Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson’s Game Developers Conference honor cements his legacy

The man behind Minecraft can add another “notch” to his list of accolades.

The Game Developers Choice Awards, which give out peer-voted honors during the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco each year, revealed that Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson will receive the Pioneer Award. Persson’s Minecraft has become one of the popular games in recent history and has sold over 70 million copies. It’s available on just about every platform imaginable, expanded into physical media with Lego sets, and introduced a generation of children to the idea of user-generated content in gaming. Persson sold Minecraft and his company, Mojang, to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014. Previous Pioneer Award winners include Valve boss Gabe Newell and Missle Command creator Dave Theurer.