Later in life,
On August 13, 2011, he married Elin Zetterstrand who goes by the nickname "Ez" in the Minecraft community, and "ezchili" on Twitter. On August 15, 2012, he announced on Twitter that he was now single. He is a member of the Swedish chapter of Mensa and also makes electronica music under the name "Markus Alexei".
He has criticized both piracy as well as the stance of large game companies on piracy and he is a member of the Swedish Pirate Party. Persson is an atheist, and cited his theological and moral views as one of the principal donors to Médecins Sans Frontières during the Thanksgiving charity event of 2011. Under his direction, Mojang contributed a week to developingCatacomb Snatch for the Humble Bundle Mojam, for which the $458,248.99 raised would be donated to charity.
The games he created
Minecraft
Main article: Minecraft
Persson's most popular creation is the survival sandbox game Minecraft, which was released on 18 November 2011.Persson quit his job as a game developer to work on Minecraft full-time until completion. In early 2011 Mojang AB sold their one millionth copy of the game, several months later their second, and several more their third. He has recently hired several new staff members to theMinecraft team. A version for Android and iOS called Pocket Edition has also been released. An Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft was released on May 9, 2012. The Xbox edition also features certain new updates including a tutorial, skin packs, etc.
Scrolls
Main article: Scrolls (video game)
Persson and Jakob Porser came up with the idea for Scrolls including elements from board games and collectible card games. Persson noted he will not be actively involved in development of the game and that Porser will be developing it. Persson revealed on his tumblr blog on 5 August 2011 that he was being sued by a Swedish lawyer firm representing Bethesda Softworks over the trademarked name of Scrolls claiming it conflicted with their The Elder Scrolls series of games. On 17 August 2011 Persson challenged Bethesda to a Quake 3tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute. On 27 September 2011 Persson confirmed on Twitter that the lawsuit was going to court. Some clarification was made that it is ZeniMax Media, the company owning Bethesda Softworks, who are pushing for the lawsuit. A settlement was reached in March 2012 that allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark.
0x10c
Main article: 0x10c
Following the end to his involvement with Minecraft, Persson began pre-production of an alternate reality space game set in the distant future in March 2012. On April Fools' Day, Mojang launched a satirical website for Mars Effect (parody of Mass Effect), citing the lawsuit with Bethesda as an inspiration. However, the gameplay elements remained true and on April 4, Mojang revealed 0x10c as a spacesandbox title.
Ludum Dare entries
Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions.
Breaking the Tower
Breaking the Tower was a game Persson created for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 12 competition. The game was written in two days. The game takes place on a small island, where the player must gather resources, construct buildings, and train soldiers in order to destroy a large tower on this island. The game received brief gaming media attention.
Metagun
Metagun is a 2D platformer created for Ludum Dare #18.
Prelude of the Chambered
Prelude of the Chambered is a game Persson created for the entry to the Ludum Dare No. 21 competition. He wrote the game in two days, Prelude of the Chambered is a short first-person dungeon crawler videogame entirely written in Java.
Minicraft
Main article: Minicraft
Minicraft is a game created for Ludum Dare No. 22, held 16–19 December 2011.] It is a small top-down game with similarities to Zelda and influenced by Minecraft. It is written inJava.
