fbpx
Wikipedia

Minecraft

April 27, 2024

This article is about the video game. For the franchise, see Minecraft (franchise). For other uses, see Minecraft (disambiguation).

Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and originally released in 2009. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being fully released on November 18, 2011, with Notch stepping down and Jens "Jeb" Bergensten taking over development. Minecraft has become the best-selling video game in history, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly active players as of 2023. It has been ported to several platforms.

Minecraft
Minecraft: Bedrock Edition box art
Developer(s)Mojang Studios[b]
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
SeriesMinecraft
Engine
Platform(s)
Windows
macOS
Linux
Release
18 November 2011[a]
  • Windows, macOS, Linux
    • WW: 18 November 2011
  • Android
    • WW: 7 October 2011[1]
  • iOS
    • WW: 17 November 2011[2]
  • Xbox 360
    • WW: 9 May 2012[3]
  • Raspberry Pi
    • WW: 11 February 2013[4]
  • PlayStation 3
    • NA: 17 December 2013
    • EU: 18 December 2013
  • Fire OS
    • WW: 2 April 2014[5]
  • PlayStation 4
    • WW: 4 September 2014[6]
  • Xbox One
    • WW: 5 September 2014[7]
  • PlayStation Vita
    • NA: 14 October 2014[8]
    • EU: 15 October 2014
  • Windows Phone
    • WW: 10 December 2014[9]
  • Windows 10
    • WW: 29 July 2015[10]
  • Wii U
    • WW: 17 December 2015[11]
  • tvOS
    • WW: 19 December 2016[12]
  • Nintendo Switch
    • NA: 11 May 2017
    • PAL: 12 May 2017
  • New Nintendo 3DS
    • WW: 13 September 2017[13]
    • EU: 20 September 2018
  • ChromeOS
    • WW: 8 June 2023
Genre(s)Sandbox, survival
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

In Minecraft, players explore a blocky, pixelated procedurally generated, three-dimensional world with virtually infinite terrain. Players can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, and build structures, earthworks, and machines. Depending on their chosen game mode, players can fight hostile mobs, as well as cooperate with or compete against other players in the same world. Game modes include a survival mode (in which players must acquire resources to build in the world and maintain health), creative mode (in which players have unlimited resources and the ability to fly), spectator mode (in which players can fly, go through blocks, and enter the bodies of other players and entities), adventure mode (in which players have to survive without being able to build and place blocks) and hardcore mode (in which the difficulty is set to Hard and dying causes the player to lose their ability to play on that world). The game's large community also offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities.

Minecraft has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited by some as one of the greatest video games ever created; social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions played prominent roles in popularizing the game. The game has also been used in educational environments to teach chemistry, computer-aided design, and computer science. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion. Several spin-offs have also been made, including Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Earth, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. In addition, a live-action film of the same name is scheduled for a theatrical release in 2025.

Gameplay

Minecraft is a 3D sandbox game that has no required goals to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game.[17] However, there is an achievement system,[18] known as "advancements" in the Java Edition of the game, "trophies" on the PlayStation ports, and "achievements" in Bedrock Edition and the Xbox ports.[citation needed] Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option of a third-person perspective.[19] The game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes and fluids, and commonly called "blocks"—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks (known as 'Logs'), water, and lava. The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects. These blocks are arranged in a 3D grid, while players can move freely around the world. Players can "mine" blocks and then place them elsewhere, enabling them to build things.[20] Many commentators have described the game's physics system as unrealistic.[21] The game also contains a material called redstone, which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates, allowing for the construction of many complex systems.[22][23]

 
An example of Minecraft's procedurally generated terrain, including a village and the default skin Steve

The game world is virtually infinite[i] and procedurally generated as players explore it, using a map seed that is obtained from the system clock at the time of world creation (or manually specified by the player).[24][25][26] There are limits on vertical movement, but Minecraft allows an infinitely large game world to be generated on the horizontal plane. Due to technical issues when extremely distant locations are reached, however, there is a barrier preventing players from traversing to locations beyond 30 million blocks from the center.[j][obsolete source] The game achieves this by splitting the world data into smaller 16 by 16 sections called "chunks" that are only created or loaded when players are nearby.[24] The world is divided into biomes ranging from deserts to jungles to snowfields;[27][28] the terrain includes plains, mountains, forests, caves, and bodies of water or lava.[26] The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting for 20 real-time minutes.[29]

 
Some of Minecraft's monsters, displayed from left to right: a zombie, a spider, an enderman, a creeper, and a skeleton. All are from the Overworld.

When starting a new world, players must choose one of five game modes, as well as one of four difficulties, ranging from "Peaceful" to "Hard". Increasing the difficulty of the game causes the player to take more damage from mobs (non-player characters), as well as having other difficulty-specific effects. For example, the Peaceful difficulty prevents hostile mobs from spawning, and the Hard difficulty allows players to starve to death if their hunger bar is depleted.[citation needed] Once selected, the difficulty can be changed, but the game mode is locked and can only be changed with cheats.[citation needed]

New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of 9 possibilities, including Steve or Alex,[30][31] but the option to create custom skins was made available in 2010.[32] Players encounter various mobs, such as animals, villagers, and hostile creatures.[33][34] Passive mobs, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, can be hunted for food and crafting materials. They spawn in the daytime, while hostile mobs—including large spiders, witches, creepers, skeletons, endermen, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves.[citation needed] Some hostile mobs, such as zombies, skeletons and drowned (underwater versions of zombies), burn under the sun if they have no headgear.[citation needed] Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper (an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player) and the enderman (a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks).[35] There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions; for example, zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans, respectively.[36]

Dimensions

Minecraft has two alternative dimensions besides the Overworld (the main world): the Nether and the End.[35]

The Nether

The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via either a player-built obsidian portal or one of the Ruined Portals randomly generated throughout the world. It contains many unique resources and can be used to travel great distances in the Overworld, due to every block traveled in the Nether being equivalent to 8 blocks traveled in the Overworld.[37] Water cannot exist in the Nether, as it vaporizes instantly.[38] The Nether is mainly populated by pigman-like mobs called piglins and their zombified counterparts, plus floating balloon-like mobs called ghasts.[39] The piglins are considered particularly noteworthy because of their bartering system, where the player can give them gold ingots and receive items in return.[40] The player can also build an optional boss mob called The Wither out of materials found in the Nether.[41]

The End

The End is reached by underground portals in the Overworld. It consists of islands floating above a dark, bottomless void. A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island.[42] Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough,[43] which takes about nine minutes to scroll past[44] and is the game's only narrative text[45] and only text of significant length directed at the player.[46]: 10–12  At the conclusion of the credits, the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely.[47]

Game modes

Survival mode

 
The crafting menu in Minecraft, showing the crafting recipe of a stone axe as well as some other blocks and items in the player's inventory

In survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items.[26] Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter at night.[26] The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs, falls, drowning, falling into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game (except in peaceful difficulty).[48] If the hunger bar is depleted, automatic healing will stop and eventually health will deplete. Health replenishes when players have a nearly full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful difficulty.[48]

Players can craft a wide variety of items in Minecraft. Craftable items include armor, which mitigates damage from attacks; weapons (such as swords or axes), which allows monsters and animals to be killed more easily; and tools (such as pickaxes or hoes), which break certain types of blocks more quickly. Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them, with higher-tier items being more effective and durable. Players can construct furnaces, which can cook food, process ores, and convert materials into other materials.[49] Players may also exchange goods with a villager (NPC) through a trading system, which involves trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa.[50][33]

The game has an inventory system, allowing players to carry a limited number of items.[51] Upon dying, items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so. Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be reset by sleeping in a bed (in the overworld)[52] or using a respawn anchor (in the Nether).[53] Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they disappear or despawn after 5 minutes. Players may acquire experience points by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, breeding animals, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons.[citation needed] Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects.[54]

Creative mode

In creative mode, players have access to nearly all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or remove them instantly.[55] Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their characters do not take any damage and are not affected by hunger.[56][57] The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance.[55]

Other game modes

Minecraft includes other game modes such as spectator mode, which allows players to fly through blocks. Hardcore mode is a survival mode variant in which, upon death, the player may only view the world in spectator mode or return to the game's menu.[58] Adventure mode is a survival mode variant with possible restrictions added by a creator of a map.[59][60][61]

Multiplayer

See also: Minecraft server

Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, LAN play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted).[62] Players can run their own servers, use a hosting provider, or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live. Single-player worlds have local area network support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup.[63] Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server.[62] Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs. The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players.[64][65] Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players.[66] Many servers have custom plugins that allow actions that are not normally possible.

Minecraft Realms

In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own.[67][68] Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use IP addresses. Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time. Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time.[69] The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps.[70] Minecraft Realms servers support user-made add-ons, resource packs, behavior packs, and custom Minecraft maps.[69] At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, support for cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016,[71] with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017,[72] and support for virtual reality devices. On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play.[73] Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018.[74]

Customization

See also: Minecraft modding
 
A smeltery within the mod Tinkers' Construct

The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers. Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps. Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms.[75][76] The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media.[citation needed] While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code, Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification, allowing the production of community-created resource packs, which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds.[77] Players can also create their own "maps" (custom world save files) which often contain specific rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and share them for others to play.[78] Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012[79] and "command blocks" in October 2012,[80] which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition. Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new advancements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, world generation settings, and biomes‌.[81][82]

The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins.[83] It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface.[84] The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013, and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise.[85] Unlike Java Edition, however, the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player-made mods or custom maps.[86] A cross-promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016.[87] A mash-up pack based on Fallout was announced for release on the Wii U Edition.[88] In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game.[89][90] Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to reformat the user's hard drive.[90][89] Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself",[89] and would only run when the image containing the skin itself was opened.[91]

In June 2017, Mojang released an update known as the "Discovery Update" to the Bedrock version of the game.[92] The update includes a new map, a new game mode, the "Marketplace", a catalogue of user-generated content that gives Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game", and more.[93][94][95]

Development

 
Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson at the GDC in 2016
 
Minecraft lead designer and creative director Jens "Jeb_" Bergensten in 2011
Java Edition major update release timeline
Pre-release years in red
2009Pre-Classic
Classic
Survival Test
2010Indev
Infdev
Alpha
Beta
2011Beta
Release 1.0: "Adventure Update"
20121.1
1.2
1.3
1.4: "Pretty Scary Update"
20131.5: "Redstone Update"
1.6: "Horse Update"
1.7: "The Update that Changed the World"
20141.8: "Bountiful Update"
2015
20161.9: "Combat Update"
1.10: "Frostburn Update"
1.11: "Exploration Update"
20171.12: "World of Color Update"
20181.13: "Update Aquatic"
20191.14: "Village & Pillage"
1.15: "Buzzy Bees"
20201.16: "Nether Update"
20211.17: "Caves & Cliffs: Part I"
1.18: "Caves & Cliffs: Part II"
20221.19: "The Wild Update"
20231.20: "Trails & Tales"

Before coming up with Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer with King through March 2009, at the time serving mostly browser games, during which he learnt a number of different programming languages.[96] He would prototype his own games during his off-hours at home, often based on inspiration he found from other games, and participated frequently on the TIGSource forums for independent developers.[96] One of these personal projects was called "RubyDung", a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but as an isometric three dimensional game like RollerCoaster Tycoon.[97] He had already made a 3D texture mapper for another zombie game prototype he had started to try to emulate the style of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.[98] Among the features in "RubyDung" he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper but at the time, felt the graphics were too pixelated and omitted this mode.[98][99] Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, but otherwise kept working on his prototypes.[100][99][101]

Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, sparked Persson's inspiration for how to take "RubyDung" forward.[98] Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay, including bringing back the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals.[98] However, unlike Infiniminer, Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements.[102]

The original edition of Minecraft, now known as the Java Edition, was first developed in May 2009. Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of Minecraft.[98][103] The base program of Minecraft was completed by Persson over a weekend in that month and a private testing was released on TigIRC on 16 May 2009.[104] The game was first released to the public on 17 May 2009 as a developmental release on TIGSource forums.[105] Persson updated the game based on feedback from the forums.[96][106] This version later became known as the Classic version.[107] Further developmental phases dubbed as Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev were released in 2009 and 2010.[99]

The first major update, dubbed Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010.[108][109] Although Persson maintained a day job with Jalbum.net at first, he later quit in order to work on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version of the game expanded.[110] Persson continued to update the game with releases distributed to users automatically. These updates included new items, new blocks, new mobs, survival mode, and changes to the game's behavior (e.g. how water flows).[110] To back the development of Minecraft, Persson set up a video game company, Mojang, with the money earned from the game.[111][112][113] Mojang co-founders included Jakob Porser, one of Persson's coworkers from King, and Carl Manneh, jAlbum's CEO.[96]

On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft was entering its beta testing phase on 20 December 2010.[114] He further stated that bug fixes and all updates leading up to and including the release would still be free.[115] Over the course of the development, Mojang hired several new employees to work on the project.[116]

Mojang moved the game out of beta and released the full version on 18 November 2011.[15] On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer.[117] On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced that they had hired the developers of the popular "Bukkit" developer API for Minecraft,[66] to improve Minecraft's support of server modifications.[118] This acquisition also included Mojang apparently taking full ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod which enables the use of Bukkit,[119] although the validity of this claim was questioned due to its status as an open-source project with many contributors, licensed under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License.[120]

On 15 September 2014, Microsoft announced a $2.5 billion deal to buy Mojang, along with the ownership of the Minecraft intellectual property.[121][122][123] The deal was suggested by Persson when he posted a tweet asking a corporation to buy his share of the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game's end-user license agreement (EULA), which had been present in the EULA in the prior three years.[124][125][126] According to Persson, Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet, asking if Persson was serious about a deal. Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts.[126] The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires".[127][128][129][126]

Since the first full release of Minecraft, dubbed the "Adventure Update", the game has been continuously updated with many major updates, available for free to users who have already purchased the game.[130] Early updates frequently introduced gameplay-altering mechanics while more recent updates tend to enhance the game through additional content or tweaks to existing features.[131][better source needed] The most recent major update to the game was "Trails & Tales", which released in June 2023 and added new creatures, biomes, and items.[132][133]

The original version of the game was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition on 18 September 2017 to separate it from Bedrock Edition, which was renamed to just Minecraft by the Better Together Update.[134]

The Bedrock Edition has also been regularly updated, with these updates now matching the themes of Java Edition updates. Other versions of the game such as the various console editions and Pocket Edition were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and as such have not received further updates.[134]

On 16 April 2020, a beta version of Minecraft implementing physically based rendering, ray tracing, and DLSS was released by Nvidia on RTX-enabled GPUs.[135] The final version was released on 8 December 2020.[136]

Minecraft: Pocket Edition

In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released for the Xperia Play on the Android Market as an early alpha version. It was then released for several other compatible devices on 8 October 2011.[137][138] An iOS version of Minecraft was released on 17 November 2011.[139] A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang.[140] The port concentrates on the creative building and the primitive survival aspect of the game and did not contain all the features of the PC release.[citation needed] On his Twitter account, Jens Bergensten said that the Pocket Edition of Minecraft is written in C++ and not Java, due to iOS not being able to support Java.[141] However, there now exists a way to play Java Edition on both Android and iOS devices.[142][143]

On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1.[144] In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition.[145] On 19 December 2016, the full version of Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Pocket Edition was remade into the Bedrock Edition in 2017, enabling cross-platform play with the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch Editions.[146]

Legacy Console Editions

An Xbox 360 version of the game, developed by 4J Studios, was released on 9 May 2012.[147][148] On 22 March 2012, it was announced that Minecraft would be the flagship game in a new Xbox Live promotion called Arcade NEXT.[148] The game differs from the home computer versions in a number of ways, including a newly designed crafting system, the control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and the ability to play with friends via Xbox Live.[149][150] The worlds in the Xbox 360 version are also not "infinite", and are essentially barricaded by invisible walls.[150] The Xbox 360 version was originally similar in content to older PC versions, but was gradually updated to bring it closer to the current PC version prior to its discontinuation.[147][151][152] An Xbox One version featuring larger worlds among other enhancements[153] was released on 5 September 2014.[153]

Versions of the game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 were released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014 respectively.[6] The PlayStation 4 version was announced as a launch title, though it was eventually delayed.[154][155] A version for PlayStation Vita was also released in October 2014.[156] Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation versions were developed by 4J Studios.[157]

On 17 December 2015, Minecraft: Wii U Edition was released. The Wii U version received a physical release on 17 June 2016 in North America,[158] in Japan on 23 June 2016,[159] and in Europe on 30 June 2016.[160] A Nintendo Switch version of the game was released on the Nintendo eShop on 11 May 2017, along with a physical retail version set for a later date.[161] During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced that Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition would be available for download immediately after the livestream, and a physical copy available on a later date. The game is only compatible with the New 3DS and New 3DS XL or New 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS and 3DS XL or 2DS systems.[13]

On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update was released on the Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile versions of the game, which used the Pocket Edition engine to enable cross-platform play between each of these versions. This version of the game eventually became known as the Bedrock Edition.[162] Shortly after, the Bedrock Edition was also ported to the Nintendo Switch.

On 18 December 2018, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as Legacy Console Editions.[163]

On 15 January 2019, the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update, effectively becoming discontinued as well.[164]

The PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft was updated in December 2019 and became part of the Bedrock Edition, which enabled cross-platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account.[165]

Minecraft Education

Minecraft Education (known as Minecraft: Education Edition until December 2022)[166] is an educational version of the game, designed specifically for use in educational establishments such as schools, and built off of the Bedrock Edition codebase. It is available on Windows 10, MacOS, iPadOS, and ChromeOS.[167][168] It includes a Chemistry Resource Pack,[169] free lesson plans available online, and two free companion applications: Code Connection and Classroom Mode.[170]

An initial beta test was carried out between 9 June and 1 November 2016.[171] The full game was then released on Windows 10 and MacOS on 1 November 2016.[172] On 20 August 2018, Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018. It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018.[173] On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China.[174] On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks. The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020.[168]

Minecraft China

On 20 May 2016, Minecraft China was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang.[175] The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017. The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017, and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017.[176][177][178] The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition, while the iOS and Android mobile version is based on the Bedrock Edition. The edition is free-to-play and had over 300 million players by November 2019.[179]

Other PC versions

Apart from Minecraft: Java Edition, there are other versions of Minecraft for PC, including Minecraft for Windows, Minecraft Classic, Minecraft 4K, and a version for the Raspberry Pi.

