Minecraft has taken down all mentions of creator Markus "Notch" Persson from the main menu as part of sweeping changes for the game title.
In the game's latest update, developers have taken down various splash text such as "The Work of Notch!", "Made by Notch!", and even "110813!", which was in reference to Notch's wedding day. These messages usually appeared on the game's menu, but now they are nowhere to be seen.
However, if players were to make their way to the game credits, they would still see Notch's name right there.
4J Studios, the company that handles Minecraft's console versions, confirmed through Twitter that the game will indeed feature updated splash text.
Rumor has it that the references to Notch were removed as a way to distance the game from its original creator, who has become increasingly controversial as of late.
Minecraft's Massive Appeal
Over the past decade, few game creators ever reached the same levels of fame and notoriety as Notch. The widespread appeal of Minecraft both to hardcore and casual gamers helped make him a household name in the gaming industry. This was quite interesting given the game's humble beginnings.
Minecraft started out as a retread of an old game that Notch was working on called RubyDung. The title was a mashup between Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress, and Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Notch later decided to add some elements of world building after coming across the block-based sandbox game Infiniminer. He also pulled some character models from another game idea known as Zombie Town to populate his new virtual world.
"I realized that that was the game I wanted to do," Notch wrote in his Tumblr post.
"I tried to implement a simple first person engine in that style, reusing some art and code (although not as much as you'd think) from RubyDung."
Minecraft quickly became a huge hit among gamers soon after its launch in 2011. The game sold 5.3 million copies in 2012, making it the sixth best-selling PC game of all time.
In 2014, Microsoft bought Notch's company Mojang and the intellectual property rights to Minecraft for $2.5 billion. It has since gone on to sell 154 million copies across platforms and gained a monthly userbase of more than 91 million players worldwide.
Notch's Controversial Views
After the Microsoft deal, Notch went from being one of the most respected developers to one of the most polarizing members of the gaming industry. He has become infamous on Twitter for his highly controversial point of views on race, gender, the LGBTQ community, and other topics.
Notch's recent social media behavior and his lack of involvement in any of Minecraft's continued developments has led many to believe that Microsoft is trying to distance the game from its embattled creator. Ever since taking ownership of the IP, the tech company has marketed the game mostly to a younger audience.
Several video game websites have tried contacting Microsoft and 4J Studios to get their side on the splash text change. However, Microsoft refused to comment.
