The man responsible for Minecraft was holding a grudge against Facebook and Oculus VR, but it looks like his resolve is waning.
Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson said on Twitter that he is no longer upset about the massive social network Facebook swooping in to acquire virtual-reality startup Oculus VR for $2 billion. This has some of the top executives over at Oculus excited, and its chief executive officer, Brendan Iribe, reshared Notch’s update. After seeing that, Doom creator and Oculus chief technology officer John Carmack went one step further and publicly propositioned the Minecraft millionaire.
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— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) August 17, 2014
Carmack, who is best known as a co-creator of the seminal Doom first-person shooter franchise, told Notch that he would port the game to Oculus VR. Gaming developers around the world revere Carmack’s coding capabilities and knowledge, and he would likely have little trouble getting the Lego-like block-building game working almost flawlessly in virtual reality.
We’ve reached out to Notch to ask if Minecraft for Oculus is back on, and we’ll update this post with any new information.
Minecraft’s importance to gaming is difficult to overstate. Across PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and mobile, developer Mojang has sold more than 54 million copies. Even after originally debuting in 2011, the physical disc version for PS3 and Xbox 360 continue to outsell many new, triple-A releases. Minecraft is especially popular with younger players, who are growing up on the open-world construction game in the same way that previous generations grew up on Super Mario Bros. or Pokémon.
The popularity of Minecraft makes Notch one of the most-influential people in gaming. While Oculus Rift is getting buzz and has the financial back of Facebook, support from developers like Notch is likely very important to the perception and eventual success of the device.
In March, when Facebook announced its deal to buy Oculus VR, Notch came out strongly against it. The developer said that Facebook creeps him out. In response to the acquisition, Notch canceled any plans to add Oculus Rift support to Minecraft.
Oculus Rift got its start through crowdfunding. The project raised more than $2.4 million on Kickstarter, and Notch participated in that as one of the top backers.
“I did not chip in $10,000 to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition,” Notch wrote in March. “I understand this purely as a business deal, and I’d like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners, but this is where we part ways.”
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Now, just a few months later, it looks like Notch’s path may cross with Oculus and Facebook’s once again.