Minecraft Creator Markus Persson Lists Beverly Hills Mansion for $70M

Markus "Notch" Persson, the Swedish programmer who created Minecraft and founded Mojang Studios, has placed his famous Beverly Hills megamansion up for sale at $70 million. The asking price is the exact amount Persson paid for the property twelve years ago in 2014, shortly after selling his company to Microsoft for $2.5 billion.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times and The Times of India, Persson originally made headlines in 2014 when he outbid music icons Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who had toured the newly built speculative home several times before later buying an $88 million estate in Bel-Air in 2017. At the time, Persson's $70 million purchase set a price record for Beverly Hills.

Inside the 22,300-Square-Foot Trousdale Estates Property

Set on nearly an acre in the Trousdale Estates enclave with panoramic views stretching from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean, the furnished residence was originally developed by luxury builder Bruce Makowsky. According to the Los Angeles Times, Makowsky is famous for packing speculative mansions with extravagant extras, once listing another property alongside a $30 million vehicle fleet that included a Bugatti, a sailboat, and a helicopter from the 1980s television show Airwolf.

When Persson moved in, the house already featured eight bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a lift, a $200,000 candy room, an 18-seat movie theatre, a car lift built to display luxury vehicles (as noted by Forbes and the New York Post), and a 2,500-bottle wine cellar stocked with cases of Dom Pérignon. The property even included an art installation built around a chrome machine gun as its centrepiece.

Robb Report notes that the core of the house is a massive great room connecting a circular lounge to a main living area, paired with a bar, a fireplace dining space, and a white-cabinetry kitchen where glass pocket doors slide open to an outdoor grill and alfresco dining deck. The minimal primary bedroom suite comes with a marble bathroom and its own private swimming pool, while the other bedrooms—some fitted with dark-wood floors and private outdoor access—share a second curving pool overlooking the L.A. skyline.

After taking ownership, Persson poured millions of dollars more into customising the basement and entertainment spaces. According to Robb Report and the New York Post, he installed a fully outfitted gym, a glossy basement nightclub with a dance floor, bar, and DJ booth, and a multimillion-dollar professional recording studio complete with a separate drum room. Co-listing agent Branden Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates shared that well-known recording artists were invited to the house to record music.

Why the Price Has Not Moved in Twelve Years

As The Economic Times and IGN point out, while the median home value in Los Angeles has more than doubled over the past twelve years, the ultra-luxury market for speculative megamansions has cooled considerably. Developers saturated the area with high-end estates during the mid-2010s, leaving a smaller pool of buyers at the top end.

Luxury property markets across the United States have slowed down, so agents are moving away from aspirational pricing—buyers in this bracket want something unique that cannot easily be copied, and Persson is committed to getting the home sold.

Aaron Kirman, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California (via Los Angeles Times & Wall Street Journal)

Thelisting is jointly held by Aaron Kirman and Katia De Los Reyes of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, alongside Branden Williams and Rayni Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates. Kirman told the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times that Persson is parting with the estate simply because he does not spend much time in Los Angeles anymore.

Even with zero price appreciation since 2014, a $70 million sale would make Persson's house the most expensive home sold in Beverly Hills this year, and the second-highest in Los Angeles County behind Casa Encantada, a historic Bel-Air estate that former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel bought for $130 million at a foreclosure auction in September. The New York Post also notes that properties inside Beverly Hills are exempt from the City of Los Angeles's Measure ULA "mansion tax", helping the local single-family median price rise 18.8% year-on-year to $8 million by the end of September.

California's Billionaire Exodus and Where Minecraft Stands Now

Although Persson's agents attribute the sale to how little time he spends in the city, IGN and the New York Post highlight that the listing coincides with a wider departure of tech billionaires from California ahead of a vote on Proposition 40. The proposed ballot measure would introduce a one-time 5% wealth tax on the net worth of all billionaires in the state.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg recently agreed to pay $170 million for an unfinished waterfront property on Miami's Indian Creek Island, while Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have also acquired South Florida estates and scaled back their California presence, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has publicly considered leaving. According to Politico, more than 70 current and former California billionaires contributed a record $612 million into this year's state elections, with nearly half of that money aimed at defeating Proposition 40.

1. 2009

   Markus 'Notch' Persson founds Mojang Studios.

2. 2011

   Minecraft sees its full official release and grows into the bestselling game of all time.

3. 2014

   Persson sells Mojang to Microsoft for $2.5 billion and buys the Beverly Hills mansion for a record $70 million.

4. 2017

   After being outbid by Persson in 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z buy an $88 million estate in Bel-Air.

5. Late 2026

   Persson re-lists the upgraded Beverly Hills property for $70 million as he spends less time in L.A.

As IGN observes, Persson has not released any major video games since handing Minecraft over to Microsoft in 2014. Meanwhile, the franchise itself remains massive: the core game receives regular updates, Microsoft recently launched the action-RPG spinoff sequel Minecraft Dungeons 2, and A Minecraft Movie passed $700 million at the global box office with a film sequel already in development.

How Players and the Community Are Reacting

Across community discussions and video reactions, Minecraft players have responded to the listing with a mix of nostalgia and dry humour. Many long-time fans recall the viral 2014 photos of Persson throwing celebrity house parties and posing in front of the $200,000 candy room, joking that selling a heavily upgraded mansion for the exact same price twelve years later is the ultimate billionaire write-off once you factor in inflation and millions in studio renovations.

Others in the community have pointed out the irony of a solo indie developer who built a blocky sandbox game in his bedroom ending up with a 15-bathroom estate, a chrome machine gun sculpture, and a private nightclub that he barely visits. While some commenters debate whether California's proposed billionaire tax quietly influenced the timing, most players see the sale as the closing chapter of gaming's wildest overnight-wealth story.