Minecraft
Updated: 5/24/2026, 7:03:31 PM Wikipedia source
Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish company Mojang Studios. Following its initial public alpha release as an early access title in 2009, it was formally released in November 2011 for personal computers. The game has since been ported to numerous platforms, including mobile devices and various video game consoles. In Minecraft, players explore a procedurally generated world with virtually infinite terrain made up of three-dimensional blocks represented as voxels. They can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, build structures, fight hostile mobs, and cooperate with or compete against other players in multiplayer. In addition, the game's large community offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, player skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten was handed control over the game's development following its full release. In November 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2 billion; Xbox Game Studios hold the publishing rights for the Bedrock Edition, the unified cross-platform version which evolved from the Pocket Edition codebase and replaced the legacy console versions. Bedrock is updated concurrently with Mojang's original Java Edition, although with numerous, generally small, differences. Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time with over 350 million copies sold. It has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited as one of the best video games of all time. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions have played prominent roles in popularizing it. The wider Minecraft franchise includes several spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. A film adaptation, titled A Minecraft Movie, was released in 2025 and became the second highest-grossing video game film of all time.
Infobox
Tables
| 2009 | Pre-Classic |
| Classic | |
| Survival Test | |
| Indev | |
| 2010 | Infdev |
| Alpha | |
| Alpha v1 - v1 : "Halloween Update" | |
| Beta | |
| 2011 | Beta |
| Beta 1 : "Adventure Update" | |
| Release 1 : "Adventure Update" | |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 : "Pretty Scary Update" | |
| 2013 | 1 : "Redstone Update" |
| 1 : "Horse Update" | |
| 1 : "The Update that Changed the World" | |
| 2014 | 1 : "Bountiful Update" |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | 1 : "Combat Update" |
| 1 : "Frostburn Update" | |
| 1 : "Exploration Update" | |
| 2017 | 1 : "World of Color Update" |
| 2018 | 1 : "Update Aquatic" |
| 2019 | 1 : "Village & Pillage" |
| 1 : "Buzzy Bees" | |
| 2020 | 1 : "Nether Update" |
| 2021 | 1 : "Caves & Cliffs: Part I" |
| 1 : "Caves & Cliffs: Part II" | |
| 2022 | 1 : "The Wild Update" |
| 2023 | 1 : "Trails & Tales" |
| 1 : "Bats and Pots" | |
| 2024 | 1 : "Armoured Paws" |
| 1 : "Tricky Trials" | |
| 1 : "Bundles of Bravery" | |
| 1 : "The Garden Awakens" | |
| 2025 | 1 : "Spring to Life" |
| 1 : "Chase the Skies" | |
| 1 : "The Copper Age" | |
| 1 : "Mounts of Mayhem" | |
| 2026 | 26 : "Tiny Takeover" |
| 26 : "Chaos Cubed" |
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | (PC) 93/100 (PS4) 89/100 (XONE) 88/100 (PS3) 86/100 (NS) 86/100 (VITA) 84/100 (X360) 82/100 (WIIU) 77/100 (3DS) 62/100 (iOS) 53/100 |
| Publication | Score |
| 1Up | (PC) A+ |
| Edge | (PC) 9/10 |
| Eurogamer | (PC) 10/10 (X360) 9/10 |
| Game Informer | (PC) 9 /10 (X360) 8 /10 |
| GameSpot | (PC) 8 /10 (X360) 7 /10 |
| GameSpy | (PC) 5/5 |
| IGN | (PC) 9 /10 (iOS) 7 /10 (X360) 8 /10 (PS3) 9 /10 (PS4) 9 /10 (XONE) 9 /10 (VITA) 9 /10 (NS) 9 /10 (3DS) 6 /10 |
| Nintendo Life | (WII U) 7 /10 (3DS) 6 /10 (NS) 8 /10 |
| PC Gamer (US) | (PC) 96/100 |
| TouchArcade | (iOS) 3 /5 (Version 0 ) 5/5 |
References
- Minecraft was first publicly available on 17 May 2009, and, following many developmental phases over the next two years,
- Minecraft's Pocket Edition was released in Alpha on 7 October 2011. Its full release with version 1 was on 19 December 2
- Minecraft's Windows 10 Edition, based on the mobile Pocket Edition, was released in Alpha on 29 July 2015. Its full rele
- A native version for PlayStation 5 was released as part of a game update on 22 October 2024. The game previously used th
- A native version for Xbox Series X/S was released as part of a game update on 17 June 2025. The game previously used the
- The original versions of the game for consoles (known as "legacy console" editions) were developed by 4J Studios. Additi
- The PlayStation 3 version was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, while the localized version of the game in ma
- Left Mojang Studios in 2014
- With later contributions from Lena Raine, Kumi Tanioka, Aaron Cherof, and Amos Roddy. Gareth Coker created music for the
- Alongside the Pocket Edition for which it was originally developed, this codebase was also used for the Windows 10 Editi
- Some sources consider Tetris to be the best-selling video game by combining the sales of all of its different versions w
- Retroactively named after the release of "Armoured Paws"
- Microsoft in later builds has since excluded the profane language category from the player reporting feature.
- Minecrafthttps://web.archive.org/web/20150716115516/http://notch.tumblr.com/post/109000107/minecraft-0-0-11a-for-public-consumption
- International Business Timeshttps://web.archive.org/web/20111119224143/http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/251231/20111117/minecraft-version-available-minecon-live-streaming.htm
- minecrafthttps://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/ender-update-finally-here
- "Minecraft becomes first video game to hit 300m sales"https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67105983
- Forbeshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/britneynguyen/2023/10/16/minecraft-just-surpassed-300-million-sales-heres-the-only-video-game-still-beating-it/
- IGNhttps://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/11/24/minecraft-review
- Rock Paper Shotgunhttp://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/30/minecraft-mods/