Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson hasn’t been involved in the game’s development for several years, with studio Mojang being acquired by Microsoft and left to update and add to the game on its own. If you start up Minecraft today, however, you might not even realize that someone named Notch was ever involved with the game at all.
According to Kotaku, the mentions of Persson previously viewable at the beginning of the game is no longer there, though he is still listed in the game’s credits.
The official Minecraft Twitter account has not mentioned the change in its tweets, with Mojang apparently choosing to remove mention of the controversial figure in a quiet manner.
Notch posted several tweets directed at the change but didn’t appear to be overly bothered by it, telling one fan that “there’s beauty” in what happened.
What a day!!
— notch (@notch) March 28, 2019
He also criticized the state of Minecraft in 2019 and said that the game belonged to the players rather than its developers.
Persson has come under fire for controversial statements he’s made several times over the last few years. These included the message, “It’s okay to be white,” a slogan commonly used by those on the alt-right that is widely regarded as racist. He also tweeted his support for “Heterosexual Pride Day,” a reactionary and hypothetical holiday meant to diminish the importance of the LGBTQ community.
These controversies do very little to change Persson’s standard of living or career aspirations. When Mojang was sold to Microsoft back in 2014, he became a billionaire.
In the years since, Minecraft has continued to receive substantial content updates, including a move to a new engine that allows several different platforms to connect together. Minecraft was among the first games to support cross-play on Xbox One and Switch, though PlayStation 4 is currently left out of the fun.
Minecraft also received its own spinoff game, Minecraft: Story Mode, produced by the now-defunct Telltale Games. Unlike the creation-focused gameplay of the original game, it’s a narrative-focused adventure focused on character development. Alongside traditional game platforms, it’s also available as an interactive television show on Netflix and stars voice talent like Patton Oswalt and Sean Astin.
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