Minecraft Creator Joins Forbes Billionaire List

Business magazine Forbes has published its 2015 list of the world's billionaires, and one newcomer has ties to video games.

Markus "Notch" Persson, who sold Mojang and the Minecraft franchise to Microsoft in September for $2.5 billion, joins the ranks of the super-rich with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion. Notch is believed to have owned 70 percent of shares in Mojang, yielding a major payday when the deal went through.

Persson bought a $70 million Beverly Hills mansion earlier this year, outbidding power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce. He later threw one heck of a housewarming party. Another recent Forbes story reveals that Persson is known to spend as much as $180,000 per night during trips to Las Vegas.

According to Forbes, Bill Gates is yet again the richest person in the world, a title he's held for 16 of the past 21 years. His total fortune is $79.2 billion, up $3.2 billion since last year. Check out the full Forbes list here.

In other recent Minecraft news, a recent report claimed that Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts both attempted to buy the franchise before Microsoft ultimately won out.