There is a lot of beauty to be found in the world of video games. Many people would argue that games are not art. But this is a falsehood. Games are one of the most elevated forms of art. They allow people to step into the creation and forge their own paths. To be part of the experience in a way a painting or movie simply can’t.
And there is also beauty to be seen in the stories of a game’s development and success. People love an underdog story. To see something small rise up to become something larger than life. And that is exactly what happened with Minecraft. From humble beginnings, Minecraft went from a colorful game about digging and building to become the most popular game franchise on the planet. So join as we document the blockbuster financial success story that is Minecraft.
Notch And Alpha
We don’t know exactly when Markus “Notch” Persson began work on Minecraft. But it first became known to the public in May of 2009 when he released a few testing versions to the public. And from then he worked tirelessly. Constant updates and changes were added. In 2010 the game went into Alpha and this is where it began to see a significant rise in sales.
According to Forbes, Minecraft Alpha had sold 850,000 copies before it finally went into Beta. At the time this was an astronomical amount of sales for a game to make without even being fully released. Especially considering the game had no formal marketing. It was propelled by the community, particularly the YouTube content creators. Which leads us into the next step in the journey.
YouTube Let’s Play
It would be wrong to say that Minecraft owes all its success to YouTube content creators. But it would also be foolish not to give credit where credit is due. During the Alpha and Beta periods of Minecraft, YouTube was still in its infancy. And the YouTube gamers were just testing the waters with their ‘Let’s Play’ videos.
It didn’t take long for Minecraft Let’s Plays to appear. CaptainSparklez and the Yogscast were two of the biggest names that pioneered the Minecraft hype train. It would be impossible to know exactly how many people they convinced to try the game. But it is not an inconsiderable amount.
The financial success for Minecraft and YouTubers was symbiotic. As their YouTube channels got bigger due to their Minecraft content, they saw a massive increase in revenue from the YouTube monetization system. And Minecraft saw further sales from the fanbases of these YouTubers. To this day, Minecraft is still one of the most popular gaming video categories on YouTube and Twitch.
Multiplayer Is King
If you take a look at the cold, hard facts of the business side of video gaming you will notice that multiplayer games often sell far better than single player games. Now this isn’t an exact rule by any means. There have been many single player games that have sold millions, while there have likewise been many multiplayer games that have flopped.
But Minecraft benefits from being both a single player and a multiplayer game. And the multiplayer systems within the game are varied enough that the game has a healthy playerbase even now. The biggest advantage Minecraft has over other games is that players can create their own custom game modes and servers, and it is because of these Minecraft servers that make sure that Minecraft remains relevant even now.
Mojang has been able to make a considerable profit off the multiplayer system through Minecraft Realms. This is a paid server subscription service that allows players to create their own servers. Players would have complete autonomy over the game modes they run and who can join the server. And the servers Mojang provides are speedy and can operate 24/7.
The Microsoft Deal
Perhaps the biggest financial success Minecraft received was the huge deal made in 2014. At this time Mojang and Minecraft were in a good position. Growing in popularity by the year. Merchandising was booming with action figures, plushies, and tie-in books. So it is no surprise that some of the bigger gaming companies started taking notice.
In 2014 Microsoft would finalize a deal to buy Mojang and all the intellectual property for Minecraft for a whopping 2.4 billion dollars. No small amount to be sure. And since then the brand has only grown further. Today Minecraft has a number of spin-off games such as Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Story Mode. There are more Minecraft books than ever before. And the base game continues to receive regular updates.
If you need any further proof of the financial success story that is Minecraft then we only need to step back to 2019 when Minecraft officially became the best selling video game on the planet. Overtaking Grand Theft Auto V and Tetris. And we don’t see any game taking its place anytime soon.