Minecraft’s Markus Persson: ‘I’ve never felt more isolated’

A series of tweets by Minecraft creator Markus Persson has highlighted the developer’s struggles in trying to adjust to his newfound wealth.

Microsoft last year acquired Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5bn, with Notch himself netting somewhere in the region of $1.5bn. He used some of the money to buy a $70m LA mansion, outbidding Jay-Z and Beyonce in the process.

The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance,” he lamented on Twitter. Hanging out in Ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I’ve never felt more isolated.

When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now. Found a great girl, but she’s afraid of me and my life style and went with a normal person instead.”

However, as well as attacking some of the press coverage of his comments, Persson also moved to calm fears about the state of his mental health.

People who made sudden success are telling me this is normal and will pass. That’s good to know! I guess I’ll take a shower then,” he added. For what it’s worth, while there are articles about my depression because I had a bad day and vented on a trend I saw, I’m sitting here having a nice day.

To people out there with real problems: I’m sorry the whining of a newly wealthy programmer gets more attention than yours. Stay strong.”

The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.

— notch (@notch) August 29, 2015

https://twitter.com/notch/status/637563038258868224

When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now.

— notch (@notch) August 29, 2015

Found a great girl, but she's afraid of me and my life style and went with a normal person instead.

— notch (@notch) August 29, 2015

I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of assholes that made me sell minecraft again.

— notch (@notch) August 29, 2015

People who made sudden success are telling me this is normal and will pass. That's good to know! I guess I'll take a shower then!

— notch (@notch) August 29, 2015

Journalism /ˈdʒəːn(ə)lɪz(ə)m/ noun
1. Browsing twitter, speculating, and making up some shit.
2. (archaic) Accurately describing reality.

— notch (@notch) August 31, 2015

fwiw, while there are articles about my depression because I had a bad day and vented on a trend I saw, I'm sitting here having a nice day.

— notch (@notch) August 31, 2015

To people out there with real problems: I'm sorry the whining of a newly wealthy programmer gets more attention than yours. Stay strong.

— notch (@notch) August 31, 2015