Minecraft for Windows

Minecraft for Windows is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015.[180]

After nearly one and a half years in beta, Microsoft fully released Minecraft for Windows on 19 December 2016. Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs.[181] This version has the ability to play with Xbox Live friends, and to play local multiplayer with owners of Minecraft on other Bedrock platforms. Other features include the ability to use multiple control schemes such as a gamepad, keyboard, or touchscreen (for Microsoft Surface and other touchscreen-enabled devices). Virtual reality support has been implemented, as well as the ability to record and take screenshots in-game via the Windows built-in GameDVR.[182]

As of 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft for Windows were merged into a single title for purchase; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version. Both game versions would otherwise remain separate.[183]

Minecraft 4K

Minecraft 4K is a simplified version of Minecraft similar to the Classic version that was developed for the Java 4K Game Programming Contest "in way less than 4 kilobytes".[184] The map itself is finite—composed of 64×64×64 blocks—and the same world is generated every time. Players are restricted to placing or destroying blocks, which consist of grass, dirt, stone, wood, leaves, and brick.[185]

Raspberry Pi

A version of Minecraft for the Raspberry Pi was officially revealed at Minecon 2012. The Pi Edition is based on an alpha version of Pocket Edition with the added ability of using text commands to edit the game world. Players can open the game code and use the Python programming language to manipulate things in the game world.[186] It also includes a scripting API to modify the game, and server software for multiplayer. The game was leaked on 20 December 2012, but was quickly pulled off.[187] It was officially released on 11 February 2013.[188] Mojang stopped providing updates to Minecraft: Raspberry Pi Edition in 2016. It is preinstalled on Raspberry Pi OS and can be downloaded for free from the official Minecraft website.[189]

Music and sound design

Main article: Music of Minecraft

Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418.[190] To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of foley techniques. On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley’s an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties. Early on, I wasn’t that knowledgeable about it. It’s a whole trial-and-error process. You just make a sound and eventually you go, “Oh my God, that’s it! Get the microphone!” There’s no set way of doing anything at all."[191][192] He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don’t actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing. What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders. He elaborates, "I like the spiders. Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like. Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you."[191]

Many sounds for the game were created accidentally or spontaneously. On the creation for the sound for the creeper, Rosenfeld recalled, "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic]. We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick. It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it."[193] On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary. I intentionally made them sound comical. It’s nice to hear that they work so well [...]."[193] Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash. There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine."[192]

The background music in Minecraft is instrumental ambient music.[194] To compose the music of Minecraft, Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live, along with several additional plug-ins. Speaking on them, Rosenfeld said "They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra. Additionally, I’ve got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer. Like a Moog Voyager, Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI."[193] On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha; it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft, as well as other music not featured in the game.[195] Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011.[196] On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Beta, which includes the music that was added in later versions of the game.[197][198] A physical release of Volume Alpha, consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015.[199][200] On 14 August 2020, Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl, with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities.[201][202]

Rosenfeld's music remained the only music in the game until in 2020, "The Nether Update" had a new composer, Lena Raine. Since then, other composers have made contributions, with Raine remaining as the new primary composer, such as in 1.18 "Caves & Cliffs" soundtrack, along with Kumi Tanioka, 1.19 "The Wild Update" soundtrack with Samuel Åberg, and 1.20 "Trails and Tales" Soundtrack, with the addition of Aaron Cherof's music. Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld's independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft, with their label publishing all of the other artists' releases. Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game's mini games from the Legacy Console editions.[203][204][205][206]

Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with FACT Magazine,[191] and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet, stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes.[207] However, due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the third volume has since not seen release. On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know."[208]

Variants

Main article: Minecraft (franchise)

For the tenth anniversary of the game's release, Mojang remade a version of Minecraft Classic in JavaScript and made it available to play online.[209][210] It functions much the same as creative mode, allowing players to build and destroy any and all parts of the world either alone or in a multiplayer server. Environmental hazards such as lava do not damage players, and some blocks function differently since their behavior was later changed during development.[211][212][213]

Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, there had been collaboration between Mojang and The Lego Group to make a Lego brick-based Minecraft game to be called Brickcraft. This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets. Persson had worked on the preliminary version of this game, which he had named "Project Rex Kwon Do" based on the joke from Napoleon Dynamite. Lego had greenlit the project to go forward, and while Mojang had put two developers on the game for six months, they later opted to cancel the project, as Mojang felt that the Lego Group were too demanding on what they could do, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan. The Lego Group had considered buying out Mojang to complete the game, but at this point Microsoft made its offer to buy the company for over $2 billion. According to the Lego Group's Ronny Scherer, the company was not yet sure of the potential success of Minecraft at this point and backed off from acquisition after Microsoft brought this offer to Mojang.[214]

Virtual reality

Early on, Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a port of Minecraft. However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled plans noting "Facebook creeps me out."[215] A community-made modification known as Minecraft VR was developed in 2016 to provide virtual reality support to Minecraft: Java Edition oriented towards Oculus Rift hardware. A fork of the Minecraft VR modification known as Vivecraft ported the mod to OpenVR, and is oriented towards supporting HTC Vive hardware.[216] On 15 August 2016, Microsoft launched official Oculus Rift support for Minecraft on Windows 10.[216] Upon its release, the Minecraft VR mod was discontinued by its developer due to trademark complaints issued by Microsoft, and Vivecraft was endorsed by the community makers of the Minecraft VR modification due to its Rift support and being superior to the original Minecraft VR mod.[216] Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition.[217] Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017. On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 version of the game would be getting PlayStation VR support in the same month.[218] The only officially supported VR versions of Minecraft are the PlayStation 4 version, Minecraft: Gear VR Edition and Minecraft for Windows 10 for Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.[219][218]

Reception

Critics

Early versions of Minecraft received critical acclaim, praising the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay.[248][249][250] Critics have praised Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay.[235] Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable".[17] Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building.[235] The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends".[17] Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences".[242] It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands.[251]

IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle".[17] Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically.[235] Despite its release out of beta in 2011, GameSpot said the game had an "unfinished feel", adding that some game elements seem "incomplete or thrown together in haste".[235]

A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it.[252] Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker".[253] On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game.[254] The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly.[86] The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports, being praised for its relatively large worlds.[255]

The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews, being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well-adapted controls.[256] The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date, being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition.[257][255][221] The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations.[258]

The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration.[259] The 3DS version received mixed reviews, being criticized for its high price, technical issues, and lack of cross-platform play.[260] The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics, being praised, like other modern ports, for its relatively larger worlds.[261]

Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized.[238][262][263] After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics, but still noted a lack of content.[238]

Sales

Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011.[264][265] At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth,[266] and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic.[267] By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version.[268] In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases.[269] By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time.[270] As of 10 October 2014, the game had sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time.[271] On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users.[272] By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 300 million players by November 2019.[273] By April 2021, Minecraft sold more than 238 million copies worldwide.[274] As of 2023, the game has sold over 300 million copies.[275]

The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online.[276] Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold upwards of a million copies.[277] GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012.[278] In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day.[279] As of 4 April 2014, the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies.[280] In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales.[281] The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks.[282] The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console.[283] The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia.[284] By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version.[285] As of 2022, the Vita version has sold over 1.65 million physical copies in Japan, making it the best-selling Vita game in the country.[286] Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter.[287]

The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019.[288] On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players.[289] By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million.[290][274][291]

Awards

In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work.[292] In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010,[293] Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year,[294][295] and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year".[296] Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie.[297] It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK.[298] The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award.[299][300] At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated.[301][302] It also won GameCity's video game arts award.[303] On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012.[304][305] At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category.[306][307] In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award.[308] In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category,[309] and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category.[310] In 2013, it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards.[311] During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year".[312] Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014.[313] In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list.[314] In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list.[315]

Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run.[316] It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014.[317] The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards.[318] In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards,[319] while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards,[320] as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards.[321] Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2022.[322] The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021,[323] and won the same category in 2022 and 2023.[324][325]

Controversies

2014 EULA changes

Microsoft and Mojang announced in June 2014 that it would be changing the Minecraft end-user license agreement (EULA) to prohibit servers from accepting donations or payments in exchange for the donating or paying players receiving in-game advantages on such server, essentially banning servers from enacting "pay-to-win" (PTW) servers. Mojang spokesperson Owen Hill provided examples of what it would and would not allow, saying company would allow for pay-to-play servers in which a player is required to pay a fee to access the server, or for cosmetic enhancements (such as in-game costumes or pets), but that Mojang would be cracking down on paying to obtain powerful swords or potions (providing a competitive advantage to the player versus other players). The new crackdowns were supported by Persson, citing him receiving multiple emails from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers. The Minecraft community and server owners, however, heavily despised the new change in enforcement and protested en masse, which included comparing Mojang to monolithic video game publishers like Electronic Arts and Activision, gaming companies often criticized online for their highly restrictive digital rights management and user license agreements. Many argued that the crackdown would force smaller servers to close their doors, and some blamed the crackdown on Mojang attempting to suppress competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service.[326]

Account migration

In 2020, Mojang Studios revealed that it would begin the process of requiring that Microsoft accounts be used in order to log into the Java Edition of the game, and that older Mojang Studios accounts would be sunsetted. The move to Microsoft accounts also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags. Mojang Studios defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered, which included Java accounts being able to use two factor authentication, players could block cyberbullies in chat, and improve parental controls. The community responded with intense backlash against this announcement, particularly taking issue to the various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory, even for those who do not play on servers. As of 10 March 2022, Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to access the Java Edition of Minecraft.[327][328] A deadline of 19 September 2023 was announced to complete account migration, after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated.[329]

Java Edition chat reporting

In June 2022, Microsoft and Mojang Studios announced it would be releasing a player reporting feature in all future builds of Java Edition. In earlier development builds, players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages that are prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct; report categories included profane language, substance abuse, hate speech, threats of violence, and nudity, though Microsoft in later builds has since excluded the profane language category from the player reporting feature. If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards, the player would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently. The update containing the report feature (1.19.1) was released on 27 July 2022.[330]

Microsoft and Mojang Studios received substantial backlash and protest from community members, one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server, even private ones. Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship,[331][332][333] sparking some to dub the version "1.19.84", in reference to the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which deals with similar themes of censorship.[334][335]

Cultural impact

In September 2019, The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of (the first two decades of) the 21st century,[336] and in November 2019 Polygon called the game the "most important game of the decade" in its 2010s "decade in review".[337] In December 2019, Forbes gave Minecraft a special mention in a list of the best video games of the 2010s, stating that the game is "without a doubt one of the most important games of the last ten years."[338] In June 2020, Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.[339]

Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development.[340] As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s, it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development.[341]

 
Jordan Maron (known professionally as "CaptainSparklez") is known for his musical Minecraft parodies of popular songs.

Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft.[342] Research conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos.[343] In 2010, Minecraft-related videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators. The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and voice-overs.[344] Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over four million Minecraft-related YouTube videos had been uploaded.[345] The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube's gaming scene during the entire 2010s; in 2014, it was the second-most searched term on the entire platform.[346] By 2018, it was still YouTube's biggest game globally.[347]

Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a gaming video company that owns a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube.[344] The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance.[344][348] Other well-known YouTube personalities include Jordan Maron, who has created many Minecraft parodies, including "Minecraft Style", a parody of the internationally successful single "Gangnam Style" by South Korean rapper Psy.[349] Minecraft's popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant, although in 2019, thanks in part to PewDiePie's playthroughs of the game, Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform.[346][350] YouTube later announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft-related views exceeded one trillion since the game's inception in 2009.[351]

Minecraft has been referenced by other video games, such as Torchlight II, Team Fortress 2,[352][353] Borderlands 2, Choplifter HD, Super Meat Boy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable, FTL: Faster Than Light,[354][355] and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the lattermost of which features a downloadable character and stage based on Minecraft.[356] It was also referenced by electronic music artist deadmau5 in his performances.[357] The game is also referenced heavily in "Informative Murder Porn", the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park.[358]

Applications

The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and education. In a panel at Minecon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks.[344] In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said: "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap.[359]

In September 2012, Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in Minecraft.[360][361] The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding "The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed Minecraft building community, FyreUK, to help render the environments into Minecraft. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements and is in the planning phase. The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions.[362][363]

 
A yarn Minecraft sheep

In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata.[364] This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in-game sea level when the project was completed.[365][366]

Taking advantage of the game's accessibility where other websites are censored, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library, a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries (including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam) who have been censored and arrested, such as Jamal Khashoggi.[367] The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people.[368]

Despite its unpredictable nature, Minecraft has become a popular game for speedrunning, where players time themselves from being dropped into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss. Some speedrunners use a combination of mods, external programs, and debug menus, while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency-oriented way.[369][370]

Education

 
Minecraft being played in an educational setting

Minecraft has also been used in educational settings.[371] In 2011, an educational organization named MinecraftEdu was formed with the goal of introducing Minecraft into schools. The group works with Mojang to make the game affordable and accessible to schools. The version of Minecraft through MinecraftEdu includes unique features to allow teachers to monitor the students' progress within the virtual world, such as receiving screenshots from students to show completion of a lesson.[372] In September 2012, MinecraftEdu said that approximately 250,000 students around the world have access to Minecraft through the company.[373] A wide variety of educational activities involving the game have been developed to teach students various subjects, including history, language arts and science. For an example, one teacher built a world consisting of various historical landmarks for students to learn and explore.[373] Another teacher created a large-scale representation of an animal cell within Minecraft that student could explore and learn how cell functions work.[372] Great Ormond Street Hospital has been recreated in Minecraft, and it proposed that patients can use it to virtually explore the hospital before they visit it in real life.[374] Minecraft may also prove as an innovation in computer-aided design.[375] Minecraft offers an outlet of collaboration in design and could have an impact on the industry.[376]

With the introduction of redstone blocks to represent electrical circuits, users have been able to build functional virtual computers within Minecraft.[377] Such virtual creations include a working hard drive,[378] an 8-bit virtual computer,[379] and even a smaller-scale version of Minecraft that is playable and able to be built completely in survival mode with no external modifications.[380] In at least one instance, a mod has been created to use this feature to teach younger players how to program within a language set by a virtual computer within a Minecraft world.[381]

Another computational mechanic in Minecraft is the command block, a block that is only accessible in creative mode and can alter game logic. It has been used to create emulators for the Atari 2600 (including one by YouTube personality SethBling)[382][383] and the Game Boy Advance.[384]

In September 2014, the British Museum in London announced plans to recreate its building along with all exhibits in Minecraft in conjunction with members of the public.[385] Microsoft and the non-profit organisation Code.org had teamed up to offer Minecraft-based games, puzzles, and tutorials aimed to help teach children how to program; by March 2018, Microsoft and Code.org reported that more than 85 million children have used their tutorials.[386]

Clones

Following the initual surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010, other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft, and some were described as being "clones", often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft, or only a superficial similarity. Examples include Ace of Spades, CastleMiner, CraftWorld, FortressCraft, Terraria, BlockWorld 3D, Total Miner,[387] and Minetest.[388] David Frampton, designer of The Blockheads, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft, which resulted in "some resistance" from fans.[389] A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS, titled DScraft, has been released; it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system.[390] In response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP, various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time.[391] These clone titles include UCraft (Nexis Games),[392] Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia),[393] Discovery (Noowanda),[394] Battleminer (Wobbly Tooth Games),[395] Cube Creator 3D (Big John Games),[396] and Stone Shire (Finger Gun Games).[397] Despite this, the fears of fans were unfounded, with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming.[398][399][11]

Markus Persson made another similar game, Minicraft, for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011.[400]

Minecon

Main article: Minecon

Minecon is the annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.[401] The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community.[402] In 2016, Minecon was held in-person for the last time, with the following years featuring annual livestreams instead.

Notes

  1. ^ Minecraft was first publicly available on 17 May 2009,[14] and, following many developmental phases over the next two years, was fully released on 18 November 2011.[15]
  2. ^ Ports to consoles developed by 4J Studios;[16] New Nintendo 3DS port developed by Other Ocean Interactive.
  3. ^ PC/Java, Android, iOS, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch
  4. ^ Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows Phone, Windows 10 Edition
  5. ^ PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
  6. ^ 2009–2011
  7. ^ 2011–present
  8. ^ Additional music has been written by Samuel Åberg and Gareth Coker for various later updates.
  9. ^ An "infinite" world is 60 million by 60 million blocks, or 30 million in each direction
  10. ^ In a blog post,[24] Persson explains:
    "... let me clarify some things about the "infinite" maps: They're not infinite, but there's no hard limit either. It'll just get buggier and buggier the further out you are. Terrain is generated, saved and loaded, and (kind of) rendered in chunks of 16*16*128 blocks. These chunks have an offset value that is a 32 bit integer roughly in the range negative two billion to positive two billion. If you go outside that range (about 25% of the distance from where you are now to the sun), loading and saving chunks will start overwriting old chunks. At a 16/th of that distance, things that use integers for block positions, such as using items and pathfinding, will start overflowing and acting weird.
    Those are the two "hard" limits."

