It turns out that the most certain thing this windfall bought him was some heavy soul-searching. The only thing he has learned for sure: He was right to walk away from Minecraft. In explaining his recent decisions, he quotes Leonardo da Vinci: “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
This seems to be becoming a depressingly common story. Guy or girl creates something cool or popular. Gets an uncomfortable amount of hate over how they manage it. Checks out. Lucky for Persson it netted him well north of a billion dollars. But no amount of money makes that kind of hate feel any better.
As I think about the small possibility of Outshape being really successful, I do get a little terrified. But my ability to ignore the internet has increased greatly in the past couple of years. I won’t mind if it’s a problem I have to deal with.