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Indie development legend and millionaire Markus ‘Notch’ Persson is to be awarded with the Special Award at the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards on March 16th.

The Swedish creator of Minecraft shot to fame through his first independent project – Minecraft.

Initially released in beta form in 2009, the game has gone on to be an international blockbuster with over 16m registered users. It currently makes around 160,000 per day for Notch’s development studio Mojang and has grossed a total of 62m since launch.

"I’ve always considered the BAFTA Awards to be one of the most prestigious awards one can receive, and I was very happy when it expanded to cover video games in 1998,” Persson stated.

When I first heard that I would receive a BAFTA Special Award, I was blown away and deeply humbled.Going to London to accept this award is going to be a very positive and interesting experience that I’m very much looking forward to."

BAFTA video game committee chair Ray Maguire added: Markus is an inspiration for all games developers and this Award reflects the determination and innovation that he continues to show to both the developer community and to gamers worldwide.

We are thrilled that he will accept this Award and are excited to see what new developments he will introduce to the industry in years to come.”