References

  1. ^ . IGN. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Minecraft: Pocket Edition". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  3. ^ Brown, Mark (22 March 2012). . Wired UK. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Minecraft Raspberry Pi". Mojang. from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Amazon's first Fire TV games include in-house titles and Minecraft (update: video)". Engadget. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  6. ^ a b Pitcher, Jenna (3 September 2014). "Minecraft PS4 Edition Release Date Confirmed". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. from the original on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Minecraft for Xbox One to launch on Friday". CNET. from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  8. ^ "Minecraft: PS Vita Edition Release Date Revealed for North America". IGN. 10 October 2014. from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Minecraft Comes to Windows Phones". Mojang. 17 July 2019. from the original on 30 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Announcing Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta". from the original on 9 July 2015.
  11. ^ a b Makuch, Eddie (7 December 2015). "Minecraft Wii U Confirmed, Coming Very Soon". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. from the original on 7 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  12. ^ Jones, Owen (19 December 2016). . Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  13. ^ a b Pereira, Chris (13 September 2017). "New 3DS Version Of Minecraft Announced, Release Date Set For Today". GameSpot. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  14. ^ Persson, Markus (17 May 2009). . The Word of Notch. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2018 – via Tumblr.
  15. ^ a b Fernandez, Carlo (17 November 2012). . International Business Times. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  16. ^ Harper, Gavin (23 December 2021). "Minecraft: Gaming 'phenomenon' developed in Dundee passes 1 trillion YouTube views". The Courier. Dundee, Scotland, UK. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  17. ^ a b c d Gallegos, Anthony (23 November 2011). "Minecraft Review — PC Review at IGN". IGN. from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  18. ^ Meer, Alec (30 March 2011). "Minecraft:Wolves, Achievements, Mods, Merch". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  19. ^ Purchese, Robert (23 November 2011). "Minecraft 1.0 launch patch notes". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  20. ^ Ashdown, Jeremy (11 November 2010). "This is Minecraft". IGN. from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  21. ^ Walton, Mark (25 November 2012). "Minecraft In Education: How Video Games Are Teaching Kids". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  22. ^ Tito, Greg (4 October 2010). . The Escapist. Alloy Digital. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  23. ^ updated, Katie Wickens last (8 September 2022). "Someone crafted a redstone PC in Minecraft to play Minecraft inside Minecraft". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  24. ^ a b c Persson, Markus (10 March 2011). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  25. ^ Bergensten, Jens (23 February 2011). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  26. ^ a b c d Miller-Watt, Josh. "Minecraft beginner's guide". GamesRadar. Future plc. from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  27. ^ Meer, Alec (27 October 2010). "BiomeShock: The New Minecraft Worlds". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  28. ^ Phillips, Tom (20 January 2012). "Minecraft jungle biome, creatures coming soon". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  29. ^ Maillot, Anastasia (30 May 2021). "Minecraft: Everything You Need To Know About The Daylight Cycle". TheGamer. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  30. ^ Webster, Andrew (27 April 2015). "You can finally choose to play as a girl in Minecraft". The Verge.
  31. ^ Reporter, CJ Wheeler Former News; Wheeler, C. J. (30 November 2022). "Minecraft Bedrock Edition now has seven more default skins". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  32. ^ Quach, Michael (7 October 2010). "How to edit your skin in Minecraft". PC Gamer. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  33. ^ a b Senior, Tom (24 May 2012). "Minecraft update snapshot includes trading, currency, new item and sandstone stairs". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  34. ^ Gutierrez, Luis Joshua; Hammill, Dan; Heaney, Samuel; Moreupdated, +39 9k (26 August 2011). "All Minecraft Mobs - Minecraft Guide". IGN. Retrieved 2 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ a b c Meer, Alec (18 November 2011). "Minecraft Review • Reviews •". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. from the original on 18 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  36. ^ Milton, Stephanie; Davies, Marsh (17 December 2018). Minecraft: Guide to Exploration. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-399-18201-3.
  37. ^ Francis, Tom (10 October 2010). "A clearer look at Minecraft's new hell dimension". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  38. ^ Gutierrez, Luis Joshua; Hammill, Dan; Heaney, Samuel; Moreupdated, +39 9k (28 December 2011). "Nether - Minecraft Guide". IGN. Retrieved 2 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  39. ^ Geere, Duncan (11 October 2019). "Visit the Nether!". The Minecraft Official Site. Deep Dives. Microsoft. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  40. ^ Marshall, Cass (1 July 2020). "Everybody loves Minecraft's new Piglin, the rudest new NPCs". Polygon. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  41. ^ Staff, Mojang AB (Firm); Milton, Stephanie (1 September 2017). Minecraft Guide to the Nether and the End. Egmont UK Limited. pp. 32–33. ISBN 978-1-4052-8599-5. Retrieved 29 December 2017 – via Google Books.
  42. ^ Liebl, Matt (5 May 2012). "Minecraft: The End, Ender Dragons, and Goop Portal All Explained". GameZone. GameZone Online. from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  43. ^ Parker, James (22 May 2014). "Minecraft: The Most Creative Game Ever Made". The Atlantic. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  44. ^ Litchfield, Ted (12 December 2022). "The writer of Minecraft's ending poem wants to 'liberate it from the corporate economy'". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  45. ^ Moloney, Eoghan (8 December 2022). "Irishman who wrote Minecraft's revered 'End Poem' gives words away for free after declining to sign over rights to Microsoft". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  46. ^ Anthony, Jason (2015). "Current Key Perspectives in Video Gaming and Religion" (PDF). Gamevironments (3). University of Bremen: 7–15. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  47. ^ Plafke, James (26 December 2012). . Geek.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  48. ^ a b Lee, Julia (20 August 2020). "How to regain health in Minecraft". Polygon. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  49. ^ Geere, Duncan (15 September 2017). "Block of the Week: Furnace". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  50. ^ Brown, Mark (6 July 2012). . Wired UK. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  51. ^ "Using the Minecraft Inventory and Crafting Grid". dummies. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  52. ^ Walker, John (18 February 2011). "Minecraft Is Getting Ready For Bed". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  53. ^ James, Ford (30 June 2020). "Minecraft Respawn Anchor: How to get one and set your spawn point in the Nether". gamesradar. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  54. ^ Boots-Faubert, Chris. . Super Cheats. Videogamer Network. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  55. ^ a b Steinlage, Tate (26 September 2012). "Creative Mode coming to Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition". GameZone. GameZone Online. from the original on 19 May 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  56. ^ Haley, Sebastian (5 September 2012). . VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 18 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  57. ^ Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (5 September 2012). . Official Xbox Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  58. ^ Ackroyd, Luke (2 June 2021). "Minecraft: Everything You Need To Know About Hardcore Mode". TheGamer. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  59. ^ Stay, Jesse; Stay, Thomas; Corderio, Thomas (29 December 2014). Minecraft For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-118-53716-9.
  60. ^ Senior, Tom (23 September 2011). "Minecraft hardcore mode teased. When you die, the world dies with you". PC Gamer. from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  61. ^ Walker, John (1 August 2012). "Minecraft Updates To 1.3 With Adventure Mode, Trading". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  62. ^ a b Hutchinson, Lee (10 September 2012). "Blocks with friends: How to run your own Minecraft server". Ars Technica. pp. 1–4. from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  63. ^ Meer, Alec (18 June 2012). "Modern! Minecraft Adds 'Local Area Network' Support". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  64. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (13 December 2018). "Creators of Popular 'Minecraft' Server Announce New Game 'Hytale'". Variety. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  65. ^ Jarvey, Natalie (13 December 2018). "Riot Games Leads Investment in Hypixel Game Studio". Tech. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  66. ^ a b Davies, Marsh (24 November 2012). "The Future of Minecraft: what lies ahead for the all-conquering sandbox game?". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  67. ^ Crecente, Brian (18 March 2013). "Minecraft Realms hopes to make an increasingly complex game more family-friendly". Polygon. from the original on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  68. ^ Peel, Jeremy (14 March 2013). "Minecraft Realms is a subscription service for families that will "bring in more money than the game itself"". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  69. ^ a b "Minecraft Realms". Minecraft.net. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  70. ^ Owen (24 October 2014). . mojang.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  71. ^ Frank, Allegra (13 June 2016). "Minecraft gets cross-platform play later this year". Polygon. from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  72. ^ Carter, Chris (11 June 2017). "Minecraft is unifying nearly all of its versions across all platforms, except Sony". Destructoid. from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  73. ^ Davies, Marsh (31 July 2017). "Beta Test Better Together!". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  74. ^ "Minecraft's Aquatic Update Phase Two Gets Wet And Wild Today On Switch". Nintendo Life. 10 July 2018.
  75. ^ Peckham, Matt (8 May 2012). "The 10 Best Minecraft Mods". Time. from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  76. ^ Senior, Tom (29 February 2012). "Minecraft mod API to be developed by new team at Mojang". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  77. ^ Dyer, Mitch (4 July 2013). "Minecraft 1.6 'Horse Update' Launching in July". IGN. from the original on 8 July 2013.
  78. ^ Savage, Phil. "The 25 best Minecraft custom maps". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  79. ^ Grayson, Nathan (6 July 2012). "Minecraft 1.3 Adding LAN, Adventure Mode In August". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  80. ^ Gallegos, Anthony (27 July 2012). "Minecraft Adding New Block". IGN. from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  81. ^ Adams, Nathan (25 October 2017). "Minecraft Snapshot 17w43b". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  82. ^ Östergård, Adrian (8 July 2020). "Minecraft Snapshot 20w28a". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  83. ^ Watts, Steve (3 July 2012). "Minecraft XBLA adding DLC costumes". Shacknews. GameFly. from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  84. ^ Borthwick, Ben (24 August 2013). . OXM UK. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  85. ^ Conditt, Jessica (2 September 2013). . Joystiq. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  86. ^ a b c Gallegos, Anthony. "Minecraft (Xbox 360 Edition)". IGN. from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  87. ^ Webster, Andrew (9 May 2016). "Super Mario is coming to Minecraft". The Verge. from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  88. ^ Davies, Marsh (15 December 2016). . Minecraft. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  89. ^ a b c Lilly, Paul (18 April 2018). "Beware of malicious Minecraft skins that attempt to erase your hard drive". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. from the original on 3 April 2021.
  90. ^ a b Fogel, Stefanie (18 April 2018). . Variety. Variety Media. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  91. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (19 April 2018). . Variety. Variety Media. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  92. ^ Lazarides, Tasos (June 2017). . TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  93. ^ Campbell, Colin (10 April 2017). . Polygon. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  94. ^ . Minecraft.net. 10 April 2017. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  95. ^ . newsbeat. BBC. 10 April 2017. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020.
  96. ^ a b c d Cheshire, Tom (15 September 2014). "Changing the game: how Notch made Minecraft a cult hit". Wired. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  97. ^ Cox, Alex (13 June 2018). "The history of Minecraft". TechRadar. from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  98. ^ a b c d e Persson, Markus (30 October 2009). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  99. ^ a b c Handy, Alex (23 March 2010). "Interview: Markus 'Notch' Persson Talks Making Minecraft". Gamasutra. from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  100. ^ 2 Player Productions (8 November 2013). "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang". YouTube. from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  101. ^ Clark, Kristoff (5 March 2012). . Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  102. ^ Davies, Marsh (10 November 2012). "Blockbuster – The Making of Minecraft". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  103. ^ Persson, Markus (13 May 2009). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  104. ^ Persson, Markus (16 May 2009). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  105. ^ "Minecraft (alpha)". forums.tigsource.com. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  106. ^ Smith, Graham (6 February 2012). "The First Moments of Minecraft". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  107. ^ Persson, Markus (28 June 2010). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  108. ^ Persson, Markus (30 June 2020). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  109. ^ Persson, Markus (2 July 2010). . Tumblr. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  110. ^ a b McDougal, Jaz (29 July 2010). "Community heroes: Notch, for Minecraft". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  111. ^ Cheshire, Tom (6 June 2012). "Changing the game: how Notch made Minecraft a cult hit". Wired UK. from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  112. ^ Persson, Markus (28 September 2010). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 4 October 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  113. ^ Persson, Markus (6 September 2010). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  114. ^ . The Word of Notch. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  115. ^ Persson, Markus (11 December 2010). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  116. ^ Persson, Markus (3 January 2011). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  117. ^ Persson, Markus (2 December 2011). . The Word of Notch (in Swedish). Mojang. Archived from the original on 27 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  118. ^ Bergensten, Jens (28 February 2012). "Minecraft Team Strengthened!". Mojang. from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  119. ^ Chalk, Andy (21 August 2014). "Minecraft Bukkit team lead tries to end development, but Mojang steps in". PC Gamer. from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  120. ^ Walker, Alex (5 September 2014). . games.on.net. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  121. ^ Stuart, Keith; Hern, Alex (15 September 2014). "Minecraft sold: Microsoft buys Mojang for $2.5bn". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  122. ^ "Minecraft to join Microsoft". The Official Microsoft Blog. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  123. ^ "Mojang". www.mojang.com. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  124. ^ Stuart, Keith (24 June 2014). "Minecraft: how a change to the rules is tearing the community apart". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  125. ^ Bogart, Nicole (15 September 2014). "Updated: September 15, 2014 8:35 pm Microsoft acquires 'Minecraft' maker for $2.5 billion". Shaw Media. Global News. from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  126. ^ a b c Mac, Ryan (3 March 2015). "Inside The Post-Minecraft Life Of Billionaire Gamer God Markus Persson". Forbes. from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  127. ^ Peckham, Matt (15 September 2014). "Minecraft Is Now Part of Microsoft, and It Only Cost $2.5 Billion". Time. from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  128. ^ Bass, Dina (15 September 2014). "Microsoft to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang for $2.5 Billion". Bloomberg Business. from the original on 16 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  129. ^ Sarkar, Samit (6 November 2014). "Microsoft officially owns Minecraft and developer Mojang now". Polygon. Vox Media. from the original on 30 November 2014.
  130. ^ Persson, Markus (18 January 2011). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  131. ^ Pentleton, Matthew (15 October 2021). "Every Major Minecraft Update, Ranked". The Gamer. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  132. ^ Dankis, Sofia; Austin, Sophie (26 May 2023). "The Trails & Tales Update Is Coming". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  133. ^ Gutierrez, Luis Joshua; Hammill, Dan; Heaney, Samuel; Moreupdated, +39 9k (8 June 2023). "Minecraft 1.20 Trails and Tales Patch Notes - Minecraft Guide". IGN. Retrieved 2 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  134. ^ a b Corden, Jez (2 August 2017). . Windows Central. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  135. ^ "Minecraft ray tracing is now live on PC—and it's a must-play, if you can". Ars Technica. 19 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020. 'Currently, that limits interested players to Nvidia's "RTX" line of GPUs, since AMD has not yet released its own compatible line. Strangely, a Mojang representative told Ars last week that this week's beta would function on non-RTX graphics cards, albeit at an abysmal frame rate.'
  136. ^ Lilly, Paul (8 December 2020). "Minecraft with RTX launches out of beta with a built-in benchmark scene". PC Gamer. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  137. ^ Rose, Mike (21 February 2011). "Official Minecraft iOS, Android Release Coming Later This Year". Gamasutra. from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  138. ^ Crecente, Brian (21 February 2011). "Official Minecraft Coming to iPhone, iPad, Android". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  139. ^ Brown, Mark (16 November 2011). . Wired UK. Archived from the original on 18 November 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  140. ^ Makuch, Eddie (10 December 2014). "Minecraft Now Available for Windows Phones, See First Images Here". GameSpot. from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  141. ^ "jeb_: PE is in C++". Twitter. 8 October 2011. from the original on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  142. ^ "PojavLauncher | PojavLauncher". pojavlauncherteam.github.io. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  143. ^ "How to play Minecraft Java Edition on Android & iOS with Pojav Launcher". XDA. 27 December 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  144. ^ Seppala, Timothy J. (11 December 2014). "Finally, you can now play 'Minecraft' on Windows Phone too". Engadget. AOL. from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  145. ^ Bright, Peter (18 January 2017). "Microsoft-owned Minecraft no longer supported on Microsoft-owned Windows Phone/Mobile". Ars Technica. from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  146. ^ Thielenhaus, Kevin (13 June 2017). "The Better Together Update Is Coming To Minecraft – Here's Everything It Does". Escapist Magazine. from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  147. ^ a b . Microsoft New Center. Microsoft. 6 June 2011. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  148. ^ a b Hryb, Larry (22 March 2012). . majornelson.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  149. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (7 May 2012). "Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition review at Digital Trends". Digital Trends. from the original on 10 May 2012.
