Minecraft, the block-building sim that has been bought over 200 million times and is still one of the most played video games in the world after ten years, has reached yet another milestone: The game’s YouTube videos have surpassed one trillion views, making it YouTube’s most popular game.
Minecraft has long been popular on the video sharing site, because to its open and very creative character. It was first published in 2009.
In the blocky terrain, players may construct anything they want, and creative modellers have taken to YouTube to show off their most astounding creations, which range from scale replicas of Hogwarts and the Starship Enterprise to working computers.
Stampy Cat, DanTDM, and PewDiePie, among the first generation of YouTube influencers, built massive audiences by playing Minecraft and creating their own narratives, events, and challenges thanks to the game’s open design. According to Microsoft, there are currently over 35,000 active Minecraft creator channels on YouTube, with creators from 150 countries.
YouTube has published an animated movie highlighting highlights from Minecraft’s history on the site, as well as altering the logo on the YouTube homepage for 24 hours to commemorate the one trillionth view. There will also be curated playlists with videos and creators from all over the world.
Minecraft was created by a small Stockholm-based team lead by programmer Markus Persson. That group became Mojang, a game development studio that released an early version of the game in 2009 before launching the full version two years later.
Persson departed the firm in 2014, when Microsoft purchased it for $2.5 billion (£1.9 billion). Since then, Mojang has continued to update Minecraft, adding new characters, storylines, and construction blocks to the world as well as improving the game’s signature visual aesthetic.
Meanwhile, the Xbox Minecraft Marketplace enables users to sell the goods, models, and minigames they’ve produced to other players, creating a functional economy for the world.
With new add-ons appearing on a yearly basis, a massive marketing operation, a long-awaited movie in the works, and rising interest in the notion of shared online worlds – or metaverses – it’s doubtful that this will be the last watching milestone for Minecraft enthusiasts.
Thanks to Keith Stuart at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.
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Frank DiBernardo handles LNGFRM's Foodie and Miscellaneous writing tasks. He's always getting ideas from users, so don't be afraid to send an email to the editor.
