Minecraft celebrates its tenth anniversary

Minecraft celebrates its tenth anniversary on Friday. In a decade, the game exploded in sales, bringing in $2.5 billion in sales in 2014. But where did the popular sandbox game begin? And what changes have there been over the years?

The story of Minecraft begins in 2009 with Infiniminer, an open-source predecessor to Minecraft. In Infiniminer, the player works as a miner and has to dig up various minerals in automatically generated levels. Developer Markuss Persson, aka Notch, played Infiniminer while working on other projects such as RubyDungy and a GTA: Chinatown Wars inspired zombie game. When he discovered Inifiniminer he immediately noticed things that he himself said he would have done differently. That inspired him to develop games himself and to release the first version of Minecraft. At that time, it was still known as Cave Game.

In May of that year, the game is renamed to Minecraft and the first version comes out under developer Mojang. Constant updates follow in the months that follow, including the addition of multiplayer and the first survival elements. More than a year later, the first alpha version of the game comes out. In October 2010, the Nether will be added to the sandbox game and in December the game will transition from the alpha to beta version.

The year 2011 is off to a good start for the developers at Mojang. The game was sold a million times that year. In the months that follow, among other things, updates to the beta, a mobile version of the game, and images from an Xbox 360 edition will be shown. However, not everything runs smoothly that year. Notch is getting into trouble because of another title he’s working on called Scrolls. In August, he receives a letter from Bethesda, the creator of The Elder Scrolls series, who is not happy with that name. The company even threatens a lawsuit.

Several updates of Minecraft will be released in 2012. New block types, the ability to trade, and new climates will be added to the sandbox game, among other things. Furthermore, the game will also be released for the Xbox 360 and there will even be a Lego set based on Minecraft.

In the following year, horses will be added, among other things, and the possibility to work with redstone. The Pocket Edition is also constantly updated and versions for the Playstation 3 and 4 and the Playstation Vita are announced. The PC edition has sold over 13 million copies to date.

Then in 2014 everything changes for the game. Microsoft is paying no less than $2.5 billion to acquire developer Mojang. It seems like a striking purchase for Microsoft, but given the high sales figures, the price tag can be explained. “We expect to have recouped the investment by 2015,” the company wrote in a statement. The takeover was accompanied by the departure of the now controversial founder Notch. “If I ever make something that became popular I’ll probably be off in no time,” he said before adding word to action.

Even without Notch, Minecraft remains a strong title. For example, in 2015, the game won multiple awards, including a Bafta Game award for best family game and a Golden Joystick award in the same category. Furthermore, the game will receive constant updates and a Story Mode will be released in collaboration with Telltale.

The following year it becomes clearer what exactly Microsoft wants with Minecraft. Mojang will then release an Education Edition of the game. It makes it possible to teach children in a classroom with Minecraft. Including the option to give instructions, a portfolio, and a chalkboard are added to this edition. The game also reaches the milestone of 100 million copies sold. Furthermore, Mojang announces the very first Minecraft book.

In January 2018, Minecraft increases that number to 144 million and the game has 74 million active players. Released that year, the 1.13 version tackles the oceans and seas in Minecraft, including new aquatic creatures, new monsters and also new blocks. A new update called Village & Pillage has been out for a few weeks now, which changes how players interact with villagers in the game.

Minecraft, meanwhile, has a version on almost every possible platform, from a Playstation 4 to a version on an Amazon Fire TV stick. Only Mojang can know where the game will be in 10 years, the developer himself jokes that it will release Minecraft on Mars in 2029.