  150. ^ a b c Meunier, Nathan (10 May 2009). . GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  151. ^ Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (16 October 2012). . Official Xbox Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  152. ^ Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (2 October 2012). . Official Xbox Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  153. ^ a b "Minecraft: Xbox One Edition Announce Trailer". Microsoft. 10 June 2013. from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  154. ^ "Gamescom: Minecraft Coming to PS4, PS3, Vita – IGN". Uk.ign.com. 20 August 2013. from the original on 21 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  155. ^ Makuch, Eddie (12 November 2013). "Minecraft not launching with PS4". GameSpot. from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  156. ^ Campbell, Evan (10 October 2014). "Minecraft: PS Vita Edition Release Date Revealed for North America". IGN. from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  157. ^ Partis, Danielle (27 October 2022). "4J Studios on its pivot into publishing". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  158. ^ Jenni (9 May 2016). . Siliconera. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  159. ^ Agent, Lite (25 May 2016). . Perfectly Nintendo. Archived from the original on 25 May 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  160. ^ Whitehead, Thomas (June 2016). "Minecraft: Wii U Edition Gets Its European Retail Release On 30th June". Nintendo Life. from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  161. ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (12 April 2017). "Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Version Release Date Announced". IGN. from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  162. ^ "The Better Together Update is Here". Minecraft.net. 20 September 2017.
  163. ^ Santana, Steven (20 December 2018). . DualShockers. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  164. ^ Franzese, Tomas (15 January 2019). "Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition Receives its Final Update Only Two Years After Launch". DualShockers. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  165. ^ Phillips, Tom (9 December 2019). "Finally, PlayStation gets cross-platform Minecraft tomorrow". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  166. ^ "Minecraft Education: Product Name change". M365 Admin. 16 December 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  167. ^ "Minecraft: Education Edition officially launches". TechCrunch. 1 November 2016. from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  168. ^ a b "Minecraft: Education Edition Is Now Available On Chromebooks". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  169. ^ "Minecraft Chemistry Update Goes Live". The Journal. 21 February 2018. from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  170. ^ "Minecraft: Education Edition: Five Fast Facts You Need to Know". 2 May 2017. from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  171. ^ "Beta Version of Minecraft: Education Edition Available for Download for Schools and Educators! Education World". www.educationworld.com. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  172. ^ September 2016, Darren Allan 22 (22 September 2016). "Minecraft: Education Edition starts schooling students on November 1". TechRadar. Retrieved 21 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  173. ^ "'Minecraft: Education Edition' arrives on iPad in September". Engadget. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  174. ^ "JD.com purchases rights to Minecraft: Education Edition in China". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  175. ^ Wilhelm, Parker (20 May 2016). "Minecraft is finally coming to China, but it's not the version you know". TechRadar. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  176. ^ 欢迎回家！《我的世界》中国版PC Java版今日开测. mc.163.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  177. ^ 《我的世界》手游今日App Store独家首发. mc.163.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  178. ^ 《我的世界》中国版全平台公测今日开启. mc.163.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  179. ^ Bailey, Dustin. "Minecraft player count reaches 480 million". PCGamesN. from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  180. ^ Good, Owen S. (4 July 2015). "Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition announced; beta begins July 29". Polygon. Vox Media. from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  181. ^ McDonald, Kit (20 December 2016). "Minecraft 1.0 release for Windows 10 and Pocket Editions brings Add-On Packages and World Templates". OnMSFT.com. from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  182. ^ . Mojang. 4 July 2015. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  183. ^ Capel, Chris (5 June 2022). "Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions are no more… separately". PCGamesN. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  184. ^ "Notch: Minecraft in less than 4k". Twitter. 29 June 2011. from the original on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  185. ^ Donlan, Chris (25 November 2011). "The Friday Game: Minecraft 4k". Edge. Future plc. from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  186. ^ Protalinski, Emil (24 November 2012). "Minecraft ported to the Raspberry Pi, to be officially released as Minecraft: Pi Edition". The Next Web. from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  187. ^ Owen (20 December 2012). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  188. ^ Owen (11 February 2013). . Mojang.com. Mojang. Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  189. ^ . iotTrends.tech. 19 April 2021. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  190. ^ . Mojang. Archived from the original on 26 December 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  191. ^ a b c "Can You Dig It: FACT meets Minecraft composer C418". FACT Magazine. 5 September 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  192. ^ a b Burns, Todd L (21 August 2015). "Interview: Minecraft's Soundtrack Composer C418". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  193. ^ a b c Keith, Stuart (7 November 2014). "How Daniel Rosenfeld wrote Minecraft's music". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  194. ^ "Minecraft's Composer Explains Why the Music Is 'So Weird'". Vice. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  195. ^ . 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  196. ^ Hamilton, Kirk. "All of the Best Video Game Music of 2011". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  197. ^ . 9 November 2013. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  198. ^ Stuart, Keith (7 November 2014). "How Daniel Rosenfeld wrote Minecraft's music". The Guardian. from the original on 6 January 2017.
  199. ^ "Minecraft soundtrack to receive vinyl release this summer". FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. 23 June 2015. from the original on 2 July 2015.
  200. ^ . Ghostly International. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  201. ^ C418 – Minecraft Volume Beta, 14 August 2020, retrieved 23 September 2022
  202. ^ Ghostly (18 June 2020). "Announcing the first-ever pressing of C418's Minecraft Volume Beta..." Twitter. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  203. ^ Wiborgh, Thomas (9 April 2020). "The Sound of Scary". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  204. ^ Wakeling, Richard (8 April 2020). "Minecraft's Nether Update Will Have Music From Celeste Composer". GameSpot. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  205. ^ Landin, Per (17 June 2020). "The Nether Update has a date!". Minecraft.net. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  206. ^ Leston, Ryan (20 October 2021). "'Minecraft' just added some new music". NME. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  207. ^ Daniel Rosenfeld [@C418] (9 February 2017). "I'm still far from done, but I tallied up a few numbers, and the third Minecraft soundtrack is gonna be longer than Alpha and Beta combined" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 March 2018 – via Twitter.
  208. ^ Rosenfeld, Daniel (8 January 2021). "10 Years of the Minecraft Soundtrack | C418 INTERVIEW". The Needle Drop (Interview). Interviewed by Anthony Fantano. Event occurs at 31:40 – via YouTube.
  209. ^ "Minecraft Classic". classic.minecraft.net.
  210. ^ Abent, Eric (9 May 2019). "Minecraft Classic can now be played in your web browser". slashgear.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  211. ^ Persson, Markus (28 June 2010). . The Word of Notch. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  212. ^ . Minecraft. 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  213. ^ . Minecraft. 10 September 2015. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015.
  214. ^ Stanton, Rich (9 December 2020). "A Lego Minecraft game called 'Brickcraft' was prototyped and greenlit – here's why it never happened". PC Gamer. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  215. ^ Webster, Andrew (25 March 2014). "'Minecraft' creator cancels Oculus Rift version following Facebook acquisition". The Verge. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  216. ^ a b c Orland, Kyle (15 August 2016). "Minecraft VR mod shuts down as Microsoft adds official Rift support". Ars Technica. from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  217. ^ "'Minecraft' arrives on Samsung's Gear VR headset". Engadget. 19 July 2019.
  218. ^ a b "Minecraft adds PS VR support this month". PlayStation. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  219. ^ "Virtual Reality". Mojang. 9 June 2021.
  220. ^ "Minecraft". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  221. ^ a b "Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  222. ^ "Minecraft: Xbox One Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  223. ^ "Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  224. ^ "Minecraft (Switch)". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  225. ^ "Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  226. ^ "Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  227. ^ "Minecraft: Wii U Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  228. ^ "Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  229. ^ "Minecraft: Pocket Edition". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. from the original on 12 June 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  230. ^ . 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  231. ^ "Minecraft review". Edge. Future plc. 28 November 2011. from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  232. ^ Meer, Alec (18 November 2011). "Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Review". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  233. ^ Biessener, Adam (22 November 2011). "More Toy Than Game, But That's Okay − Minecraft − PC". Game Informer. GameStop. from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  234. ^ Cork, Jeff (9 May 2012). "Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition". Game Informer. GameStop. from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  235. ^ a b c d e Meunier, Nathan (10 May 2009). "Minecraft Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  236. ^ . GameSpy. Glu Mobile. Archived from the original on 1 June 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  237. ^ "Minecraft Review". IGN. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  238. ^ a b c Albert, Brian (13 February 2014). "Minecraft: Pocket Edition Review". IGN. IGN Entertainment. from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  239. ^ a b Albert, Brian (24 January 2014). "Minecraft PlayStation 3 Review – IGN". IGN. from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  240. ^ a b Albert, Brian (5 September 2014). "Minecraft PS4 And Xbox One Review – IGN". IGN. from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  241. ^ "Minecraft Switch Edition Review". IGN. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  242. ^ a b McDougall, Jaz (24 December 2011). "Minecraft review". PC Gamer. Future US. from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  243. ^ Khaw, Cassandra (18 November 2011). "'Minecraft – Pocket Edition' Review – Bigger May Be Better". TouchArcade. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  244. ^ Musgrave, Shaun (1 October 2015). "'Minecraft – Pocket Edition Version 0.12' Review – You've Come A Long Way, Stevie". TouchArcade. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  245. ^ "Minecraft: Wii U Edition". Nintendo Life. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  246. ^ "Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition". Nintendo Life. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  247. ^ "Minecraft (Switch)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  248. ^ Rossignol, Jim. "Building-block World". PC Gamer UK. No. 204.
  249. ^ Hindes, Daniel. "Trouble Down Mine". PC PowerPlay (169).
  250. ^ Reinhart, Brandon (28 July 2010). . Valve. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  251. ^ Thompson, Clive (14 April 2016). "The Minecraft Generation How a clunky Swedish computer game is teaching millions of children to master the digital world". The New York Times. from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  252. ^ Munro, Scott (27 July 2010). . Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  253. ^ Rossignol, Jim (10 August 2010). "Chockablock: Minecraft Revisited". Rock Paper Shotgun. from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  254. ^ Holkins, Jerry (17 September 2010). "Mine All Mine, Part One". Penny Arcade. from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  255. ^ a b Albert, Brian (6 September 2014). "Minecraft PS4 and Xbox One Review". Imagine Games Network. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  256. ^ Woolsey, Cameron. "Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition Review". Game Spot. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  257. ^ Nunes, Timothy (16 September 2014). "Minecraft PS4 Review: A creator's and Creeper's playground". Play Station Universe. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  258. ^ Barker, Sammy (24 October 2014). "Minecraft: PS Vita Edition Review". Push Square. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  259. ^ Minuz, Allesandra (24 December 2015). "Minecraft – Review". Imagine Games Network Italy. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  260. ^ Sean, Anthony (21 September 2017). "Minecraft on the go, again!, Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition Review". Gaming Trend. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  261. ^ Brandt, Oliver (30 May 2017). "Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (eShop) Review". Vooks. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  262. ^ Geere, Duncan (23 November 2011). "Minecraft: Pocket Edition review". Wired UK. from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  263. ^ Purewal, Sarah (25 April 2012). "Minecraft Pocket Edition Review: Build Blocky Masterpieces on the Go". PC World. IDG. from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  264. ^ Persson, Markus. . Mojang. Archived from the original on 14 January 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  265. ^ Reilly, Jim (12 January 2011). "Minecraft Sales Pass One Million". IGN. from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  266. ^ Plunkett, Luke (4 January 2011). "Why Minecraft Is So Damn Popular". Kotaku. Gawker Media. from the original on 9 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  267. ^ . 17 September 2010. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  268. ^ Orland, Kyle (6 April 2011). "Minecraft Draws Over $33 Million In Revenue From 1.8M Paying Customers". Gamasutra. from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  269. ^ "Minecraft beta cracks 4 million". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. 7 November 2011. from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  270. ^ Shields, Duncan (22 March 2012). . SK Gaming. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  271. ^ "Built to last: the Minecraft model". The Independent. 10 October 2014. from the original on 23 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  272. ^ Reilly, Luke (25 February 2014). "Original Minecraft Reaches 100 Million Registered Users". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  273. ^ Bailey, Dustin. "Minecraft player count reaches 480 million". PCGamesN. from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  274. ^ a b "Minecraft Franchise Fact Sheet" (PDF). news.xbox.com. April 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  275. ^ Boddy, Zachary (15 October 2023). "Minecraft crosses 300 million copies sold as it prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary". Windows Central. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  276. ^ Reilly, Jim (10 May 2012). "Minecraft Breaks Xbox Live Sales Records". Game Informer. GameStop. from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  277. ^ Klepek, Patrick (14 May 2012). "Minecraft for Xbox Live Arcade Sells 1 Million Copies". Giant Bomb. CBS Interactive. from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  278. ^ Makuch, Eddie (13 December 2012). . GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  279. ^ Nichols, Scott (23 January 2013). "'Black Ops 2', 'Minecraft' top 2012 Xbox Live activity charts". Digital Spy. from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  280. ^ Phillips, Tom (4 April 2014). "Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition sales hit 12 m". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  281. ^ Hill, Owen (14 April 2014). . Mojang. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  282. ^ Wawro, Alex (24 January 2014). "Minecraft on PS3 breaks 1 million sales in five weeks". Gamasutra. Think Services. from the original on 29 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  283. ^ Wesley Yin-Poole (17 November 2014). "Assassin's Creed: Unity launch beats Black Flag's in UK chart". Eurogamer. from the original on 18 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  284. ^ 2014-12-17, Minecraft On Vita Sells 100,000 Via Downloads In Japan 24 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Siliconera
  285. ^ 国内PS版の『マインクラフト』が50万DLを突破、PS Vita版が牽引し小学生のあいだでブームの兆し [Domestic PlayStation version of Minecraft tops 500,000 downloads, signs of the PS Vita version booming amongst elementary school students]. Famitsu (in Japanese). 25 February 2015. from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  286. ^ 2022ゲーム産業白書 (2022 Game Industry White Paper). Media Create. 2022. ISBN 978-4909977199.
  287. ^ Makuch, Eddie (21 July 2015). "Xbox Sales Rising, as Minecraft Continues to Perform Well for Microsoft". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  288. ^ Fingas, Jon (16 September 2019). "'Minecraft' now has 112 million monthly players". Engadget. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  289. ^ Warren, Tom (18 May 2020). "Minecraft still incredibly popular as sales top 200 million and 126 million play monthly". The Verge. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  290. ^ "Minecraft Reached 140 Million Monthly Users And Generated Over $350 Million To Date". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  291. ^ "Minecraft now has nearly 140 million monthly active users and over 1 billion mod and add-on downloads". Windows Central. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  292. ^ Rossignol, Jim (5 July 2010). "50 Games to Play at Work". PC Gamer. Future plc. from the original on 9 July 2010.
  293. ^ Bendixsen, Stephanie; O'Donnell, Steven (6 December 2010). "GG Awards 2010: Best Downloadable Game". Good Game. Season 5. Episode 43. from the original on 11 December 2010.
  294. ^ "Gamasutra's Best Of 2010: The Top 10 Games of the Year". Gamasutra. 23 December 2010. from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  295. ^ "Gamasutra's Best of 2010: Top 10 Indie Games".

