Is Notch, the man behind Minecraft, reinventing his masterpiece?

On January 3, Markus Persson, better known as Notch, posted a message on X that shook the gaming world. "I just announced Minecraft 2." A simple sentence, but one that is loaded with meaning. For millions of players, it's a return to their roots. For others, it's a promise of something new. But who is Notch really, and why is his return causing so much noise?

In 2009, Minecraft was a small project conceived in a Swedish apartment. A game of blocks, creativity and exploration. No one, not even Notch, could have predicted that it would become the best-selling game in history, with over 300 million copies sold by 2023. Yet after selling Minecraft to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, Notch disappeared from the radar. Or almost.

Now, he's back with an idea in mind: to create a spiritual sequel to Minecraft. Not an official sequel, but something that captures its essence. "Sequels to games are usually worse," he wrote. "So why not do what people want, which they're willing to give me MORE money for." A statement that has drawn mixed reactions. Some see it as a return to the roots, others as an attempt to capitalize on a past success.

But who is Markus Persson, beyond the myth? Born in Sweden in 1979, he grew up in a modest family. Passionate about computers from a young age, he started coding at the age of 7. Before Minecraft, he worked on several small projects, but nothing that foreshadowed the huge success to come. Minecraft was his baby, his dream come true. And then, he sold it. Why? Because the pressure had become too great. "I didn't want to be the face of something that big," he once confided.

Today, Notch seems to have rediscovered his love for development. But the world has changed since 2009. The video game industry has become a well-oiled machine, dominated by giants like Microsoft, Sony, and Tencent. Indie games, like Minecraft in its early days, have struggled to break into a saturated market. Still, Notch remains optimistic. “I think people REALLY want me to make another game that’s very similar to Minecraft,” he said.

But what does "a spiritual sequel" really mean? For Notch, it's not about reproducing Minecraft exactly, but about capturing what made it so successful: the freedom, the creativity, the simplicity. "I want to recapture that magic," he explained. "That feeling that anything is possible."

And if Notch succeeds, it could have a huge impact on the industry. Minecraft has already changed the game once. It showed that an indie game could compete with blockbusters. It inspired a generation of developers. A spiritual sequel, even an unofficial one, could do the same. But the challenge is daunting. The market is more competitive than ever, and player expectations are high.

So what can we expect from this new project? Nobody knows yet. Notch himself seems to be torn between several ideas. "I want to do something new, but reminiscent of Minecraft," he confided. "Something that makes people smile, like the first time they played Minecraft."

In the meantime, one question remains: does the world still need a new Minecraft? Or should Notch instead turn to something completely different? Either way, one thing is for sure: his return will leave no one indifferent.