Minecraft gets a new lead developer as Notch steps away to prepare his next trick

By Adam Rosenberg Published December 2, 2011

minecraft — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Markus “Notch” Persson is just coming off of a landmark month in his career. The Mojang founder and Minecraft creator finally delivered the version 1.0 release of his blocky world-building game to fans on November 18, at the tail end of the Las Vegas fan convention known as MineCon. He’s earned a break and he’s taking it, as a new The Word of Notch blog post reveals, but he also confirms that he’ll be switching things up a bit when he DOES return to work.

“As of yesterday, Jens Bergensten is the new lead developer on Minecraft,” Notch writes. “He will have the final say in all design decisions, so he will kinda sorta become my boss, I guess. I’ve promised him to not pull rank.”

Bergensten has been working with Persson on Minecraft for roughly a year, and the game’s creator feels that he’s a perfect replacement for the top dog role. “I’m amazing at how much in synch we two are when it comes to how to design the game,” he writes. “And when we don’t agree, we discuss it and something much better comes out at a result.”

Notch intends to rest up right now, and he’ll continue helping out with Minecraft when he eventually returns, but his big focus on coming back will be a new project of some kind. For now, you can keep track of Bergensten’s Minecraft progress on Twitter or write to him directly (be nice!) at jeb@mojang.com.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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Yesterday's Wordle answer
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Today’s Wordle includes the letter D.
Today’s Wordle uses two vowels.
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