10 Video Games That Made Their Creators Leave The Industry

Markus "Notch" Persson is one of the world's most famous gaming personalities, having created the massive sandbox phenomenon Minecraft, which grew from a small indie game into the global, billion-dollar phenom it is today.

But Notch never intended to shine such a light on himself, and after a few years toiling away at Minecraft's expansion following its 2011 release, he craved an exit from the pressure of being the public face of such a gargantuan pop-culture monolith.

And so in 2014, Notch sold Minecraft to Microsoft, causing his net worth to soar to a cool $1.5 billion, allowing him to walk away from the table entirely.

Though Notch didn't formally announce his retirement from games development, he's largely spent the last five years enjoying his immense fortune - including buying a $70 million Beverly Hills home - with virtually zero major involvement in the gaming industry.

Many Minecraft fans ultimately see it as a net-positive for everyone, given Notch's extremely questionable political views, which resulted in Microsoft effectively removing any remaining references to him from the game, and even refusing to invite him to Minecraft's 10th anniversary party.