April 27, 2024
minecraft, this, article, about, video, game, franchise, franchise, other, uses, disambiguation, 2011, sandbox, game, developed, mojang, studios, originally, released, 2009, game, created, markus, notch, persson, java, programming, language, following, several. This article is about the video game For the franchise see Minecraft franchise For other uses see Minecraft disambiguation Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and originally released in 2009 The game was created by Markus Notch Persson in the Java programming language Following several early private testing versions it was first made public in May 2009 before being fully released on November 18 2011 with Notch stepping down and Jens Jeb Bergensten taking over development Minecraft has become the best selling video game in history with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly active players as of 2023 update It has been ported to several platforms MinecraftMinecraft Bedrock Edition box artDeveloper s Mojang Studios b Publisher s Mojang Studios c Xbox Game Studios d Sony Interactive Entertainment e Designer s Markus Persson f Jens Bergensten g Artist s Markus ToivonenJasper BoerstraKristoffer ZetterstrandComposer s C418Lena RaineKumi TaniokaAaron Cherof h SeriesMinecraftEngineLWJGL Platform s WindowsmacOSLinux AndroidiOSiPadOSXbox 360Raspberry PiWindows PhonePlayStation 3Fire OSPlayStation 4Xbox OnePlayStation VitaWii UApple TVtvOSNintendo SwitchNew Nintendo 3DSChromeOSRelease18 November 2011 a Windows macOS LinuxWW 18 November 2011AndroidWW 7 October 2011 1 iOSWW 17 November 2011 2 Xbox 360WW 9 May 2012 3 Raspberry PiWW 11 February 2013 4 PlayStation 3NA 17 December 2013EU 18 December 2013Fire OSWW 2 April 2014 5 PlayStation 4WW 4 September 2014 6 Xbox OneWW 5 September 2014 7 PlayStation VitaNA 14 October 2014 8 EU 15 October 2014Windows PhoneWW 10 December 2014 9 Windows 10WW 29 July 2015 10 Wii UWW 17 December 2015 11 tvOSWW 19 December 2016 12 Nintendo SwitchNA 11 May 2017PAL 12 May 2017New Nintendo 3DSWW 13 September 2017 13 EU 20 September 2018ChromeOSWW 8 June 2023Genre s Sandbox survivalMode s Single player multiplayer In Minecraft players explore a blocky pixelated procedurally generated three dimensional world with virtually infinite terrain Players can discover and extract raw materials craft tools and items and build structures earthworks and machines Depending on their chosen game mode players can fight hostile mobs as well as cooperate with or compete against other players in the same world Game modes include a survival mode in which players must acquire resources to build in the world and maintain health creative mode in which players have unlimited resources and the ability to fly spectator mode in which players can fly go through blocks and enter the bodies of other players and entities adventure mode in which players have to survive without being able to build and place blocks and hardcore mode in which the difficulty is set to Hard and dying causes the player to lose their ability to play on that world The game s large community also offers a wide variety of user generated content such as modifications servers skins texture packs and custom maps which add new game mechanics and possibilities Minecraft has received critical acclaim winning several awards and being cited by some as one of the greatest video games ever created social media parodies adaptations merchandise and the annual Minecon conventions played prominent roles in popularizing the game The game has also been used in educational environments to teach chemistry computer aided design and computer science In 2014 Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US 2 5 billion Several spin offs have also been made including Minecraft Story Mode Minecraft Earth Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends In addition a live action film of the same name is scheduled for a theatrical release in 2025 Contents 1 Gameplay 1 1 Dimensions 1 1 1 The Nether 1 1 2 The End 1 2 Game modes 1 2 1 Survival mode 1 2 2 Creative mode 1 2 3 Other game modes 1 3 Multiplayer 1 3 1 Minecraft Realms 1 4 Customization 2 Development 2 1 Minecraft Pocket Edition 2 2 Legacy Console Editions 2 3 Minecraft Education 2 4 Minecraft China 2 5 Other PC versions 2 5 1 Minecraft for Windows 2 5 2 Minecraft 4K 2 5 3 Raspberry Pi 2 6 Music and sound design 2 7 Variants 2 7 1 Virtual reality 3 Reception 3 1 Critics 3 2 Sales 3 3 Awards 3 4 Controversies 3 4 1 2014 EULA changes 3 4 2 Account migration 3 4 3 Java Edition chat reporting 4 Cultural impact 4 1 Applications 4 1 1 Education 4 2 Clones 4 3 Minecon 5 Notes 6 References 6 1 Further reading 7 External linksGameplayThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Minecraft news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2024 Learn how and when to remove this template message Minecraft is a 3D sandbox game that has no required goals to accomplish allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game 17 However there is an achievement system 18 known as advancements in the Java Edition of the game trophies on the PlayStation ports and achievements in Bedrock Edition and the Xbox ports citation needed Gameplay is in the first person perspective by default but players have the option of a third person perspective 19 The game world is composed of rough 3D objects mainly cubes and fluids and commonly called blocks representing various materials such as dirt stone ores tree trunks known as Logs water and lava The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects These blocks are arranged in a 3D grid while players can move freely around the world Players can mine blocks and then place them elsewhere enabling them to build things 20 Many commentators have described the game s physics system as unrealistic 21 The game also contains a material called redstone which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices electrical circuits and logic gates allowing for the construction of many complex systems 22 23 nbsp An example of Minecraft s procedurally generated terrain including a village and the default skin Steve The game world is virtually infinite i and procedurally generated as players explore it using a map seed that is obtained from the system clock at the time of world creation or manually specified by the player 24 25 26 There are limits on vertical movement but Minecraft allows an infinitely large game world to be generated on the horizontal plane Due to technical issues when extremely distant locations are reached however there is a barrier preventing players from traversing to locations beyond 30 million blocks from the center j obsolete source The game achieves this by splitting the world data into smaller 16 by 16 sections called chunks that are only created or loaded when players are nearby 24 The world is divided into biomes ranging from deserts to jungles to snowfields 27 28 the terrain includes plains mountains forests caves and bodies of water or lava 26 The in game time system follows a day and night cycle with one full cycle lasting for 20 real time minutes 29 nbsp Some of Minecraft s monsters displayed from left to right a zombie a spider an enderman a creeper and a skeleton All are from the Overworld When starting a new world players must choose one of five game modes as well as one of four difficulties ranging from Peaceful to Hard Increasing the difficulty of the game causes the player to take more damage from mobs non player characters as well as having other difficulty specific effects For example the Peaceful difficulty prevents hostile mobs from spawning and the Hard difficulty allows players to starve to death if their hunger bar is depleted citation needed Once selected the difficulty can be changed but the game mode is locked and can only be changed with cheats citation needed New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of 9 possibilities including Steve or Alex 30 31 but the option to create custom skins was made available in 2010 32 Players encounter various mobs such as animals villagers and hostile creatures 33 34 Passive mobs such as cows pigs and chickens can be hunted for food and crafting materials They spawn in the daytime while hostile mobs including large spiders witches creepers skeletons endermen and zombies spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves citation needed Some hostile mobs such as zombies skeletons and drowned underwater versions of zombies burn under the sun if they have no headgear citation needed Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player and the enderman a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks 35 There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions for example zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans respectively 36 Dimensions Minecraft has two alternative dimensions besides the Overworld the main world the Nether and the End 35 The Nether The Nether is a hell like underworld dimension accessed via either a player built obsidian portal or one of the Ruined Portals randomly generated throughout the world It contains many unique resources and can be used to travel great distances in the Overworld due to every block traveled in the Nether being equivalent to 8 blocks traveled in the Overworld 37 Water cannot exist in the Nether as it vaporizes instantly 38 The Nether is mainly populated by pigman like mobs called piglins and their zombified counterparts plus floating balloon like mobs called ghasts 39 The piglins are considered particularly noteworthy because of their bartering system where the player can give them gold ingots and receive items in return 40 The player can also build an optional boss mob called The Wither out of materials found in the Nether 41 The End The End is reached by underground portals in the Overworld It consists of islands floating above a dark bottomless void A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest central island 42 Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal which when entered cues the game s ending credits and the End Poem a roughly 1 500 word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough 43 which takes about nine minutes to scroll past 44 and is the game s only narrative text 45 and only text of significant length directed at the player 46 10 12 At the conclusion of the credits the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely 47 Game modes Survival mode nbsp The crafting menu in Minecraft showing the crafting recipe of a stone axe as well as some other blocks and items in the player s inventory In survival mode players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items 26 Depending on the difficulty monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character requiring players to build a shelter at night 26 The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs falls drowning falling into lava suffocation starvation and other events Players also have a hunger bar which must be periodically refilled by eating food in game except in peaceful difficulty 48 If the hunger bar is depleted automatic healing will stop and eventually health will deplete Health replenishes when players have a nearly full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful difficulty 48 Players can craft a wide variety of items in Minecraft Craftable items include armor which mitigates damage from attacks weapons such as swords or axes which allows monsters and animals to be killed more easily and tools such as pickaxes or hoes which break certain types of blocks more quickly Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them with higher tier items being more effective and durable Players can construct furnaces which can cook food process ores and convert materials into other materials 49 Players may also exchange goods with a villager NPC through a trading system which involves trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa 50 33 The game has an inventory system allowing players to carry a limited number of items 51 Upon dying items in the players inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so Players then re spawn at their spawn point which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be reset by sleeping in a bed in the overworld 52 or using a respawn anchor in the Nether 53 Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they disappear or despawn after 5 minutes Players may acquire experience points by killing mobs and other players mining smelting ores breeding animals and cooking food Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools armor and weapons citation needed Enchanted items are generally more powerful last longer or have other special effects 54 Creative mode In creative mode players have access to nearly all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or remove them instantly 55 Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will and their characters do not take any damage and are not affected by hunger 56 57 The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance 55 Other game modes Minecraft includes other game modes such as spectator mode which allows players to fly through blocks Hardcore mode is a survival mode variant in which upon death the player may only view the world in spectator mode or return to the game s menu 58 Adventure mode is a survival mode variant with possible restrictions added by a creator of a map 59 60 61 Multiplayer See also Minecraft server Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world It is available through direct game to game multiplayer LAN play local split screen console only and servers player hosted and business hosted 62 Players can run their own servers use a hosting provider or connect directly to another player s game via Xbox Live Single player worlds have local area network support allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup 63 Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server 62 Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities with some servers having their own unique rules and customs The largest and most popular server is Hypixel which has been visited by over 14 million unique players 64 65 Player versus player combat PvP can be enabled to allow fighting between players 66 Many servers have custom plugins that allow actions that are not normally possible Minecraft Realms In 2013 Mojang announced Minecraft Realms a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own 67 68 Unlike a standard server only invited players can join Realms servers and these servers do not use IP addresses Minecraft Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server with up to ten players online at a time Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3 000 people to play on their server with up to ten players online at one time 69 The Minecraft Java Edition Realms servers do not support user made plugins but players can play custom Minecraft maps 70 Minecraft Realms servers support user made add ons resource packs behavior packs and custom Minecraft maps 69 At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 support for cross platform play between Windows 10 iOS and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016 71 with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017 72 and support for virtual reality devices On 31 July 2017 Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross platform play 73 Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018 74 Customization See also Minecraft modding nbsp A smeltery within the mod Tinkers Construct The modding community consists of fans users and third party programmers Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft such as modifications texture packs and custom maps Modifications of the Minecraft code called mods add a variety of gameplay changes ranging from new blocks items and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms 75 76 The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay such as mini maps waypoints and durability counters to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media citation needed While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification allowing the production of community created resource packs which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds 77 Players can also create their own maps custom world save files which often contain specific rules challenges puzzles and quests and share them for others to play 78 Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012 79 and command blocks in October 2012 80 which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition Data packs introduced in version 1 13 of the Java Edition allow further customization including the ability to add new advancements dimensions functions loot tables predicates recipes structures tags world generation settings and biomes 81 82 The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store these content packs usually contained additional character skins 83 It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing mash up packs which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game s sounds music and user interface 84 The first mash up pack and by extension the first texture pack for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013 and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise 85 Unlike Java Edition however the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player made mods or custom maps 86 A cross promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016 87 A mash up pack based on Fallout was announced for release on the Wii U Edition 88 In April 2018 malware was discovered in several downloadable user made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game 89 90 Avast stated that nearly 50 000 accounts were infected and when activated the malware would attempt to reformat the user s hard drive 90 89 Mojang promptly patched the issue and released a statement stating that the code would not be run or read by the game itself 89 and would only run when the image containing the skin itself was opened 91 In June 2017 Mojang released an update known as the Discovery Update to the Bedrock version of the game 92 The update includes a new map a new game mode the Marketplace a catalogue of user generated content that gives Minecraft creators another way to make a living from the game and more 93 94 95 Development nbsp Minecraft creator Markus Notch Persson at the GDC in 2016 nbsp Minecraft lead designer and creative director Jens Jeb Bergensten in 2011 Java Edition major update release timelinePre release years in red2009Pre ClassicClassicSurvival Test2010IndevInfdevAlphaBeta2011BetaRelease 1 0 Adventure Update 20121 11 21 31 4 Pretty Scary Update 20131 5 Redstone Update 1 6 Horse Update 1 7 The Update that Changed the World 20141 8 Bountiful Update 201520161 9 Combat Update 1 10 Frostburn Update 1 11 Exploration Update 20171 12 World of Color Update 20181 13 Update Aquatic 20191 14 Village amp Pillage 1 15 Buzzy Bees 20201 16 Nether Update 20211 17 Caves amp Cliffs Part I 1 18 Caves amp Cliffs Part II 20221 19 The Wild Update 20231 20 Trails amp Tales Before coming up with Minecraft Markus Notch Persson was a game developer with King through March 2009 at the time serving mostly browser games during which he learnt a number of different programming languages 96 He would prototype his own games during his off hours at home often based on inspiration he found from other games and participated frequently on the TIGSource forums for independent developers 96 One of these personal projects was called RubyDung a base building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress but as an isometric three dimensional game like RollerCoaster Tycoon 97 He had already made a 3D texture mapper for another zombie game prototype he had started to try to emulate the style of Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars 98 Among the features in RubyDung he explored was a first person view similar to Dungeon Keeper but at the time felt the graphics were too pixelated and omitted this mode 98 99 Around March 2009 Persson left King and joined jAlbum but otherwise kept working on his prototypes 100 99 101 Infiniminer a block based open ended mining game first released in April 2009 sparked Persson s inspiration for how to take RubyDung forward 98 Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay including bringing back the first person mode the blocky visual style and the block building fundamentals 98 However unlike Infiniminer Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements 102 The original edition of Minecraft now known as the Java Edition was first developed in May 2009 Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of Minecraft 98 103 The base program of Minecraft was completed by Persson over a weekend in that month and a private testing was released on TigIRC on 16 May 2009 104 The game was first released to the public on 17 May 2009 as a developmental release on TIGSource forums 105 Persson updated the game based on feedback from the forums 96 106 This version later became known as the Classic version 107 Further developmental phases dubbed as Survival Test Indev and Infdev were released in 2009 and 2010 99 The first major update dubbed Alpha was released on 30 June 2010 108 109 Although Persson maintained a day job with Jalbum net at first he later quit in order to work on Minecraft full time as sales of the alpha version of the game expanded 110 Persson continued to update the game with releases distributed to users automatically These updates included new items new blocks new mobs survival mode and changes to the game s behavior e g how water flows 110 To back the development of Minecraft Persson set up a video game company Mojang with the money earned from the game 111 112 113 Mojang co founders included Jakob Porser one of Persson s coworkers from King and Carl Manneh jAlbum s CEO 96 On 11 December 2010 Persson announced that Minecraft was entering its beta testing phase on 20 December 2010 114 He further stated that bug fixes and all updates leading up to and including the release would still be free 115 Over the course of the development Mojang hired several new employees to work on the project 116 Mojang moved the game out of beta and released the full version on 18 November 2011 15 On 1 December 2011 Jens Jeb Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft replacing Persson as lead designer 117 On 28 February 2012 Mojang announced that they had hired the developers of the popular Bukkit developer API for Minecraft 66 to improve Minecraft s support of server modifications 118 This acquisition also included Mojang apparently taking full ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod which enables the use of Bukkit 119 although the validity of this claim was questioned due to its status as an open source project with many contributors licensed under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License 120 On 15 September 2014 Microsoft announced a 2 5 billion deal to buy Mojang along with the ownership of the Minecraft intellectual property 121 122 123 The deal was suggested by Persson when he posted a tweet asking a corporation to buy his share of the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game s end user license agreement EULA which had been present in the EULA in the prior three years 124 125 126 According to Persson Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet asking if Persson was serious about a deal Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts 126 The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes World s Billionaires 127 128 129 126 Since the first full release of Minecraft dubbed the Adventure Update the game has been continuously updated with many major updates available for free to users who have already purchased the game 130 Early updates frequently introduced gameplay altering mechanics while more recent updates tend to enhance the game through additional content or tweaks to existing features 131 better source needed The most recent major update to the game was Trails amp Tales which released in June 2023 and added new creatures biomes and items 132 133 The original version of the game was renamed to Minecraft Java Edition on 18 September 2017 to separate it from Bedrock Edition which was renamed to just Minecraft by the Better Together Update 134 The Bedrock Edition has also been regularly updated with these updates now matching the themes of Java Edition updates Other versions of the game such as the various console editions and Pocket Edition were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and as such have not received further updates 134 On 16 April 2020 a beta version of Minecraft implementing physically based rendering ray tracing and DLSS was released by Nvidia on RTX enabled GPUs 135 The final version was released on 8 December 2020 136 Minecraft Pocket Edition In August 2011 Minecraft Pocket Edition was released for the Xperia Play on the Android Market as an early alpha version It was then released for several other compatible devices on 8 October 2011 137 138 An iOS version of Minecraft was released on 17 November 2011 139 A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang 140 The port concentrates on the creative building and the primitive survival aspect of the game and did not contain all the features of the PC release citation needed On his Twitter account Jens Bergensten said that the Pocket Edition of Minecraft is written in C and not Java due to iOS not being able to support Java 141 However there now exists a way to play Java Edition on both Android and iOS devices 142 143 On 10 December 2014 a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8 1 144 In January 2017 Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition 145 On 19 December 2016 the full version of Minecraft Pocket Edition was released on iOS Android and Windows Phone Pocket Edition was remade into the Bedrock Edition in 2017 enabling cross platform play with the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch Editions 146 Legacy Console Editions An Xbox 360 version of the game developed by 4J Studios was released on 9 May 2012 147 148 On 22 March 2012 it was announced that Minecraft would be the flagship game in a new Xbox Live promotion called Arcade NEXT 148 The game differs from the home computer versions in a number of ways including a newly designed crafting system the control interface in game tutorials split screen multiplayer and the ability to play with friends via Xbox Live 149 150 The worlds in the Xbox 360 version are also not infinite and are essentially barricaded by invisible walls 150 