Minecraft’s Latest Update Removes Mentions of Creator Markus “Notch” Persson From Splash Screens

In a recent update to the popular game Minecraft, changes were made to remove any reference to the game’s creator from the game’s splash screens.

On March 27th, Mojang AB released the 19w13a snapshot update for Minecraft to players worldwide, adding new features such as a new effect called Hero of the Village, changes to raids based on a player’s selected difficulty, and numerous bug fixes and gameplay improvements. Among the list of changes and improvements, one particular change stood out to fans: the removal of any reference to Minecraft creator and Mojang AB founder Markus “Notch” Persson.

However, this decision was not detailed by Mojang customer support agent Adrian Östergård in an official blog post detailing the 19w13a update, who omitted any information regarding the removal of references to Persson. Instead, the change was discovered on the Minecraft Gamepedia page for 19w13a:

Minecraft's Latest Update Removes Mentions of Creator Markus "Notch" Persson From Splash Screens

These changes were not publicly noted in the official Minecraft blogpost, but instead by fans on the Minecraft Gamepedia page.

While the splash screens will remove any reference to Persson, it is important to note that his name remains listed as the game’s creator in the game’s credit.

No official explanation was given as to why the references to Persson were removed, but many have speculated that it is due to Notch’s public rhetoric in the years since he sold Minecraft to Microsoft (a sale for which Persson received $2.5 billion). Persson is an active user on Twitter and has been unapologetically upfront with his criticisms of liberal policies and social justice ideology:

Evil calls itself communism to hide. By making itself appear to strive for the best, it becomes beyond critique. That’s why the scum gathers there. That’s why is [sp] is Legion.

– notch (@notch) March 20,  2019

Said criticisms have led to Persson being labeled as a Nazi, white-supremacist, and anti-trans bigot, despite the fact that he has never endorsed or supported said discriminatory ideologies.

Following the publishing of the changelog, Persson himself would personally comment on the matter on Twitter, indicating that the situation was a “win-win” for himself:

Persson also noted that he believed 2019 has been a bad year for Minecraft before reminding players that the game belongs to the fans:

What do you make of Microsoft removing Notch from splash screens?

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