10 Hugely Influential People In Gaming You Need To Know About

8. Markus "Notch" Persson - Minecraft Creator

To be pedantic, it might not be accurate to say that Markus Persson is part of the gaming industry at all right now. Officially, he would probably be better categorised as unemployed. But whether he's masterminding a global phenomenon or tinkering on his laptop in solitude, you can be sure that Markus "Notch" Persson's every move is being followed eagerly by the industry he (supposedly unwittingly) re-shaped. The cynics, of which there are many, had a host of derisory things to say about Notch when he announced the sale of Mojang to Microsoft. When he announced "it's not about the money. It's about my sanity", it was hard to hear him over the sound of all that cash pouring into his bank account - that tends to happen when it's 2.5 billion dollars being exchanged. But, shameless hypocrisy aside, no one can discount Persson's ability to create - Minecraft has effected the gaming landscape in a deep, profound way, the kind of project that most developers could only dream of. Markus Persson claims to never want to make another hit game now that he is free of Mojang and Minecraft, but you can be sure that the world is watching, waiting to see how long he can hold out before he blows everyone's minds all over again.