The Xbox 360 version was originally similar in content to older PC versions but was gradually updated to bring it closer to the current PC version prior to its discontinuation 147 151 152 An Xbox One version featuring larger worlds among other enhancements 153 was released on 5 September 2014 153 Versions of the game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 were released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014 respectively 6 The PlayStation 4 version was announced as a launch title though it was eventually delayed 154 155 A version for PlayStation Vita was also released in October 2014 156 Like the Xbox versions the PlayStation versions were developed by 4J Studios 157 On 17 December 2015 Minecraft Wii U Edition was released The Wii U version received a physical release on 17 June 2016 in North America 158 in Japan on 23 June 2016 159 and in Europe on 30 June 2016 160 A Nintendo Switch version of the game was released on the Nintendo eShop on 11 May 2017 along with a physical retail version set for a later date 161 During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017 Nintendo announced that Minecraft New Nintendo 3DS Edition would be available for download immediately after the livestream and a physical copy available on a later date The game is only compatible with the New 3DS and New 3DS XL or New 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS and 3DS XL or 2DS systems 13 On 20 September 2017 the Better Together Update was released on the Xbox One Windows 10 VR and mobile versions of the game which used the Pocket Edition engine to enable cross platform play between each of these versions This version of the game eventually became known as the Bedrock Edition 162 Shortly after the Bedrock Edition was also ported to the Nintendo Switch On 18 December 2018 the PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita Xbox 360 and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as Legacy Console Editions 163 On 15 January 2019 the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update effectively becoming discontinued as well 164 The PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft was updated in December 2019 and became part of the Bedrock Edition which enabled cross platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account 165 Minecraft Education Minecraft Education known as Minecraft Education Edition until December 2022 166 is an educational version of the game designed specifically for use in educational establishments such as schools and built off of the Bedrock Edition codebase It is available on Windows 10 MacOS iPadOS and ChromeOS 167 168 It includes a Chemistry Resource Pack 169 free lesson plans available online and two free companion applications Code Connection and Classroom Mode 170 An initial beta test was carried out between 9 June and 1 November 2016 171 The full game was then released on Windows 10 and MacOS on 1 November 2016 172 On 20 August 2018 Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018 It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018 173 On 27 March 2019 it was announced that it would be operated by JD com in China 174 On 26 June 2020 a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020 168 Minecraft China On 20 May 2016 Minecraft China was announced as a localized edition for China where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang 175 The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017 The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017 and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017 176 177 178 The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition while the iOS and Android mobile version is based on the Bedrock Edition The edition is free to play and had over 300 million players by November 2019 179 Other PC versions Apart from Minecraft Java Edition there are other versions of Minecraft for PC including Minecraft for Windows Minecraft Classic Minecraft 4K and a version for the Raspberry Pi Minecraft for Windows Minecraft for Windows is exclusive to Microsoft s Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015 180 After nearly one and a half years in beta Microsoft fully released Minecraft for Windows on 19 December 2016 Called the Ender Update this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add on packs 181 This version has the ability to play with Xbox Live friends and to play local multiplayer with owners of Minecraft on other Bedrock platforms Other features include the ability to use multiple control schemes such as a gamepad keyboard or touchscreen for Microsoft Surface and other touchscreen enabled devices Virtual reality support has been implemented as well as the ability to record and take screenshots in game via the Windows built in GameDVR 182 As of 7 June 2022 the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft for Windows were merged into a single title for purchase those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version Both game versions would otherwise remain separate 183 Minecraft 4K Minecraft 4K is a simplified version of Minecraft similar to the Classic version that was developed for the Java 4K Game Programming Contest in way less than 4 kilobytes 184 The map itself is finite composed of 64 64 64 blocks and the same world is generated every time Players are restricted to placing or destroying blocks which consist of grass dirt stone wood leaves and brick 185 Raspberry Pi A version of Minecraft for the Raspberry Pi was officially revealed at Minecon 2012 The Pi Edition is based on an alpha version of Pocket Edition with the added ability of using text commands to edit the game world Players can open the game code and use the Python programming language to manipulate things in the game world 186 It also includes a scripting API to modify the game and server software for multiplayer The game was leaked on 20 December 2012 but was quickly pulled off 187 It was officially released on 11 February 2013 188 Mojang stopped providing updates to Minecraft Raspberry Pi Edition in 2016 It is preinstalled on Raspberry Pi OS and can be downloaded for free from the official Minecraft website 189 Music and sound design Main article Music of Minecraft Minecraft s music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld better known as C418 190 To create the sound effects for the game Rosenfeld made extensive use of foley techniques On learning the processes for the game he remarked Foley s an interesting thing and I had to learn its subtleties Early on I wasn t that knowledgeable about it It s a whole trial and error process You just make a sound and eventually you go Oh my God that s it Get the microphone There s no set way of doing anything at all 191 192 He reminisced on creating the in game sound for grass blocks stating It turns out that to make grass sounds you don t actually walk on grass and record it because grass sounds like nothing What you want to do is get a VHS break it apart and just lightly touch the tape According to Rosenfeld his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders He elaborates I like the spiders Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like Turns out there are spiders that make little screeching sounds so I think I got this recording of a fire hose put it in a sampler and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you 191 Many sounds for the game were created accidentally or spontaneously On the creation for the sound for the creeper Rosenfeld recalled That was just a complete accident by Markus and me sic We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick It seemed to work hilariously well so we kept it 193 On other sounds such as those of the zombie Rosenfeld remarked I actually never wanted the zombies so scary I intentionally made them sound comical It s nice to hear that they work so well 193 Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was terrible to work with remembering If you had two song files at once it the game engine would actually crash There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine 192 The background music in Minecraft is instrumental ambient music 194 To compose the music of Minecraft Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live along with several additional plug ins Speaking on them Rosenfeld said They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra Additionally I ve got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer Like a Moog Voyager Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI 193 On 4 March 2011 Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft Volume Alpha it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft as well as other music not featured in the game 195 Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011 196 On 9 November 2013 Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack titled Minecraft Volume Beta which includes the music that was added in later versions of the game 197 198 A physical release of Volume Alpha consisting of CDs black vinyl and limited edition transparent green vinyl LPs was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015 199 200 On 14 August 2020 Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities 201 202 Rosenfeld s music remained the only music in the game until in 2020 The Nether Update had a new composer Lena Raine Since then other composers have made contributions with Raine remaining as the new primary composer such as in 1 18 Caves amp Cliffs soundtrack along with Kumi Tanioka 1 19 The Wild Update soundtrack with Samuel Aberg and 1 20 Trails and Tales Soundtrack with the addition of Aaron Cherof s music Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld s independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft with their label publishing all of the other artists releases Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game s mini games from the Legacy Console editions 203 204 205 206 Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with FACT Magazine 191 and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes 207 However due to licensing issues with Microsoft the third volume has since not seen release On 8 January 2021 Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release Rosenfeld responded saying I have something I consider it finished but things have become complicated especially as Minecraft is now a big property so I don t know 208 Variants Main article Minecraft franchise For the tenth anniversary of the game s release Mojang remade a version of Minecraft Classic in JavaScript and made it available to play online 209 210 It functions much the same as creative mode allowing players to build and destroy any and all parts of the world either alone or in a multiplayer server Environmental hazards such as lava do not damage players and some blocks function differently since their behavior was later changed during development 211 212 213 Around 2011 prior to Minecraft s full release there had been collaboration between Mojang and The Lego Group to make a Lego brick based Minecraft game to be called Brickcraft This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks which meant adapting the basic 1 1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets Persson had worked on the preliminary version of this game which he had named Project Rex Kwon Do based on the joke from Napoleon Dynamite Lego had greenlit the project to go forward and while Mojang had put two developers on the game for six months they later opted to cancel the project as Mojang felt that the Lego Group were too demanding on what they could do according to Mojang s Daniel Kaplan The Lego Group had considered buying out Mojang to complete the game but at this point Microsoft made its offer to buy the company for over 2 billion According to the Lego Group s Ronny Scherer the company was not yet sure of the potential success of Minecraft at this point and backed off from acquisition after Microsoft brought this offer to Mojang 214 Virtual reality Early on Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a port of Minecraft However after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013 he abruptly canceled plans noting Facebook creeps me out 215 A community made modification known as Minecraft VR was developed in 2016 to provide virtual reality support to Minecraft Java Edition oriented towards Oculus Rift hardware A fork of the Minecraft VR modification known as Vivecraft ported the mod to OpenVR and is oriented towards supporting HTC Vive hardware 216 On 15 August 2016 Microsoft launched official Oculus Rift support for Minecraft on Windows 10 216 Upon its release the Minecraft VR mod was discontinued by its developer due to trademark complaints issued by Microsoft and Vivecraft was endorsed by the community makers of the Minecraft VR modification due to its Rift support and being superior to the original Minecraft VR mod 216 Also available is a Gear VR version titled Minecraft Gear VR Edition 217 Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017 On 7 September 2020 Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 version of the game would be getting PlayStation VR support in the same month 218 The only officially supported VR versions of Minecraft are the PlayStation 4 version Minecraft Gear VR Edition and Minecraft for Windows 10 for Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets 219 218 ReceptionReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScoreMetacritic PC 93 100 220 PS4 89 100 221 XONE 88 100 222 PS3 86 100 223 NS 86 100 224 VITA 84 100 225 X360 82 100 226 WIIU 77 100 227 3DS 62 100 228 iOS 53 100 229 Review scoresPublicationScore1Up com PC A 230 Edge PC 9 10 231 Eurogamer PC 10 10 35 X360 9 10 232 Game Informer PC 9 25 10 233 X360 8 75 10 234 GameSpot PC 8 5 10 235 X360 7 0 10 150 GameSpy PC nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 236 IGN PC 9 0 10 237 iOS 7 5 10 238 X360 8 5 10 86 PS3 9 5 10 239 PS4 9 7 10 240 XONE 9 7 10 240 VITA 9 5 10 239 NS 9 5 10 241 Nintendo Life WII U 7 5 10 245 3DS 6 6 10 246 NS 8 2 10 247 PC Gamer US PC 96 100 242 TouchArcade iOS nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 243 Version 0 12 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 244 Critics Early versions of Minecraft received critical acclaim praising the creative freedom it grants players in game as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay 248 249 250 Critics have praised Minecraft s complex crafting system commenting that it is an important aspect of the game s open ended gameplay 235 Most publications were impressed by the game s blocky graphics with IGN describing them as instantly memorable 17 Reviewers also liked the game s adventure elements noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building 235 The game s multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably with IGN commenting that adventuring is always better with friends 17 Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is intuitively interesting and contagiously fun with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences 242 It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands 251 IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers calling it a hassle 17 Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically 235 Despite its release out of beta in 2011 GameSpot said the game had an unfinished feel adding that some game elements seem incomplete or thrown together in haste 235 A review of the alpha version by Scott Munro of the Daily Record called it already something special and urged readers to buy it 252 Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game calling it a kind of generative 8 bit Lego Stalker 253 On 17 September 2010 gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game 254 The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics but did not receive as much praise as the PC version Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version they acclaimed the port s addition of a tutorial and in game tips and crafting recipes saying that they make the game more user friendly 86 The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports being praised for its relatively large worlds 255 The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well adapted controls 256 The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition 257 255 221 The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations 258 The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration 259 The 3DS version received mixed reviews being criticized for its high price technical issues and lack of cross platform play 260 The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics being praised like other modern ports for its relatively larger worlds 261 Minecraft Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics Although reviewers appreciated the game s intuitive controls they were disappointed by the lack of content The inability to collect resources and craft items as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs were especially criticized 238 262 263 After updates added more content Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics but still noted a lack of content 238 Sales Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011 264 265 At the same time the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth 266 and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic 267 By April 2011 Persson estimated that Minecraft had made 23 million US 33 million in revenue with 800 000 sales of the alpha version of the game and over 1 million sales of the beta version 268 In November 2011 prior to the game s full release Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases 269 By March 2012 Minecraft had become the 6th best selling PC game of all time 270 As of 10 October 2014 update the game had sold 17 million copies on PC becoming the best selling PC game of all time 271 On 25 February 2014 the game reached 100 million registered users 272 By May 2019 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms making it the single best selling video game of all time The free to play Minecraft China version had over 300 million players by November 2019 273 By April 2021 Minecraft sold more than 238 million copies worldwide 274 As of 2023 the game has sold over 300 million copies 275 The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game s release in 2012 when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400 000 players online 276 Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace Minecraft sold upwards of a million copies 277 GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4 48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012 278 In 2012 Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day 279 As of 4 April 2014 update the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies 280 In addition Minecraft Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales 281 The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks 282 The release of the game s PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79 outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console 283 The PS Vita version sold 100 000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia 284 By January 2015 500 000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version 285 As of 2022 the Vita version has sold over 1 65 million physical copies in Japan making it the best selling Vita game in the country 286 Minecraft helped improve Microsoft s total first party revenue by 63 million for the 2015 second quarter 287 The game including all of its versions had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019 288 On its 11th anniversary in May 2020 the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players 289 By April 2021 the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million 290 274 291 Awards In July 2010 PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth best game to play at work 292 In December of that year Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010 293 Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year 294 295 and Rock Paper Shotgun named it the game of the year 296 Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters in addition to two out of five Editor s Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie 297 It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK 298 The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize Technical Excellence and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community voted Audience Award 299 300 At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011 Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award winning every award for which it was nominated 301 302 It also won GameCity s video game arts award 303 On 5 May 2011 Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012 304 305 At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category 306 307 In 2012 at the British Academy Video Games Awards Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award 308 In 2012 Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category 309 and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category 310 In 2013 it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards 311 During the 16th Annual D I C E Awards the Academy of Interactive Arts amp Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for Strategy Simulation Game of the Year 312 Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014 313 In 2015 the game placed 6th on USgamer s The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list 314 In 2016 Minecraft placed 6th on Time s The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list 315 Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids Choice Awards for Favorite App but lost to Temple Run 316 It was nominated for the 2014 Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game but lost to Just Dance 2014 317 The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids Choice Awards 318 In addition the Java Edition was nominated for Favorite Video Game at the 2018 Kids Choice Awards 319 while the game itself won the Still Playing award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards 320 as well as the Favorite Video Game award at the 2020 Kids Choice Awards 321 Minecraft also won Stream Game of the Year at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2022 322 The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021 323 and won the same category in 2022 and 2023 324 325 Controversies 2014 EULA changes Microsoft and Mojang announced in June 2014 that it would be changing the Minecraft end user license agreement EULA to prohibit servers from accepting donations or payments in exchange for the donating or paying players receiving in game advantages on such server essentially banning servers from enacting pay to win PTW servers Mojang spokesperson Owen Hill provided examples of what it would and would not allow saying company would allow for pay to play servers in which a player is required to pay a fee to access the server or for cosmetic enhancements such as in game costumes or pets but that Mojang would be cracking down on paying to obtain powerful swords or potions providing a competitive advantage to the player versus other players The new crackdowns were supported by Persson citing him receiving multiple emails from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers The Minecraft community and server owners however heavily despised the new change in enforcement and protested en masse which included comparing Mojang to monolithic video game publishers like Electronic Arts and Activision gaming companies often criticized online for their highly restrictive digital rights management and user license agreements Many argued that the crackdown would force smaller servers to close their doors and some blamed the crackdown on Mojang attempting to suppress competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service 326 Account migration In 2020 Mojang Studios revealed that it would begin the process of requiring that Microsoft accounts be used in order to log into the Java Edition of the game and that older Mojang Studios accounts would be sunsetted The move to Microsoft accounts also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags Mojang Studios defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered which included Java accounts being able to use two factor authentication players could block cyberbullies in chat and improve parental controls The community responded with intense backlash against this announcement particularly taking issue to the various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory even for those who do not play on servers As of 10 March 2022 Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to access the Java Edition of Minecraft 327 328 A deadline of 19 September 2023 was announced to complete account migration after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated 329 Java Edition chat reporting In June 2022 Microsoft and Mojang Studios announced it would be releasing a player reporting feature in all future builds of Java Edition In earlier development builds players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages that are prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct report categories included profane language substance abuse hate speech threats of violence and nudity though Microsoft in later builds has since excluded the profane language category from the player reporting feature If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards the player would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently The update containing the report feature 1 19 1 was released on 27 July 2022 330 Microsoft and Mojang Studios received substantial backlash and protest from community members one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server even private ones Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship 331 332 333 sparking some to dub the version 1 19 84 in reference to the novel Nineteen Eighty Four which deals with similar themes of censorship 334 335 Cultural impactIn September 2019 The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of the first two decades of the 21st century 336 and in November 2019 Polygon called the game the most important game of the decade in its 2010s decade in review 337 In December 2019 Forbes gave Minecraft a special mention in a list of the best video games of the 2010s stating that the game is without a doubt one of the most important games of the last ten years 338 In June 2020 Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame 339 Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development 340 As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development 341 nbsp Jordan Maron known professionally as CaptainSparklez is known for his musical Minecraft parodies of popular songs Social media sites such as YouTube Facebook and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft 342 Research conducted by the University of Pennsylvania s Annenberg School of Communication showed that one third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos 343 In 2010 Minecraft related videos began to gain influence on YouTube often made by commentators The videos usually contain screen capture footage of the game and voice overs 344 Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players walkthroughs of various tasks and parodies of works in popular culture By May 2012 over four million Minecraft related YouTube videos had been uploaded 345 The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube s gaming scene during the entire 2010s in 2014 it was the second most searched term on the entire platform 346 By 2018 it was still YouTube s biggest game globally 347 Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima a gaming video company that owns a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube 344 The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos their YouTube channel has attained billions of views and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance 344 348 Other well known YouTube personalities include Jordan Maron who has created many Minecraft parodies including Minecraft Style a parody of the internationally successful single Gangnam Style by South Korean rapper Psy 349 Minecraft s popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant although in 2019 thanks in part to PewDiePie s playthroughs of the game Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform 346 350 YouTube later announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft related views exceeded one trillion since the game s inception in 2009 351 Minecraft has been referenced by other video games such as Torchlight II Team Fortress 2 352 353 Borderlands 2 Choplifter HD Super Meat Boy The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim The Binding of Isaac The Stanley Parable FTL Faster Than Light 354 355 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate the lattermost of which features a downloadable character and stage based on Minecraft 356 It was also referenced by electronic music artist deadmau5 in his performances 357 The game is also referenced heavily in Informative Murder Porn the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park 358 Applications The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively especially in the fields of computer aided design CAD and education In a panel at Minecon 2011 a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user friendly for the community making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks 344 In 2012 a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab Cody Sumter said Notch hasn t just built a game He s tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap 359 In September 2012 Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real world environments in Minecraft 360 361 The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see Using Minecraft the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood Carl Manneh Mojang s managing director called the game the perfect tool to facilitate this process adding The three year partnership will support UN Habitat s Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016 Mojang signed Minecraft building community FyreUK to help render the environments into Minecraft The first pilot project began in Kibera one of Nairobi s informal settlements and is in the planning phase The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011 Mina Kvarter My Block which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town According to Manneh the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions 362 363 nbsp A yarn Minecraft sheep In April 2014 the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata 364 This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in game sea level when the project was completed 365 366 Taking advantage of the game s accessibility where other websites are censored the non governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries including Egypt Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia and Vietnam who have been censored and arrested such as Jamal Khashoggi 367 The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people 368 Despite its unpredictable nature Minecraft has become a popular game for speedrunning where players time themselves from being dropped into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss Some speedrunners use a combination of mods external programs and debug menus while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency oriented way 369 370 Education nbsp Minecraft being played in an educational setting Minecraft has also been used in educational settings 371 In 2011 an educational organization named MinecraftEdu was formed with the goal of introducing Minecraft into schools The group works with Mojang to make the game affordable and accessible to schools The version of Minecraft through MinecraftEdu includes unique features to allow teachers to monitor the students progress within the virtual world such as receiving screenshots from students to show completion of a lesson 372 In September 2012 MinecraftEdu said that approximately 250 000 students around the world have access to Minecraft through the company 373 A wide variety of educational activities involving the game have been developed to teach students various subjects including history language arts and science For an example one teacher built a world consisting of various historical landmarks for students to learn and explore 373 Another teacher created a large scale representation of an animal cell within Minecraft that student could explore and learn how cell functions work 372 Great Ormond Street Hospital has been recreated in Minecraft and it proposed that patients can use it to virtually explore the hospital before they visit it in real life 374 Minecraft may also prove as an innovation in computer aided design 375 Minecraft offers an outlet of collaboration in design and could have an impact on the industry 376 With the introduction of redstone blocks to represent electrical circuits users have been able to build functional virtual computers within Minecraft 377 Such virtual creations include a working hard drive 378 an 8 bit virtual computer 379 and even a smaller scale version of Minecraft that is playable and able to be built completely in survival mode with no external modifications 380 In at least one instance a mod has been created to use this feature to teach younger players how to program within a language set by a virtual computer within a Minecraft world 381 Another computational mechanic in Minecraft is the command block a block that is only accessible in creative mode and can alter game logic It has been used to create emulators for the Atari 2600 including one by YouTube personality SethBling 382 383 and the Game Boy Advance 384 In September 2014 the British Museum in London announced plans to recreate its building along with all exhibits in Minecraft in conjunction with members of the public 385 Microsoft and the non profit organisation Code org had teamed up to offer Minecraft based games puzzles and tutorials aimed to help teach children how to program by March 2018 Microsoft and Code org reported that more than 85 million children have used their tutorials 386 Clones Following the initual surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010 other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft and some were described as being clones often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft or only a superficial similarity Examples include Ace of Spades CastleMiner CraftWorld FortressCraft Terraria BlockWorld 3D Total Miner 387 and Minetest 388 David Frampton designer of The Blockheads reported that one failure of his 2D game was the low resolution pixel art that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft which resulted in some resistance from fans 389 A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS titled DScraft has been released it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system 390 In response to Microsoft s acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo s consoles as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time 391 These clone titles include UCraft Nexis Games 392 Cube Life Island Survival Cypronia 393 Discovery Noowanda 394 Battleminer Wobbly Tooth Games 395 Cube Creator 3D Big John Games 396 and Stone Shire Finger Gun Games 397 Despite this the fears of fans were unfounded with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming 398 399 11 Markus Persson made another similar game Minicraft for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011 400 Minecon Main article Minecon Minecon is the annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft The first Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas 401 The event included the official launch of Minecraft keynote speeches including one by Persson building and costume contests Minecraft themed breakout classes exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft related companies commemorative merchandise and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well known contributors from the Minecraft community 402 In 2016 Minecon was held in person for the last time with the following years featuring annual livestreams instead Notes Minecraft was first publicly available on 17 May 2009 14 and following many developmental phases over the next two years was fully released on 18 November 2011 15 Ports to consoles developed by 4J Studios 16 New Nintendo 3DS port developed by Other Ocean Interactive PC Java Android iOS Wii U Nintendo 3DS Nintendo Switch Xbox 360 Xbox One Windows Phone Windows 10 Edition PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita 2009 2011 2011 present Additional music has been written by Samuel Aberg and Gareth Coker for various later updates An infinite world is 60 million by 60 million blocks or 30 million in each direction In a blog post 24 Persson explains let me clarify some things about the infinite maps They re not infinite but there s no hard limit either It ll just get buggier and buggier the further out you are Terrain is generated saved and loaded and kind of rendered in chunks of 16 16 128 blocks These chunks have an offset value that is a 32 bit integer roughly in the range negative two billion to positive two billion If you go outside that range about 25 of the distance from where you are now to the sun loading and saving chunks will start overwriting old chunks At a 16 th of that distance things that use integers for block positions such as using items and pathfinding will start overflowing and acting weird Those are the two hard limits dd References Minecraft Pocket Edition Android IGN Archived from the original on 16 November 2012 Retrieved 21 October 2012 Minecraft Pocket Edition GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 23 October 2012 Retrieved 21 October 2012 Brown Mark 22 March 2012 Minecraft for Xbox 360 release date announced amongst others Wired UK Archived from the original on 18 December 2012 Retrieved 22 October 2012 Minecraft Raspberry Pi Mojang Archived from the original on 27 March 2013 Retrieved 27 March 2013 Amazon s first Fire TV games include in house titles and Minecraft update video Engadget Retrieved 25 September 2018 a b Pitcher Jenna 3 September 2014 Minecraft PS4 Edition Release Date Confirmed IGN IGN Entertainment Inc Archived from the original on 1 October 2014 Retrieved 3 October 2014 Minecraft for Xbox One to launch on Friday CNET Archived from the original on 7 October 2014 Retrieved 13 October 2014 Minecraft PS Vita Edition Release Date Revealed for North America IGN 10 October 2014 Archived from the original on 12 October 2014 Retrieved 13 October 2014 Minecraft Comes to Windows Phones Mojang 17 July 2019 Archived from the original on 30 December 2014 Announcing Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta Archived from the original on 9 July 2015 a b Makuch Eddie 7 December 2015 Minecraft Wii U Confirmed Coming Very Soon GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 7 December 2015 Retrieved 8 December 2015 Jones Owen 19 December 2016 minecraft net Apple TV Edition released Archived from the original on 27 December 2016 Retrieved 30 December 2016 a b Pereira Chris 13 September 2017 New 3DS Version Of Minecraft Announced Release Date Set For Today GameSpot Retrieved 13 September 2017 Persson Markus 17 May 2009 Minecraft 0 0 11a for public consumption The Word of Notch Archived from the original on 16 July 2015 Retrieved 1 April 2018 via Tumblr a b Fernandez Carlo 17 November 2012 Minecraft Full Version Available MineCon Live Streaming International Business Times Archived from the original on 19 November 2011 Retrieved 17 October 2012 Harper Gavin 23 December 2021 Minecraft Gaming phenomenon developed in Dundee passes 1 trillion YouTube views The Courier Dundee Scotland UK Retrieved 29 August 2022 a b c d Gallegos Anthony 23 November 2011 Minecraft Review PC Review at IGN IGN Archived from the original on 6 November 2015 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Meer Alec 30 March 2011 Minecraft Wolves Achievements Mods Merch Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 26 March 2015 Purchese Robert 23 November 2011 Minecraft 1 0 launch patch notes Eurogamer Eurogamer Network Archived from the original on 3 February 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Ashdown Jeremy 11 November 2010 This is Minecraft IGN Archived from the original on 27 January 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Walton Mark 25 November 2012 Minecraft In Education How Video Games Are Teaching Kids GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 10 October 2013 Retrieved 15 December 2012 Tito Greg 4 October 2010 Player Creates Working Computer in Minecraft The Escapist Alloy Digital Archived from the original on 8 October 2010 Retrieved 4 January 2011 updated Katie Wickens last 8 September 2022 Someone crafted a redstone PC in Minecraft to play Minecraft inside Minecraft PC Gamer Retrieved 2 January 2024 a b c Persson Markus 10 March 2011 Terrain generation Part 1 Mojang Archived from the original on 12 March 2011 Retrieved 24 October 2010 Bergensten Jens 23 February 2011 A Short Demystification of the Map Seed Mojang Archived from the original on 7 October 2012 Retrieved 6 October 2012 a b c d Miller Watt Josh Minecraft beginner s guide GamesRadar Future plc Archived from the original on 11 July 2012 Retrieved 24 October 2012 Meer Alec 27 October 2010 BiomeShock The New Minecraft Worlds Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 12 November 2012 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Phillips Tom 20 January 2012 Minecraft jungle biome creatures coming soon Eurogamer Eurogamer Network Archived from the original on 3 February 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Maillot Anastasia 30 May 2021 Minecraft Everything You Need To Know About The Daylight Cycle TheGamer Retrieved 2 January 2024 Webster Andrew 27 April 2015 You can finally choose to play as a girl in Minecraft The Verge Reporter CJ Wheeler Former News Wheeler C J 30 November 2022 Minecraft Bedrock Edition now has seven more default skins Rock Paper Shotgun Retrieved 2 January 2024 Quach Michael 7 October 2010 How to edit your skin in Minecraft PC Gamer Retrieved 19 March 2020 a b Senior Tom 24 May 2012 Minecraft update snapshot includes trading currency new item and sandstone stairs PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 3 February 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Gutierrez Luis Joshua Hammill Dan Heaney Samuel Moreupdated 39 9k 26 August 2011 All Minecraft Mobs Minecraft Guide IGN Retrieved 2 January 2024 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link a b c Meer Alec 18 November 2011 Minecraft Review Reviews Eurogamer Eurogamer Network Archived from the original on 18 December 2011 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Milton Stephanie Davies Marsh 17 December 2018 Minecraft Guide to Exploration Random House Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 399 18201 3 Francis Tom 10 October 2010 A clearer look at Minecraft s new hell dimension PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 1 November 2012 Retrieved 30 October 2012 Gutierrez Luis Joshua Hammill Dan Heaney Samuel Moreupdated 39 9k 28 December 2011 Nether Minecraft Guide IGN Retrieved 2 January 2024 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Geere Duncan 11 October 2019 Visit the Nether The Minecraft Official Site Deep Dives Microsoft Retrieved 12 October 2022 Marshall Cass 1 July 2020 Everybody loves Minecraft s new Piglin the rudest new NPCs Polygon Retrieved 22 September 2023 Staff Mojang AB Firm Milton Stephanie 1 September 2017 Minecraft Guide to the Nether and the End Egmont UK Limited pp 32 33 ISBN 978 1 4052 8599 5 Retrieved 29 December 2017 via Google Books Liebl Matt 5 May 2012 Minecraft The End Ender Dragons and Goop Portal All Explained GameZone GameZone Online Archived from the original on 15 June 2013 Retrieved 31 October 2012 Parker James 22 May 2014 Minecraft The Most Creative Game Ever Made The Atlantic Retrieved 1 May 2023 Litchfield Ted 12 December 2022 The writer of Minecraft s ending poem wants to liberate it from the corporate economy PC Gamer Retrieved 2 May 2023 Moloney Eoghan 8 December 2022 Irishman who wrote Minecraft s revered End Poem gives words away for free after declining to sign over rights to Microsoft Irish Independent Retrieved 1 May 2023 Anthony Jason 2015 Current Key Perspectives in Video Gaming and Religion PDF Gamevironments 3 University of Bremen 7 15 Retrieved 1 May 2023 Plafke James 26 December 2012 How to find the Ender Portal in Minecraft Geek com Archived from the original on 18 November 2018 Retrieved 21 September 2017 a b Lee Julia 20 August 2020 How to regain health in Minecraft Polygon Retrieved 26 July 2021 Geere Duncan 15 September 2017 Block of the Week Furnace Minecraft net Retrieved 21 September 2017 Brown Mark 6 July 2012 Gaming Minecraft update combines single and multiplayer adds trading and tripwires Wired UK Archived from the original on 23 January 2013 Retrieved 21 November 2012 Using the Minecraft Inventory and Crafting Grid dummies Retrieved 11 August 2020 Walker John 18 February 2011 Minecraft Is Getting Ready For Bed Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 9 November 2012 Retrieved 2 January 2013 James Ford 30 June 2020 Minecraft Respawn Anchor How to get one and set your spawn point in the Nether gamesradar Retrieved 10 August 2020 Boots Faubert Chris Controls and Settings Minecraft Super Cheats Videogamer Network Archived from the original on 11 May 2013 Retrieved 3 January 2013 a b Steinlage Tate 26 September 2012 Creative Mode coming to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition GameZone GameZone Online Archived from the original on 19 May 2013 Retrieved 1 December 2012 Haley Sebastian 5 September 2012 Creative Mode weeks away for Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition VentureBeat Archived from the original on 18 November 2012 Retrieved 1 December 2012 Evans Thirlwell Edwin 5 September 2012 Minecraft Xbox 360 update Creative Mode still weeks away 4J dresses Cliffy B up as Creeper Official Xbox Magazine Future plc Archived from the original on 30 April 2014 Retrieved 1 December 2012 Ackroyd Luke 2 June 2021 Minecraft Everything You Need To Know About Hardcore Mode TheGamer Retrieved 15 May 2023 Stay Jesse Stay Thomas Corderio Thomas 29 December 2014 Minecraft For Dummies John Wiley amp Sons p 288 ISBN 978 1 118 53716 9 Senior Tom 23 September 2011 Minecraft hardcore mode teased When you die the world dies with you PC Gamer Archived from the original on 4 October 2012 Retrieved 25 September 2012 Walker John 1 August 2012 Minecraft Updates To 1 3 With Adventure Mode Trading Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 17 November 2012 Retrieved 4 January 2013 a b Hutchinson Lee 10 September 2012 Blocks with friends How to run your own Minecraft server Ars Technica pp 1 4 Archived from the original on 15 November 2012 Retrieved 24 November 2012 Meer Alec 18 June 2012 Modern Minecraft Adds Local Area Network Support Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 18 September 2012 Retrieved 25 September 2012 Fogel Stefanie 13 December 2018 Creators of Popular Minecraft Server Announce New Game Hytale Variety Retrieved 15 December 2018 Jarvey Natalie 13 December 2018 Riot Games Leads Investment in Hypixel Game Studio Tech The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 14 December 2018 a b Davies Marsh 24 November 2012 The Future of Minecraft what lies ahead for the all conquering sandbox game PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 24 November 2012 Retrieved 24 November 2012 Crecente Brian 18 March 2013 Minecraft Realms hopes to make an increasingly complex game more family friendly Polygon Archived from the original on 21 March 2013 Retrieved 26 March 2013 Peel Jeremy 14 March 2013 Minecraft Realms is a subscription service for families that will bring in more money than the game itself PCGamesN Retrieved 2 December 2019 a b Minecraft Realms Minecraft net 31 July 2017 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Owen 24 October 2014 Realms is packed with awesome maps mojang com Archived from the original on 10 July 2019 Retrieved 18 September 2017 Frank Allegra 13 June 2016 Minecraft gets cross platform play later this year Polygon Archived from the original on 16 June 2016 Retrieved 13 June 2016 Carter Chris 11 June 2017 Minecraft is unifying nearly all of its versions across all platforms except Sony Destructoid Archived from the original on 17 June 2017 Retrieved 11 June 2017 Davies Marsh 31 July 2017 Beta Test Better Together Minecraft net Retrieved 1 August 2017 Minecraft s Aquatic Update Phase Two Gets Wet And Wild Today On Switch Nintendo Life 10 July 2018 Peckham Matt 8 May 2012 The 10 Best Minecraft Mods Time Archived from the original on 30 October 2012 Retrieved 28 October 2012 Senior Tom 29 February 2012 Minecraft mod API to be developed by new team at Mojang PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 3 February 2013 Retrieved 28 October 2012 Dyer Mitch 4 July 2013 Minecraft 1 6 Horse Update Launching in July IGN Archived from the original on 8 July 2013 Savage Phil The 25 best Minecraft custom maps PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 23 October 2012 Retrieved 28 October 2012 Grayson Nathan 6 July 2012 Minecraft 1 3 Adding LAN Adventure Mode In August Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 12 November 2012 Retrieved 4 January 2013 Gallegos Anthony 27 July 2012 Minecraft Adding New Block IGN Archived from the original on 16 December 2012 Retrieved 28 October 2012 Adams Nathan 25 October 2017 Minecraft Snapshot 17w43b Minecraft net Retrieved 19 July 2020 Ostergard Adrian 8 July 2020 Minecraft Snapshot 20w28a Minecraft net Retrieved 19 July 2020 Watts Steve 3 July 2012 Minecraft XBLA adding DLC costumes Shacknews GameFly Archived from the original on 4 December 2012 Retrieved 4 November 2012 Borthwick Ben 24 August 2013 Minecraft Xbox 360 Title Update 12 out now OXM UK Archived from the original on 24 August 2013 Retrieved 8 September 2013 Conditt Jessica 2 September 2013 Mass Effect texture pack lands on Minecraft Xbox 360 Joystiq Archived from the original on 6 September 2013 Retrieved 8 September 2013 a b c Gallegos Anthony Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition IGN Archived from the original on 11 May 2012 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Webster Andrew 9 May 2016 Super Mario is coming to Minecraft The Verge Archived from the original on 9 May 2016 Retrieved 9 May 2016 Davies Marsh 15 December 2016 Fallout Mash up Pack Incoming Minecraft Archived from the original on 17 December 2016 Retrieved 15 December 2016 a b c Lilly Paul 18 April 2018 Beware of malicious Minecraft skins that attempt to erase your hard drive PC Gamer Future Publishing Archived from the original on 3 April 2021 a b Fogel Stefanie 18 April 2018 Nearly 50 000 Minecraft Accounts Infected With Malware Thanks to Modified Skins Variety Variety Media Archived from the original on 10 December 2020 Retrieved 3 April 2021 Fogel Stefanie 19 April 2018 Minecraft Developer Issues Fix for Skins Virus Variety Variety Media Archived from the original on 7 September 2018 Retrieved 3 April 2021 Lazarides Tasos June 2017 Minecraft PE 1 1 Discovery Update Is Out Adds Minecraft Marketplace Skyrim Pack Woodland Mansions and More TouchArcade Archived from the original on 20 June 2022 Retrieved 16 July 2017 Campbell Colin 10 April 2017 Minecraft Marketplace offers a new place to buy maps and more Polygon Archived from the original on 6 July 2022 Retrieved 17 September 2017 It s time to discover Marketplace Minecraft net 10 April 2017 Archived from the original on 7 July 2022 Retrieved 17 September 2017 Minecraft New marketplace for community creators newsbeat BBC 10 April 2017 Archived from the original on 12 November 2020 a b c d Cheshire Tom 15 September 2014 Changing the game how Notch made Minecraft a cult hit Wired Retrieved 7 May 2020 Cox Alex 13 June 2018 The history of Minecraft TechRadar Archived from the original on 9 August 2018 Retrieved 17 January 2019 a b c d e Persson Markus 30 October 2009 The origins of Minecraft Tumblr Archived from the original on 12 December 2018 Retrieved 7 May 2020 a b c Handy Alex 23 March 2010 Interview Markus Notch Persson Talks Making Minecraft Gamasutra Archived from the original on 9 May 2010 Retrieved 26 June 2010 2 Player Productions 8 November 2013 Minecraft The Story of Mojang YouTube Archived from the original on 3 May 2014 Retrieved 2 May 2014 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Clark Kristoff 5 March 2012 Minecraft Mastermind Markus Persson to Receive Bafta Special Award Gamasutra Archived from the original on 27 November 2019 Retrieved 15 July 2020 Davies Marsh 10 November 2012 Blockbuster The Making of Minecraft PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 15 December 2012 Retrieved 20 December 2012 Persson Markus 13 May 2009 Cave game tech demo Tumblr Archived from the original on 11 November 2020 Retrieved 