Forbes has detailed its annual 500 richest people in the United States list and it boasts two new names from the video game industry. Gabe Newell, who co-founded Valve Software and has been the brains behind classic titles like Half Life and digital distribution platform Steam, is one with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. This is largely due to Valve’s success but Newell is also a majority shareholder in the company.

The second entrant is Markus “Notch” Persson better known as the man who created Minecraft and one of the youngest billionaires on the list. After founding Mojang, Perrson created Minecraft which caused a sensation like no other indie game before it. Persson sold Minecraft and Mojang to Microsoft last year and earned $1.75 billion from the deal due to owning a 70 percent stake in the company.

Who’s on top? Why, Bill Gates with an estimated market value of $79.2 billion of course. What are your thoughts on Newell and Persson making it in though? Let us know below.

Mojang founder and Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson took the world by storm last year when it was revealed that he was selling the IP to Microsoft for $2.5 billion. During this time, Persson left the company to continue experimenting and trying new ventures. This prompted many among the community to accuse him of “selling out”.

Despite speaking about the same in the past, Persson addressed being a “sell out” once again on Twitter. “I kinda feel like I am, but I still feel like I made the right choice. I guess some things always come at a cost.”

There was also the pressure of trying to live up to the success of Minecraft, which failing would have made him to be perceived as a one shot wonder. “The one trick pony thing was hard to deal with. Matching the insane success of Minecraft would be impossible. I’m ok with it now.”

Persson is happy to return to programming even with all the frustration and annoyance. There’s also the bonus that “when most prototypes are horribly unplayable, nobody judges me.”

What are your thoughts on the whole deal? Let us know in the comments.

Microsoft has announced the finalization of its deal to acquire Mojang and its hit sandbox title Minecraft for a whopping $2.5 billion. However, Mojang co-founder and Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has announced he will be leaving the studio to focus on his own small projects.

Announcing the same on his personal website, Persson stated that, “I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.

“A relatively long time ago, I decided to step down from Minecraft development. At first, I failed by trying to make something big again, but since I decided to just stick to small prototypes and interesting challenges, I’ve had so much fun with work. I wasn’t exactly sure how I fit into Mojang where people did actual work, but since people said I was important for the culture, I stayed.”

Persson also talked about the disconnect with fans, stating that, “I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter. As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I’ll probably abandon it immediately.

“Considering the public image of me already is a bit skewed, I don’t expect to get away from negative comments by doing this, but at least now I won’t feel a responsibility to read them. I’m aware this goes against a lot of what I’ve said in public. I have no good response to that. I’m also aware a lot of you were using me as a symbol of some perceived struggle. I’m not. I’m a person, and I’m right there struggling with you.

“I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.”

He then closed with stating that, “It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.”

Thoughts on Microsoft buying Minecraft and Notch moving on from the game? Let us know below.

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.

One of the most immediate fall-outs of Oculus Rift being recently acquired by Facebook is that Mojang’s open world sandbox hit Minecraft won’t be arriving for the VR platform.

Creator Markus “Notch” Persson explained his reasons on Twitter, stating that, “We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.”

Persson further expanded on his reasons in a blog post, stating that, “What I saw was every bit as impressive as you could imagine. They had fixed all the major issues, and all that remained was huge design and software implementation challenges. As someone who always felt like they were born five or ten years too late, I felt like we were on the cusp of a new paradigm that I might be able to play around with.

“I could be part of the early efforts to work out best practices, and while I have no doubt that in ten years we’ll look back at the problems with early VR applications in the same we look back at GUI problems with early PC games, it still felt exciting to me.”

“And then, not two weeks later, Facebook buys them. Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.

“I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook. Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven’t historically been a stable platform. There’s nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me,” he said,

“And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition. I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers at Oculus. It’s been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I’d like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways.”

Granted, Facebook buying Oculus Rift is as big a surprise as anything to happen this year. What will be the eventual result? We’ll need to wait to find out.

Minecraft creator Mojang is currently swimming in cash. If not because the sandbox is a monumental success worldwide across all its platforms, then because the firm made 816 million Swedish kronor/$128 million in 2013. This is more than double their amount made in 2012, which was 326 million kronor/$51.38 million.

According to PC Games N, Minecraft is the main source of revenue, with a 38 percent gain to 2.07 billion, 30 percent of which has come from console versions of the game. Merchandise has also played a central role with 38 percent of revenue coming from the PC version’s sales. Minecraft has sold more than 14 million copies on the PC and an accumulated 35 million copies across all platforms. That number will further increase when the Xbox One and PS4 versions hit.

Whichever way you look at it, Notch and company are making it rain despite being a small studio with only 34 members. Thoughts? Let us know below.

Open world sandbox title Minecraft is apparently being made into a movie, according to a tweet from creator and Mojang founder Marcus “Notch” Persson.

“Someone is trying leak the fact that we’re working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak!”

Minecraft has been not only one of the biggest indie successes of all time, but arguably one of the most successful games of our time. With more than 35 million copies sold among all major platforms, it’s not surprising that it would be considered for a major motion picture.

Now the question is: How does such a picture work? And who’s going to be cast as the Enderman? Will the Tower of Pimps make a cameo? Will Edgar ever finally be freed?

These are all pressing questions, but we’ll need to wait a good long while to find out. Stay tuned for more details and updates in the coming months.

Mojang’s Minecraft for the PC – which includes the Windows, Linux and Mac OS versions – has sold 14 million copies according to a new tweet by creator Markus “Notch” Persson who is currently “Celebrating by having no idea how to play Lego marvel on ps4!”

One of the best selling titles of 2013 according to the NPD, Minecraft places consistently in the top 10 in the UK with the Xbox 360 Edition – which at last count sold 10 million copies worldwide – and total lifetime sales have hit about 35 million since the game’s release. Considering its humble indie origins, that’s not bad at all. Minecraft has also helped inspire several other hit sandbox titles like Terraria.

Mojang is currently working on bringing Minecraft to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, along with regular content updates for currently released versions. Have you hopped aboard the griefing train yet? If so, let us know your thoughts about Minecraft in the comments below.

Despite rumours indicating that we’d be seeing the open world, sandbox title arriving on the Nintendo Wii U, Mojang boss Markus “Notch” Persson has debunked the same on Twitter.

“I am not aware of any plans to release a Wii U version of Minecraft,” he stated. He does believe that it would be a great idea, but regardless, he’s far too busy to commit to the same. “I agree a Wii U version would make sense, btw. The only reason for no current plans is we’ve got too much work already. I

Which is a fairly legitimate statement, since he’s busy working with 4J Studios to bring Minecraft to the Xbox One, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 in the coming year. Maybe a Wii U version would arrive after that, but there’s no telling when at this point. Would you like to see Minecraft on the Wii U though? Share your thoughts below.

Speaking to EDGE, he stated that, “I think it’s a wonderful idea to have the actual box be the dev kits. This makes it easier for both the developer and for Microsoft, and presumably they could make it a lot cheaper since they’d only sell unlock codes. I realize there are other factors at play here, though, like a perceived need to make sure only ‘legitimate’ developers get access to it, so a monetary barrier might still be in place.”

Along with being one of the most successful titles ever on Xbox Live, Minecraft will also be heading to the Xbox One in the near future.