Minecraft Creator Defends Decision to Cancel Oculus Rift Port

Markus "Notch" Persson says the company was working on a free version of Minecraft for Rift.

Though applauded for his decision to take a stand and cancel the VR edition of Minecraft that Mojang had in development for Oculus Rift after the latter was acquired by Facebook, creator Markus “Notch” Persson has nonetheless faced criticism for the same. Some figures, such as Cliff Bleszinski said that cancelling the title made Notch “look like a pouty kid who is taking his ball and going home. It’s a bratty and petty move and it saddens me greatly.”

Persson responded to the same on Twitter. “CliffyB, one of the investors in Oculus, calls me a ‘pouty kid’ for cancelling the Minecraft thing. Damn straight I am.”

“Also, the ‘ball i’m taking home’ was a potential free version of Minecraft designed to promote VR,” said Persson, who also confirmed that this would have been Minecraft VR Edition. He also rebuked Oculus founder Palmer Luckey’s claims of having nothing in development, stating that a few prototypes had been built and proper development was on-going.

Meanwhile, the reception for Oculus Rift’s sale to Facebook still seem aggravated at best in the gaming community. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

cliff bleszinskiMarkus "Notch" PerssonMinecraftOculus RiftOculus VRVR