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It’s Time to Mine: How Minecraft Built an Enchanting Legacy

  • Writer: Emanuelle Wong
    Emanuelle Wong
  • Apr 29
  • 3 min read


‘A Minecraft Movie’ has unleashed the chicken jockey, frenzied fans, and amassed over $800 million worldwide, positioning itself as the second-highest grossing video game film of all time. This comes as no surprise- Minecraft is one of the best-selling video games globally, having sold more than 300 million units across all platforms in 2023. So what’s the story behind its success?


The Spawn Point

First conceived by Markus Persson, who was inspired by earlier video games such as Dwarf Fortress and Infiniminer, the Swedish video game programmer set out to develop an installment which would allow users to have absolute free reign to build whatever they wished in an infinite world. Thus, the Java Edition Classic was born. Commonly dubbed the Alpha phase, it was first released on TIGSource in 2009 and marked the beginning of a worldwide phenomenon.


Minecraft is known to be a paid game. However, few people are aware that it was a pioneer of the early access funding model used by many indie game titles today. High demand for the alpha phase prompted Persson to monetise the game as a way of generating funding for its development. From 800,000 alpha version sales at a price point of €9.95 to 1 million beta version sales at €14.95, total revenues soared over $33 million. As a result, Mojang studios was established as an entity solely devoted to Minecraft and the rest is history.


Crafting Success

The bedrock of Minecraft’s identity lies in the sandbox game, a genre where there is no direct progression or objective and players are given a high level of creative freedom. Although criticisms have been raised in the past regarding player retention due to its seemingly ‘aimless’ nature, Minecraft defies these doubts by catering to players of various ages, skill levels, and motivations by implementing multiple game modes and encouraging user-generated content (UGC). 


The basic gameplay is simple: explore a vast, randomly-generated world, collect items, and use them to build impressive physics-defying structures or craft equipment to defend yourself and battle mobs. In creative mode, players possess unlimited resources and are free to roam around while survival mode includes core characteristics of combat games, such as a health bar and “leveling up” when defeating hostile mobs. To take it up a notch, many players experiment with modifications that alter the game’s interface or gameplay. Even though the aspect of customisation targets loyal fans and seasoned gamers, the simplicity and underlying mechanisms of mining, crafting, and building continue to appeal to newer players.


The timing of Minecraft’s release also coincided with the fast-growing popularity of social media platforms in the early 2010s. In particular, Minecraft built a loyal YouTube community around a diverse range of content, including speedrunning, gameplays from high-profile youtubers, and catchy song parodies, with CaptainSparklez’s parody of Usher’s ‘DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love’ garnering almost 300 million views. In 2021, Minecraft videos surpassed one trillion views on YouTube, earning the title of the most-watched video game topic on the platform and further solidifying its presence in popular culture. 


The Evolution of Minecraft

Since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang in 2014, Minecraft has only flourished with consistent and exciting improvements, such as the highly-anticipated revamping of rocky terrain and structures in the Caves and Cliffs update. Furthermore, its reach has expanded beyond entertainment into education and conservation. For example, the launch of Minecraft Education in 2016 provided an immersive platform in a classroom setting where students could delve into a plethora of topics, from learning fractions and ratios in math to exploring ancient Egyptian civilisations.


So what’s next? With a new wave of Generation Alpha players coming onto the scene, will Minecraft be able to maintain its popularity or will it fade into a remnant of the past? Before it reaches The End, let’s teleport into a brand new world and start mining.


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