Minecraft's bizarre end poem never owned by Mojang or Microsoft, writer claims

Have you ever reached Minecraft’s end credits? Doing so requires visiting its hard-to-reach The End dimension and defeating the Elder Dragon boss who dwells there.

If you have got past this point, you’ll likely remember the bizarre eight-minute scrolling text story which comes next, before the end credits begin proper.

It’s a truly odd read – structured as a conversation between two higher beings apparently observing you – the player. Perhaps even odder, it was never officially licensed to Minecraft developer Mojang, and subsequently is not owned by Microsoft.

This week, Julian Gough, the author of said poem, published a 10,000-word account of how his work came to be in the game – and how he held out on handing over the rights to his writing (thanks, Nintendo Life).