Minecraft has become one of the revelations in the world of video games in recent years. The creative freedom provided by this title has created large communities of players who are dedicated to recreating with great detail.

The year 2012 ended with a bang literally to Mojang AB, creator of Minecraft. The game Xbox 360 Edition sold more than 5 million copies in last year December only, maintaining its average of about 50,000 copies sold every week, with a peak of 453,000 in the well only on Christmas Day. The company has sold more than 20 million copies of Minecraft, which runs across modern smartphones, Xbox Live and standard PCs.

This has proved very good business for Markus “Notch” Persson, who made $101 million and the company earned $240 million in 2012.

“It’s weird as f***,” Persson wrote in a post on content-aggregation website Reddit. “I grew up in a relatively poor family, but once I got a decent job, I never really had to worry about money. My hobbies were playing games and programming, so there wasn’t any real drain. I could eat out when I wanted to, and go to the movies without having to save up for it. I still had to save up for trips and to be able to buy computers or consoles, but that just felt normal.”

By comparison, the largest social-gaming company in the world, Zynga, with 3,000 employees generates some $200 million in annual cash flow.

Started under the guidance of 33-year-old Markus Persson, Minecraft soon became a popular game where we can unleash our imagination and build buildings and landscapes based on the famous cubes that represent different materials and colors. There is no analogy for Minecraft’s success, there are multiple story-lines that you can get attached to and think why it’s successful.

The game has become well known even outside the network through the materialization of some designs using 3D printing or launching a set of Lego.

What Notch wants to do with the money? First and foremost it is about to imitate the license in order to finally be able to afford a car.

“Now, all of the sudden, as a result of how modern society works, I managed to somehow earn a shit-ton of money,” said Persson. “I still like playing games and programming, and once I had the latest computer and consoles, there really isn’t much more to spend the money on than traveling. I might eventually get a driver’s license so I can buy a car.”

Notch wants to spend the money on his family and some parts to charities that help children, and charities that help promote freedoms such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation.