Markus 'Notch' Persson has revealed his reasons for selling Mojang to Microsoft , explaining, "It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

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“ I can’t be responsible for something this big.

post on his website sees the Minecraft developer explain how his repeated attempts to step back from the game drew the ire of his "fans", leaving him with little choice other than this in a bid to return to his life of relative obscurity."I don’t see myself as a real game developer," he begins. "I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don’t try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It’s certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting. tweeted this in frustration. Later on, I watched the This is Phil Fish video on YouTube and started to realize I didn’t have the connection to my fans I thought I had. I’ve become a symbol. I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.He concluded the explanation by saying that should he "ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, [he’ll] probably abandon it immediately." He also explained that while some may view his departure as hypocritical given stances he has taken in the past, especially given his criticism of Oculus for selling to Facebook , he's not prepared to become a banner for others to rally behind. He's his own person, and he has his own issues to deal with."I love you. All of you," he wraps up the piece by writing. "Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can’t be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change."It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity."

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter