Persson sold his wildly popular game a year ago. Since then he bought a mansion in Beverly Hills for $70 million, reportedly outbidding Beyonce and Jay Z. But even those ultra-luxury digs aren’t enough to make him happy.
“The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance,” he wrote at the start of series of tweets.
The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
His depression apparently struck a cord with the twitterverse. Nearly 1,400 people retweeted that first tweet, and 2,200 favorited it. But Persson wasn’t done there. He followed with tweets about never feeling more isolated. Part of the isolation apparently comes from having nothing to do, just sitting around waiting for friends and family.
Hanging out in ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I’ve never felt more isolated. — Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
Persson feels unappreciated by the workers at his former company, who he said he made sure were taken care of in the sale to Microsoft.
In sweden, I will sit around and wait for my friends with jobs and families to have time to do shit, watching my reflection in the monitor.
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
Some people suggested he follow the example of Elon Musk, who took the fortune he made from selling his stake in PayPal to eBay and used it to start businesses he was passionate about.
I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of assholes that made me sell minecraft again. — Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
Musk, of course, launched Tesla Motors, which is trying to combat global warming by developing an affordable electric car, and SpaceX, which is trying to create an affordable rocket to take people to Mars. But Persson rejected the idea of such visionary efforts.
The tweets brought encouragement from some others who had enjoyed sudden success, although maybe not actual billions. It also brought offers from people who said they’d be willing to hang out with Persson and be his friend. He said he appreciated all the offers and reassurances.
And when one person tweeted him about his regretting the sale to Microsoft, he responded early Monday that “selling out was the best thing I ever did.”
People who made sudden success are telling me this is normal and will pass. That’s good to know! I guess I’ll take a shower then!
— Markus Persson (@notch) August 29, 2015