10 November 2020 Persson Markus 16 May 2009 Early private singleplayer alpha coming very soon Tumblr Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 10 November 2020 Minecraft alpha forums tigsource com Retrieved 9 August 2020 Smith Graham 6 February 2012 The First Moments of Minecraft PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 27 December 2012 Retrieved 1 January 2013 Persson Markus 28 June 2010 The server is back up Tumblr Archived from the original on 20 June 2021 Retrieved 10 November 2020 Persson Markus 30 June 2020 I fixed a few bugs in game and the game is now playable offline Tumblr Archived from the original on 11 November 2020 Retrieved 10 November 2020 Persson Markus 2 July 2010 Seecret Friday update the third OooooOOOoo Tumblr Archived from the original on 13 November 2020 Retrieved 10 November 2020 a b McDougal Jaz 29 July 2010 Community heroes Notch for Minecraft PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 12 October 2014 Retrieved 3 August 2010 Cheshire Tom 6 June 2012 Changing the game how Notch made Minecraft a cult hit Wired UK Archived from the original on 24 November 2012 Retrieved 18 October 2012 Persson Markus 28 September 2010 I m sorry about the lack of updates Mojang Archived from the original on 4 October 2010 Retrieved 18 October 2010 Persson Markus 6 September 2010 Hiring some people getting an office and all that Mojang Archived from the original on 8 September 2010 Retrieved 6 September 2010 Minecraft Beta December 20 2010 The Word of Notch Archived from the original on 6 February 2019 Retrieved 9 August 2020 Persson Markus 11 December 2010 Minecraft Beta December 20 2010 Mojang Archived from the original on 14 December 2010 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Persson Markus 3 January 2011 2011 here we go Mojang Archived from the original on 6 January 2011 Retrieved 3 January 2011 Persson Markus 2 December 2011 Och med dom orden sa passar jag micken The Word of Notch in Swedish Mojang Archived from the original on 27 December 2011 Retrieved 2 December 2011 Bergensten Jens 28 February 2012 Minecraft Team Strengthened Mojang Archived from the original on 27 September 2013 Retrieved 22 September 2013 Chalk Andy 21 August 2014 Minecraft Bukkit team lead tries to end development but Mojang steps in PC Gamer Archived from the original on 24 August 2014 Retrieved 18 March 2020 Walker Alex 5 September 2014 Minecraft s CraftBukkit mod taken down by DMCA claim games on net Archived from the original on 23 November 2015 Retrieved 29 May 2017 Stuart Keith Hern Alex 15 September 2014 Minecraft sold Microsoft buys Mojang for 2 5bn The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 9 August 2020 Minecraft to join Microsoft The Official Microsoft Blog 15 September 2014 Retrieved 9 August 2020 Mojang www mojang com Retrieved 9 August 2020 Stuart Keith 24 June 2014 Minecraft how a change to the rules is tearing the community apart The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 1 January 2021 Bogart Nicole 15 September 2014 Updated September 15 2014 8 35 pm Microsoft acquires Minecraft maker for 2 5 billion Shaw Media Global News Archived from the original on 18 May 2015 Retrieved 2 May 2015 a b c Mac Ryan 3 March 2015 Inside The Post Minecraft Life Of Billionaire Gamer God Markus Persson Forbes Archived from the original on 20 March 2015 Retrieved 25 March 2015 Peckham Matt 15 September 2014 Minecraft Is Now Part of Microsoft and It Only Cost 2 5 Billion Time Archived from the original on 15 September 2014 Retrieved 15 September 2014 Bass Dina 15 September 2014 Microsoft to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang for 2 5 Billion Bloomberg Business Archived from the original on 16 September 2014 Retrieved 16 September 2014 Sarkar Samit 6 November 2014 Microsoft officially owns Minecraft and developer Mojang now Polygon Vox Media Archived from the original on 30 November 2014 Persson Markus 18 January 2011 The web server is struggling we re migrating Mojang Archived from the original on 21 January 2011 Retrieved 26 January 2011 Pentleton Matthew 15 October 2021 Every Major Minecraft Update Ranked The Gamer Retrieved 18 June 2022 Dankis Sofia Austin Sophie 26 May 2023 The Trails amp Tales Update Is Coming Minecraft net Retrieved 9 June 2023 Gutierrez Luis Joshua Hammill Dan Heaney Samuel Moreupdated 39 9k 8 June 2023 Minecraft 1 20 Trails and Tales Patch Notes Minecraft Guide IGN Retrieved 2 January 2024 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link a b Corden Jez 2 August 2017 Minecraft Better Together FAQ Xbox and Windows questions answered Windows Central Archived from the original on 1 September 2022 Retrieved 5 November 2019 Minecraft ray tracing is now live on PC and it s a must play if you can Ars Technica 19 April 2020 Retrieved 19 April 2020 Currently that limits interested players to Nvidia s RTX line of GPUs since AMD has not yet released its own compatible line Strangely a Mojang representative told Ars last week that this week s beta would function on non RTX graphics cards albeit at an abysmal frame rate Lilly Paul 8 December 2020 Minecraft with RTX launches out of beta with a built in benchmark scene PC Gamer Retrieved 8 December 2020 Rose Mike 21 February 2011 Official Minecraft iOS Android Release Coming Later This Year Gamasutra Archived from the original on 23 February 2011 Retrieved 22 February 2011 Crecente Brian 21 February 2011 Official Minecraft Coming to iPhone iPad Android Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 6 November 2010 Retrieved 22 February 2011 Brown Mark 16 November 2011 Minecraft Pocket Edition arrives on iPhone and iPad Wired UK Archived from the original on 18 November 2011 Retrieved 18 November 2011 Makuch Eddie 10 December 2014 Minecraft Now Available for Windows Phones See First Images Here GameSpot Archived from the original on 28 February 2015 Retrieved 27 April 2015 jeb PE is in C Twitter 8 October 2011 Archived from the original on 24 October 2013 Retrieved 25 September 2012 PojavLauncher PojavLauncher pojavlauncherteam github io Retrieved 21 June 2022 How to play Minecraft Java Edition on Android amp iOS with Pojav Launcher XDA 27 December 2021 Retrieved 21 June 2022 Seppala Timothy J 11 December 2014 Finally you can now play Minecraft on Windows Phone too Engadget AOL Archived from the original on 11 December 2014 Retrieved 11 December 2014 Bright Peter 18 January 2017 Microsoft owned Minecraft no longer supported on Microsoft owned Windows Phone Mobile Ars Technica Archived from the original on 18 January 2017 Retrieved 19 January 2017 Thielenhaus Kevin 13 June 2017 The Better Together Update Is Coming To Minecraft Here s Everything It Does Escapist Magazine Archived from the original on 18 June 2017 Retrieved 8 March 2018 a b Minecraft will feature cross functionality between the PC and Xbox 360 versions Microsoft New Center Microsoft 6 June 2011 Archived from the original on 13 November 2014 Retrieved 13 November 2014 a b Hryb Larry 22 March 2012 Xbox Live s Major Nelson majornelson com Archived from the original on 19 January 2013 Retrieved 11 January 2013 Rosenberg Adam 7 May 2012 Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition review at Digital Trends Digital Trends Archived from the original on 10 May 2012 a b c Meunier Nathan 10 May 2009 Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 15 December 2013 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Evans Thirlwell Edwin 16 October 2012 Minecraft Xbox 360 update 1 8 2 out today 10am GMT Official Xbox Magazine Future plc Archived from the original on 30 April 2014 Retrieved 28 October 2012 Evans Thirlwell Edwin 2 October 2012 Minecraft Xbox 360 update 1 8 2 4J releases enormous final contents list Official Xbox Magazine Future plc Archived from the original on 30 April 2014 Retrieved 27 October 2012 a b Minecraft Xbox One Edition Announce Trailer Microsoft 10 June 2013 Archived from the original on 17 June 2013 Retrieved 11 June 2013 Gamescom Minecraft Coming to PS4 PS3 Vita IGN Uk ign com 20 August 2013 Archived from the original on 21 November 2014 Retrieved 9 December 2013 Makuch Eddie 12 November 2013 Minecraft not launching with PS4 GameSpot Archived from the original on 14 November 2013 Retrieved 12 November 2013 Campbell Evan 10 October 2014 Minecraft PS Vita Edition Release Date Revealed for North America IGN Archived from the original on 6 November 2015 Retrieved 15 February 2015 Partis Danielle 27 October 2022 4J Studios on its pivot into publishing GamesIndustry biz Retrieved 8 October 2023 Jenni 9 May 2016 Super Mario Is Coming To The Minecraft Wii U Edition This Month Siliconera Archived from the original on 14 May 2016 Retrieved 13 May 2016 Agent Lite 25 May 2016 Minecraft Wii U Edition Also Coming Out At Retail Next Month in Japan Perfectly Nintendo Archived from the original on 25 May 2016 Retrieved 25 May 2016 Whitehead Thomas June 2016 Minecraft Wii U Edition Gets Its European Retail Release On 30th June Nintendo Life Archived from the original on 2 June 2016 Retrieved 2 June 2016 Goldfarb Andrew 12 April 2017 Minecraft Nintendo Switch Version Release Date Announced IGN Archived from the original on 13 April 2017 Retrieved 13 April 2017 The Better Together Update is Here Minecraft net 20 September 2017 Santana Steven 20 December 2018 Minecraft No Longer Receiving Updates on Legacy Hardware DualShockers Archived from the original on 16 May 2020 Retrieved 19 March 2020 Franzese Tomas 15 January 2019 Minecraft New Nintendo 3DS Edition Receives its Final Update Only Two Years After Launch DualShockers Retrieved 12 March 2023 Phillips Tom 9 December 2019 Finally PlayStation gets cross platform Minecraft tomorrow Eurogamer Retrieved 9 December 2019 Minecraft Education Product Name change M365 Admin 16 December 2022 Retrieved 25 January 2023 Minecraft Education Edition officially launches TechCrunch 1 November 2016 Archived from the original on 22 November 2016 Retrieved 8 March 2018 a b Minecraft Education Edition Is Now Available On Chromebooks GameSpot Retrieved 21 August 2020 Minecraft Chemistry Update Goes Live The Journal 21 February 2018 Archived from the original on 26 February 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Minecraft Education Edition Five Fast Facts You Need to Know 2 May 2017 Archived from the original on 2 May 2017 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Beta Version of Minecraft Education Edition Available for Download for Schools and Educators Education World www educationworld com Retrieved 21 August 2020 September 2016 Darren Allan 22 22 September 2016 Minecraft Education Edition starts schooling students on November 1 TechRadar Retrieved 21 August 2020 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Minecraft Education Edition arrives on iPad in September Engadget 8 August 2019 Retrieved 21 August 2020 JD com purchases rights to Minecraft Education Edition in China GamesIndustry biz Retrieved 21 August 2020 Wilhelm Parker 20 May 2016 Minecraft is finally coming to China but it s not the version you know TechRadar Retrieved 21 March 2019 欢迎回家 我的世界 中国版PC Java版今日开测 mc 163 com in Chinese Retrieved 21 March 2019 我的世界 手游今日App Store独家首发 mc 163 com in Chinese Retrieved 21 March 2019 我的世界 中国版全平台公测今日开启 mc 163 com in Chinese Retrieved 12 October 2017 Bailey Dustin Minecraft player count reaches 480 million PCGamesN Archived from the original on 19 November 2019 Retrieved 19 November 2019 Good Owen S 4 July 2015 Minecraft Windows 10 Edition announced beta begins July 29 Polygon Vox Media Archived from the original on 8 July 2015 Retrieved 10 July 2015 McDonald Kit 20 December 2016 Minecraft 1 0 release for Windows 10 and Pocket Editions brings Add On Packages and World Templates OnMSFT com Archived from the original on 20 April 2021 Retrieved 25 December 2021 Announcing Minecraft Windows 10 edition beta Mojang 4 July 2015 Archived from the original on 1 August 2015 Retrieved 30 July 2015 Capel Chris 5 June 2022 Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions are no more separately PCGamesN Retrieved 5 June 2022 Notch Minecraft in less than 4k Twitter 29 June 2011 Archived from the original on 7 November 2013 Retrieved 25 September 2012 Donlan Chris 25 November 2011 The Friday Game Minecraft 4k Edge Future plc Archived from the original on 4 April 2013 Retrieved 2 October 2012 Protalinski Emil 24 November 2012 Minecraft ported to the Raspberry Pi to be officially released as Minecraft Pi Edition The Next Web Archived from the original on 28 November 2012 Retrieved 28 November 2012 Owen 20 December 2012 Download Pi Edition now Mojang Archived from the original on 15 February 2013 Retrieved 11 February 2013 Owen 11 February 2013 Minecraft Pi Edition is available for download Mojang com Mojang Archived from the original on 14 February 2013 Retrieved 18 March 2020 How To Play Minecraft On Raspberry Pi iotTrends tech 19 April 2021 Archived from the original on 19 January 2022 Retrieved 13 March 2022 Minecraft net Credits Mojang Archived from the original on 26 December 2012 Retrieved 1 January 2013 a b c Can You Dig It FACT meets Minecraft composer C418 FACT Magazine 5 September 2015 Retrieved 21 March 2018 a b Burns Todd L 21 August 2015 Interview Minecraft s Soundtrack Composer C418 Red Bull Music Academy Retrieved 2 April 2023 a b c Keith Stuart 7 November 2014 How Daniel Rosenfeld wrote Minecraft s music The Guardian Retrieved 28 February 2024 Minecraft s Composer Explains Why the Music Is So Weird Vice 29 June 2015 Retrieved 9 August 2020 Minecraft Volume Alpha on Bandcamp 4 March 2011 Archived from the original on 19 September 2012 Retrieved 25 September 2012 Hamilton Kirk All of the Best Video Game Music of 2011 Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 20 November 2012 Retrieved 14 November 2012 Minecraft Volume Beta on Bandcamp 9 November 2013 Archived from the original on 9 November 2013 Retrieved 9 November 2013 Stuart Keith 7 November 2014 How Daniel Rosenfeld wrote Minecraft s music The Guardian Archived from the original on 6 January 2017 Minecraft soundtrack to receive vinyl release this summer FACT Magazine Music News New Music 23 June 2015 Archived from the original on 2 July 2015 C418 presents Minecraft Volume Alpha Ghostly International Archived from the original on 29 June 2015 Retrieved 30 November 2015 C418 Minecraft Volume Beta 14 August 2020 retrieved 23 September 2022 Ghostly 18 June 2020 Announcing the first ever pressing of C418 s Minecraft Volume Beta Twitter Retrieved 23 September 2022 Wiborgh Thomas 9 April 2020 The Sound of Scary Minecraft net Retrieved 1 June 2020 Wakeling Richard 8 April 2020 Minecraft s Nether Update Will Have Music From Celeste Composer GameSpot Retrieved 8 April 2020 Landin Per 17 June 2020 The Nether Update has a date Minecraft net Retrieved 17 June 2020 Leston Ryan 20 October 2021 Minecraft just added some new music NME Retrieved 28 March 2022 Daniel Rosenfeld C418 9 February 2017 I m still far from done but I tallied up a few numbers and the third Minecraft soundtrack is gonna be longer than Alpha and Beta combined Tweet Retrieved 21 March 2018 via Twitter Rosenfeld Daniel 8 January 2021 10 Years of the Minecraft Soundtrack C418 INTERVIEW The Needle Drop Interview Interviewed by Anthony Fantano Event occurs at 31 40 via YouTube Minecraft Classic classic minecraft net Abent Eric 9 May 2019 Minecraft Classic can now be played in your web browser slashgear com Retrieved 1 March 2022 Persson Markus 28 June 2010 The server is back up The Word of Notch Archived from the original on 20 June 2021 Retrieved 17 September 2017 Minecraft Minecraft 2 July 2010 Archived from the original on 2 July 2010 Retrieved 6 October 2017 Play Minecraft Classic Minecraft 10 September 2015 Archived from the original on 10 September 2015 Stanton Rich 9 December 2020 A Lego Minecraft game called Brickcraft was prototyped and greenlit here s why it never happened PC Gamer Retrieved 9 December 2020 Webster Andrew 25 March 2014 Minecraft creator cancels Oculus Rift version following Facebook acquisition The Verge Retrieved 14 September 2017 a b c Orland Kyle 15 August 2016 Minecraft VR mod shuts down as Microsoft adds official Rift support Ars Technica Archived from the original on 16 August 2016 Retrieved 16 August 2016 Minecraft arrives on Samsung s Gear VR headset Engadget 19 July 2019 a b Minecraft adds PS VR support this month PlayStation 7 September 2020 Retrieved 8 September 2020 Virtual Reality Mojang 9 June 2021 Minecraft Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 19 April 2012 Retrieved 15 February 2021 a b Minecraft Playstation 4 Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 21 March 2015 Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft Xbox One Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 4 May 2015 Retrieved 14 February 2021 Minecraft PlayStation 3 Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 31 January 2014 Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft Switch Metacritic Fandom Inc Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft PlayStation Vita Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 8 May 2015 Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 29 April 2012 Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft Wii U Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 9 July 2016 Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft New Nintendo 3DS Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft Pocket Edition Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on 12 June 2013 Retrieved 15 February 2021 Minecraft PC Reviews 1UP com Archived from the original on 18 January 2013 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Minecraft review Edge Future plc 28 November 2011 Archived from the original on 4 April 2013 Retrieved 7 June 2012 Meer Alec 18 November 2011 Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Review Eurogamer Eurogamer Network Archived from the original on 12 May 2012 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Biessener Adam 22 November 2011 More Toy Than Game But That s Okay Minecraft PC Game Informer GameStop Archived from the original on 7 August 2012 Retrieved 25 September 2012 Cork Jeff 9 May 2012 Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Game Informer GameStop Archived from the original on 11 January 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2013 a b c d e Meunier Nathan 10 May 2009 Minecraft Review GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 15 October 2013 Retrieved 18 December 2011 GameSpy Minecraft Review Page 1 GameSpy Glu Mobile Archived from the original on 1 June 2012 Retrieved 18 December 2011 Minecraft Review IGN 24 November 2011 Retrieved 1 June 2020 a b c Albert Brian 13 February 2014 Minecraft Pocket Edition Review IGN IGN Entertainment Archived from the original on 1 March 2014 Retrieved 28 February 2014 a b Albert Brian 24 January 2014 Minecraft PlayStation 3 Review IGN IGN Archived from the original on 30 January 2014 Retrieved 30 January 2014 a b Albert Brian 5 September 2014 Minecraft PS4 And Xbox One Review IGN IGN Archived from the original on 22 September 2014 Retrieved 22 September 2014 Minecraft Switch Edition Review IGN 7 June 2017 Retrieved 1 June 2020 a b McDougall Jaz 24 December 2011 Minecraft review PC Gamer Future US Archived from the original on 24 April 2015 Retrieved 19 May 2015 Khaw Cassandra 18 November 2011 Minecraft Pocket Edition Review Bigger May Be Better TouchArcade Retrieved 20 September 2018 Musgrave Shaun 1 October 2015 Minecraft Pocket Edition Version 0 12 Review You ve Come A Long Way Stevie TouchArcade Retrieved 20 September 2018 Minecraft Wii U Edition Nintendo Life 5 February 2016 Retrieved 1 June 2020 Minecraft New Nintendo 3DS Edition Nintendo Life 30 August 2018 Retrieved 1 June 2020 Minecraft Switch Nintendo Life Retrieved 1 June 2020 Rossignol Jim Building block World PC Gamer UK No 204 Hindes Daniel Trouble Down Mine PC PowerPlay 169 Reinhart Brandon 28 July 2010 Is that an Equalizer in your pocket Valve Archived from the original on 5 July 2011 Retrieved 28 July 2010 Thompson Clive 14 April 2016 The Minecraft Generation How a clunky Swedish computer game is teaching millions of children to master the digital world The New York Times Archived from the original on 22 April 2016 Retrieved 14 April 2016 Munro Scott 27 July 2010 Minecraft Alpha Review Daily Record Trinity Mirror Archived from the original on 6 December 2010 Retrieved 3 August 2010 Rossignol Jim 10 August 2010 Chockablock Minecraft Revisited Rock Paper Shotgun Archived from the original on 14 September 2010 Retrieved 3 September 2010 Holkins Jerry 17 September 2010 Mine All Mine Part One Penny Arcade Archived from the original on 18 September 2010 Retrieved 17 September 2010 a b Albert Brian 6 September 2014 Minecraft PS4 and Xbox One Review Imagine Games Network Retrieved 18 June 2022 Woolsey Cameron Minecraft PlayStation 3 Edition Review Game Spot Retrieved 18 June 2022 Nunes Timothy 16 September 2014 Minecraft PS4 Review A creator s and Creeper s playground Play Station Universe Retrieved 18 June 2022 Barker Sammy 24 October 2014 Minecraft PS Vita Edition Review Push Square Retrieved 18 June 2022 Minuz Allesandra 24 December 2015 Minecraft Review Imagine Games Network Italy Retrieved 18 June 2022 Sean Anthony 21 September 2017 Minecraft on the go again Minecraft New Nintendo 3DS Edition Review Gaming Trend Retrieved 18 June 2022 Brandt Oliver 30 May 2017 Minecraft Nintendo Switch Edition eShop Review Vooks Retrieved 18 June 2022 Geere Duncan 23 November 2011 Minecraft Pocket Edition review Wired UK Archived from the original on 23 January 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Purewal Sarah 25 April 2012 Minecraft Pocket Edition Review Build Blocky Masterpieces on the Go PC World IDG Archived from the original on 17 November 2015 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Persson Markus Minecraft Statistics Mojang Archived from the original on 14 January 2011 Retrieved 13 January 2011 Reilly Jim 12 January 2011 Minecraft Sales Pass One Million IGN Archived from the original on 18 June 2013 Retrieved 26 November 2012 Plunkett Luke 4 January 2011 Why Minecraft Is So Damn Popular Kotaku Gawker Media Archived from the original on 9 January 2011 Retrieved 12 January 2011 Mine All Mine Part One 17 September 2010 Archived from the original on 23 July 2012 Retrieved 25 September 2012 Orland Kyle 6 April 2011 Minecraft Draws Over 33 Million In Revenue From 1 8M Paying Customers Gamasutra Archived from the original on 8 April 2011 Retrieved 6 April 2011 Minecraft beta cracks 4 million GameSpot CBS Interactive 7 November 2011 Archived from the original on 1 March 2014 Retrieved 9 November 2011 Shields Duncan 22 March 2012 Top 15 best selling PC games of all time SK Gaming Archived from the original on 12 March 2013 Retrieved 16 January 2013 Built to last the Minecraft model The Independent 10 October 2014 Archived from the original on 23 November 2014 Retrieved 13 November 2014 Reilly Luke 25 February 2014 Original Minecraft Reaches 100 Million Registered Users IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on 27 February 2014 Retrieved 26 February 2014 Bailey Dustin Minecraft player count reaches 480 million PCGamesN Archived from the original on 19 November 2019 Retrieved 19 November 2019 a b Minecraft Franchise Fact Sheet PDF news xbox com April 2021 Retrieved 27 October 2021 Boddy Zachary 15 October 2023 Minecraft crosses 300 million copies sold as it prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary Windows Central Retrieved 15 October 2023 Reilly Jim 10 May 2012 Minecraft Breaks Xbox Live Sales Records Game Informer GameStop Archived from the original on 12 May 2012 Retrieved 11 May 2012 Klepek Patrick 14 May 2012 Minecraft for Xbox Live Arcade Sells 1 Million Copies Giant Bomb CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 16 May 2012 Retrieved 18 May 2012 Makuch Eddie 13 December 2012 Minecraft franchise sales hit 17 5 million GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 17 December 2012 Retrieved 14 December 2012 Nichols Scott 23 January 2013 Black Ops 2 Minecraft top 2012 Xbox Live activity charts Digital Spy Archived from the original on 23 January 2013 Retrieved 26 January 2013 Phillips Tom 4 April 2014 Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition sales hit 12 m Eurogamer Gamer Network Archived from the original on 6 April 2014 Retrieved 4 April 2014 Hill Owen 14 April 2014 Watch our Pocket Edition stream Now with footage Mojang Archived from the original on 25 July 2014 Retrieved 31 July 2014 Wawro Alex 24 January 2014 Minecraft on PS3 breaks 1 million sales in five weeks Gamasutra Think Services Archived from the original on 29 January 2014 Retrieved 25 January 2014 Wesley Yin Poole 17 November 2014 Assassin s Creed Unity launch beats Black Flag s in UK chart Eurogamer Archived from the original on 18 November 2014 Retrieved 7 November 2014 2014 12 17 Minecraft On Vita Sells 100 000 Via Downloads In Japan Archived 24 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine Siliconera 国内PS版の マインクラフト が50万DLを突破 PS Vita版が牽引し小学生のあいだでブームの兆し Domestic PlayStation version of Minecraft tops 500 000 downloads signs of the PS Vita version booming amongst elementary school students Famitsu in Japanese 25 February 2015 Archived from the original on 25 February 2015 Retrieved 25 February 2015 2022ゲーム産業白書 2022 Game Industry White Paper Media Create 2022 ISBN 978 4909977199 Makuch Eddie 21 July 2015 Xbox Sales Rising as Minecraft Continues to Perform Well for Microsoft GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on 22 July 2015 Retrieved 22 July 2015 Fingas Jon 16 September 2019 Minecraft now has 112 million monthly players Engadget Retrieved 16 September 2019 Warren Tom 18 May 2020 Minecraft still incredibly popular as sales top 200 million and 126 million play monthly The Verge Retrieved 18 May 2020 Minecraft Reached 140 Million Monthly Users And Generated Over 350 Million To Date GameSpot Retrieved 9 September 2021 Minecraft now has nearly 140 million monthly active users and over 1 billion mod and add on downloads Windows Central 27 April 2021 Retrieved 9 September 2021 Rossignol Jim 5 July 2010 50 Games to Play at Work PC Gamer Future plc Archived from the original on 9 July 2010 Bendixsen Stephanie O Donnell Steven 6 December 2010 GG Awards 2010 Best Downloadable Game Good Game Season 5 Episode 43 Archived from the original on 11 December 2010 Gamasutra s Best Of 2010 The Top 10 Games of the Year Gamasutra 23 December 2010 Archived from the original on 25 December 2010 Retrieved 23 December 2010 Gamasutra s Best of 2010 Top 10 Indie Games, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.