Lad to buy house for homeless mum after raking in fortune from his bedroom by selling Minecraft business

It turns out that playing video games actually could end up getting you a good job.

A 17-year-old student from Ukraine has used his video game expertise to build up a business.

It's become so successful that he's now looking to buy a house for his mother.

PA

Maksym Gavrylenko ran a Minecraft server from his bedroom in Scotland, and has now made a 'substantial' amount of money from selling the server.

Maksym had initially bought the server in 2021 for around £1000. He made many substantial improvements which led to the server booming in popularity and attracting players in the hundreds.

A Minecraft server is effectively the space which allows players to play together online. It hosts players and controls elements within the game. Minecraft has servers like Maksym's which are owned and maintained by players of the game.

He told PA: "I am very proud that I was able to turn my passion into a profitable business and I plan on treating my mother.

"As a result of the war, she was forced to flee her home, leaving her homeless, so to buy her a property will make all the hours spent on this project worthwhile."

Maksym had initially purchased the server for fun with his friends, and hadn't anticipated the level of success it would achieve. The increasing number of players on the server led to advertisers becoming interested, and meant that he could sell it for money.

PA

He said: "We never imagined it would develop into a viable business opportunity, but with guidance from my brother who works in tech, and the school, I was encouraged to explore the possibilities to turn it into something bigger."

At the moment, Maksym's mother is staying in Portugal with friends. However, some of his family, including his sister and his grandparents, are still in Ukraine.

Maksym has plans to study business management at university and has already put in several applications. He said that he really enjoyed the 'entrepreneurial side of the project'.

The war in Ukraine has seen a disaster this week following the destruction of a hydro-electric dam at Nova Kakhovka. Both Ukraine and NATO have accused Russia of blowing up the dam. Its destruction has already seen huge flooding, forcing thousands to flee their homes. The dam's destruction has been condemned as a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe.

The destruction of the dam comes amid growing reports that Ukraine is preparing for a massive counter offensive against invading Russian forces.