When was Minecraft made?
Here’s when the uber-popular sandbox game came to be, and the story behind its conception.
Share this article...
WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Minecraft is an open sandbox game that has over 130 million monthly players. Minecraft was released back in 2011 by Markus “Notch” Persson. Most video games have a shelf life of two years where they see peak player activity, but Minecraft has been getting steadily more popular over the past decade.
How old is Minecraft? When was Minecraft made? Which Game is Minecraft Based on?
Minecraft was developed and released for the public back in 2009, and then officially released again in 2011 after the involvement of Jens “Jeb” Bergensten. The creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson, has openly admitted that Minecraft started out as a clone attempt of the game ‘Infiniminer’, which also uses block graphics and mining as a core gameplay element.
The creator of Minecraft has been accused of intellectual property theft before since the game is so closely similar to Infiniminer. However, the founder of Infiniminer Zachary Barth released the game with open source code, giving its fans and following the option to freely edit and create their own versions.
Minecraft was also inspired by ‘Dwarf Fortress’, an open-world game that involves controlling dwarves to dig and mine anything.
How popular is Minecraft?
As of 2021, Minecraft has an average of 130 million monthly players. It holds the position as the #1 best-selling video game in the world, with 238,000,000 total sales to date.
Minecraft is considered a genre-defining video game and has inspired many other sandbox open-world games post-release. Many indie games like Stardew Valley and Terraria are said to have been inspired by the 2D blocky look in Minecraft.
What are the different game modes in Minecraft?
- Survival: In Survival mode, players brave the elements and survive as long as possible. This involves finding resources necessary for that survival, and protection against mobs.
- Creative: In Creative mode, players can build without mining and resources are unlimited.
- Adventure: In Adventure mode, players can create their own maps and challenges to play.
- Hardcore: Hardcore mode is similar to Survival, with the difficulty level set to ‘Hard’, and the removal of the respawn option.
More Minecraft guides
- Everything you need to know about “vanilla” Minecraft
- When did Minecraft come out?
- Who is Minecraft’s Steve?
- Everything there is to know about speedrunning Minecraft
- What language does an Enderman speak?
- How big is a chunk in Minecraft?
- How to start a Minecraft Realm
- How to install a Minecraft adventure map on Java Edition
- Everything you need to know about Minecraft 1.18
- How to customize your Minecraft skin in Bedrock Edition
And head over to our Minecraft hub for even more news, guides and how-tos!
