Minecraft Stats & Facts

You know a game is a classic when years after its release, it is still powering forward without any major changes or upgrades to the actual core product. (Minecraft “Classic” was released in 2009!)

Of course Minecraft is a lot more available now than it was when it first unveiled, and with each release, you’ll see different features and options depending on the console. But, Minecraft is still pretty much the same cherished sandbox game from its original inception.

You also know a game is a classic when it keeps finding its way into the headlines of major news sources. A new million-figure active player count here, and record-breaking sales numbers there. There is definitely no shortage of Minecraft across the news and popular culture.

So given all of that, we figured it’s about time to bring all of this newsworthiness together, compiling a list of different - and amazing - Minecraft stats and facts to wrap your head around.

Minecraft surpasses 131 million monthly active users

As this October 2020 PCMag article points out, “With people staying at home due to COVID-19, Minecraft has seen exponential growth worldwide.”

And it makes a whole lot of sense—one fun gaming experience plus increased time indoors equals more time available to dive into things you know and love, or to experiment with something new (that apparently everyone else already loves).

Minecraft eclipses 200 million copies sold

Like I said, Minecraft seems to defy all the rules of the game lifecycle. This article states “Minecraft continues to grow despite being 11 years old.” Clearly, 11-year old games typically do not increase in popularity at such a rate!

And like the article referenced above, it is mentioned here that Minecraft has seen an uptick during the pandemic—with a 25% increase in new players “last month” (article is from May 2020).

Minecraft has likely been played for over 68 millions years!

That is, the amount of time spent played could span 68 million years (and that no, Minecraft is not as old as dinosaurs).

Now, a very big caveat here is that this is an estimated number backed by averages and assumptions. So yes, there is math wizardry involved, but still pretty interesting nonetheless. Take a look at the linked article for the details.

There were 147,000 YouTube creator channels with Minecraft videos...in 2014!

While it might seem like the year 2000 just happened, even the year 2014 was a long time ago! So, the fact that in 2014, one source, tubularinsights, reported that there were 147,000 creator channels with Minecraft videos, you can only imagine what that figure looks like today.

Another fun nugget is that in 2015, Minecraft was one of the most-searched terms on YouTube.

In 2018 alone, there were about 311,000 user-generated Minecraft videos

Yes, in 2018 alone (one single year for those of you scoring at home), around 311,000 user-generated Minecraft YouTube videos resulted in 45.1 billion views!

That same article goes on to also point out that 5 million Minecraft-related videos had been uploaded to YouTube to date (article appeared in May 2019).

Minecraft was acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion

One fact you might already know about, but one to just sit and think about for a minute...

$2.5 billion dollars. Or, about half the value of the New York Yankees. The Yankees! Minecraft was acquired for $2.5 billion, and the Yankees - major league baseball’s most popular and historically successful team - is valued at $5 billion.

Comparisons aside, that’s a lot of money, and there is a lot that goes into the “why.” As you can imagine, with such a price tag, there are a lot of reasons why, which you can check out here.

From a pure business perspective, and taking the Microsoft name out of it, though, Minecraft is a growing and profitable title—pure and simple.

Not bad for a game created in six days, right?

98% of teachers surveyed say problem-solving is the top skill students learned from Minecraft

Yes, that’s right—Minecraft has an education edition that is used as a tool to engage students across a number of subjects. And as the 2017 survey stat says, problem-solving is the biggest takeaway! A separate study (by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center) reported that games like Minecraft resulted in computational thinking improvements.

(We have been talking about the reasons why Minecraft is good for you for quite some time as well!)

There were 55,000 mods in one single repository website as of February 2020.

So a few things—a Minecraft mod is short for “modification.” Thus, modding is creating and adding custom items to Minecraft, allowing users to expand the already expansive environment.

Then, this is one single repository, CurseForge, meaning the total number of mods is far greater than 55,000 when you consider the different existing repository websites. (Looking for some of the best mods? Check them out!)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has sold about 20 million copies

Wait, I thought we were talking about Minecraft? Well, we are... Minecraft Steve has been announced as the newest character for the popular Nintendo Switch offering!

With the Super Smash Bros. and Minecraft mashup (players can also play as Minecraft Alex, a zombie, or even enderman), you can only imagine the anticipation for what happens when their powers combine.

The first name for Minecraft was Cave Game

The first name of Minecraft was actually Cave Game, and is said to have been a demo consisting of cobblestone and grass, with the goal of visualizing how caves could be generated.

Now, while it's hard to think about Minecraft as anything other than "Minecraft," it's always a fun exercise to ponder if the game would have had the same amount of success with a different name, or if somewhere along the line, the name "Cave Game" would have stymied major growth.