# Michal Kovařík on Reddit (u/kovarex)

Part of Founders and CEOs on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/founders-on-reddit/michal-kovarik

Michal Kovařík: Founder of Wube Software, the studio behind Factorio.

- Reddit account: [u/kovarex](https://www.reddit.com/user/kovarex/) (Personal account)
- How we know it's theirs: [His 2017 r/factorio AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/6e6tkw/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/factorio (25), r/czech (2), r/nerdcubed (1)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2014 to 2026
- Wikipedia: 

## Moments

### u/kovarex in r/factorio, May 30, 2017 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> What's something that the Factorio community has done, that's made you proud/happy to see? ie, the first person to make a 1RPM factory?

> I have seen many Factories, mainly because of bugfixing something reproducible in save that I have been provided. I have been awed many many times by the things they created. It always made me proud that people decided to spend that kind of time with the game. And to be honest, I mainly learn how to play the game efficiently from other players :)

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/6e6tkw/im_the_founder_of_factorio_kovarex_ama/di84qew/ · 459 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/kovarex in r/nerdcubed, Aug 1, 2014 · The why

Replying to the post "Nerd³ FW - Factorio".

> Hello, I'm the Factorio founder, and this is the answer to all of the people comparing Factorio with modded Minecraft. I would like to make clear, that I never ever tried to hide the fact, that Modded minecraft, mainly buildcraft/industrialcraft, was huge inspiration to create Factorio. In fact, before even the idea to create my own game came to my mind, I started to make my own (private) changes to these minecraft mods. I loved and enjoyed these mods A LOT and saw a big potential in the automation game, but I wanted to grab the subject and implement it my way. I wanted to be able to avoid the limitations of the Minecraft engine, so there can be huge factories with hundreds of thousands of items on transport belts while keeping smooth gameplay and without the need to think about activated/passive chunks. I wanted to have some other survival challenge than surviving the first night, that is somehow compatible with the industrialisation progress. I wanted to make it more about strategy, planning and timing than about a lot of hard work. I wanted it to have more variable logistics possibilities. I wanted to implement lot of good concepts from other games, as well as some of my own ideas. I wanted it to be all balanced and carved to work as a whole, because once the count of mods you use in minecraft (or any other game) starts to rise, the overall balance usually suffers a lot. Wasn't Minecraft created because Notch saw some concept in different game that he just wanted to do right? Factorio is the same thing I believe. I would also encourage anyone who plays Factorio (and has a lot of time to spare) to try the Minecraft industrial mods, so he can compare these two things and understand better what I'm trying to achieve.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/nerdcubed/comments/2c9rh7/comment/cjdtffh/ · 165 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/kovarex in r/factorio, May 30, 2017 · Funny

Replying to a redditor:

> Can you explain the magic behind the transport belts? How are they able to function without electricity?

> Hamsters. In the next major update, you will have to feed them.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/6e6tkw/im_the_founder_of_factorio_kovarex_ama/di8chz9/ · 610 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/kovarex in r/factorio, May 30, 2017 · Advice

Replying to a redditor:

> It's great that you aren't afraid to do this. Many developers (eg. Minecraft) always try to add stuff that no-one has come up with before which ends up with obscure updates which no-one wants. Mods are made because people want to improve the game and so are updates, so if a mod…

> I agree. The goal is not to prove that I have the best and original ideas. The goal is to make a good game. Too big ego destroyed many things in the world.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/6e6tkw/im_the_founder_of_factorio_kovarex_ama/di8bel4/ · 454 points as of Nov 7, 2026