Playfin

Markus Persson, better known to many by the nickname “Notch”, will step down as lead designer of the immensely popular indie world-building game Minecraft. This move, which Notch announced this morning via his personal blog, comes as a surprise to many fans of Minecraft, which is estimated to have generated total sales over $33 million USD since its alpha release in May 2009. The new lead designer for Minecraft may be a familiar name to many fans who have followed the development of Minecraft over the years — Jens “Jeb” Bergensten, a developer and colleague of Notch’s at Mojang.

Though this news is sad for some, it comes with a silver lining. Up until January 2012 when the leadership change officially takes effect, Notch will devote most of his time to building out better modding support for Minecraft. This will give users much greater tools with which to create — and enjoy — user-generated content within Minecraft. Notch will then be able to focus on other non-Minecraft projects, such as his new game Scrolls, which is currently still in development. Here’s wishing him all the best!

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