

It's probably safe to say that Notch made the right decision, though. Minecraft has sold over 33 million copies, and its popularity continues to grow. Plus, Notch managed to grab the second position on the 2013 edition of the TIME 100 Poll [http://time100.time.com/2013/03/28/time-100-poll/slide/the-results/], which puts him ahead of people like Barack Obama, Pope Francis, and Gabe Newell (who didn't even make the list).

Source: All Things D [http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/10/5196022/notch-turned-down-valve-job-offer-to-finish-minecraft]

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[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Oh this gona be good lets watch the reactions.

"grabs Doritos and chair"

Let the valvies be unleashed!

What reactions? He obviously made the right decision. It's not a matter of opinion.

 

[AstaresPanda]

yeh and its not like the offer would still not be there for him should he want to join valve. Would have done well either way.

 

[Jumwa]

By the point he got that offer, Minecraft was already very successful. It was already a phenomenon when it was in alpha, even! Trying to paint it as some gutsy move by a little guy deciding to go his own seems pretty silly.

 

[gigastar]

Oh this gona be good lets watch the reactions.

"grabs Doritos and chair"

Let the valvies be unleashed!

I dont know what youre expecting. That Valve tried to recruit him before Minecraft blew up shows that they recognised his talent before the other heavywieghts did, and its Notch's right to refuse the position. Nobody in thier right mind can hold that against him.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Well, with the way things are going for him, creating his own "Valve" could very well be possible.

I wish Valve did headhunting like that more often though, it seems a bit of a rarity for them.

 

[bafrali]

Well being employed would drastically limit his options even if it was for working for Valve so I am glad this gamble worked for him.

But I am curious. What does a Persson do with all that money? His development team is a small one and he seems to be pretty humble with his life style. Maybe he is saving up for a ticket to space like most millionaires do.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I wish Valve did headhunting like that more often though, it seems a bit of a rarity for them.

Mate Half Life is the only IP Valve made on their own, everything else came in with perspective modders and indie devs.

Can't really see how it would be difficult to decline Valve when Minecraft beta was already earning in tens of millions, even if it ended at that very point Notch could live the rest of his life in luxury.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I wish Valve did headhunting like that more often though, it seems a bit of a rarity for them.

Mate Half Life is the only IP Valve made on their own, everything else came in with perspective modders and indie devs.

Can't really see how it would be difficult to decline Valve when Minecraft beta was already earning in tens of millions, even if it ended at that very point Notch could live the rest of his life in luxury.

That's why I said "it seems like".

I know full well that they employed the original modders for DoTA 2 and other indies for Portal.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

How much longer are we going to hear about what Notch isn't doing before we hear anything about what he is doing?

Not to start a hate train but he cancelled his Firefly inspired game and Scrolls is being outdone by Blizzard of all people with Hearthstone.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Oh this gona be good lets watch the reactions.

"grabs Doritos and chair"

Let the valvies be unleashed!

Um...

Sorry, I don't see what's rage-worthy in this article. And I say that as a self-admitted Valve fanboy.

Valve tried to get what would soon be a successful product in its infancy, Notch turned him down and it payed off later.

 

[Smertnik]

Odd.. I could have sworn this area was called The News Room.. not The Olds Room.

Eh, it's still better than notifications about some discounted game or LoL skins.

 

[vun]

Eh, the question still stands; will it last? I don't think they can live off of Minecraft for too long, so I'll be interested in seeing where Mojang ends up.

 

[omega 616]

Can we all just climb down off notch's giant golden cock and balls? Every time this guy squeezes out a fart there is fan fare. The guy chose self employment over getting a job, thousands have done it... Ok, it's in our sphere of gaming but so what?

He went with the formula of a simple idea sells and it did. Minecraft blew up 2 years ago and the fucking thing won't fuck off! I'm happy for the guy and I'm jelly of his money (as much as I am jelly of anybody with more cash than me) but jeez, his game is digital lego. Chill the fuck out about it.

 

[iniudan]

Eh, the question still stands; will it last? I don't think they can live off of Minecraft for too long, so I'll be interested in seeing where Mojang ends up.

He made enough with Minecraft to live the rest of his life, even after Swedish taxes.

 

[misg]

I completely respect Notch for turning down the offer I'm sure he had some rough night thinking about turning down the offer. Although one thing I'm curious about is what if Value had picked up the game? That I think is the most interesting thing here. What would of happened? How would of Value improved the game? Would they of moved it to a different engine? All interesting thought of what may of happened to Minecraft had Notch accepted the offer.

 

[uchytjes]

He turned down the opportunity to sit among a pantheon of gods in order to write his own story. Say what you will about the man, but he sure as hell has conviction.

 

[Headsprouter]

Well, thank god he didn't. We got a great, original game out of it, whereas if he did go work at Valve, we'd be exactly the same as we are today minus Minecraft. I guarantee that Valve would have put him to no original use whatsoever.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

From a business and I have to admit, possibly artist perspective, he made the right call. Valve is still an awesome company, although some of their steam policies are a bit iffy. However, how the company works (a "vote with your desk" system were employees decided which projects they want to support) may of meant minecraft would not of gotten the attention that Mojang has been able to give it.