The Rise of Minecraft

RISE OF MINECRAFT

Now an Infographic!



Minecraft has gone from an experimental project

by a single developer to a gaming phenomenon

bringing in over $1 million in weekly sales,



Here is that journey, from the day Markus Alexej

Persson —— a.k.a. Notch —— quits his day job to the

epic event that is Minecon.



DAILY FREE SIGNUPS TOTAL FREE



DAILY PREMIUM SIGNUPS TOTAL PREMIUM

60k 45k 30k 15k 2M 6M 10M 14M



2010





Jun 1, 2010: Notch quits his

job at Jalbum to work on

Minecraft full time. It’s

also his birthday.



Jun 29: Single player survival added.



Jul 29, 2010: PC Gamer

Magazine interviews Notch.



Aug 4: First release of SMP





Sept 18, 2010: Minecraft

servers crash, Notch

makes the game free until

it’s fixed, PCGamer covers

the event.



Oct 20, 2010: Minecraft

servers are DDo5 attacked

V by jaded users demanding

more updates.



Oct 30:

Huge SMP "Halloween update."



Dec 11, 2010: Notch announces

a price increase, from 10 to

14.95 Euros, effective Dec. 20.



Dec 20: Beta 1.0

Dec 22: Beta 1.1



Dec 31, 2010: Minecraft

wins Indie Game of the

Year and other awards

from IndieDB.



2011





Jan 13: Beta 1.2



Mar 3, 2011: Minecraft

wins GDC Award for

Best Debut Game, Best

Downloadable Game,

and Game Innovation Spotlight



Feb 21: Client gets updated

Feb 22: Beta 1.3



Mar 31: Beta 1.4



Apr 1, 2011: April Fools' Steve Co. Supply Crate Store in—game micro—transaction parody.



April 19: Beta 1.5



Daily signups spike on the weekends.



May 26: Beta 1.6



Jun 30: Beta 1.7



Aug 14, 2011: Notch and Ez are married.



Aug 14, 2011: 18,160 premiums are doubled due to Weekend Wedding gift codes,



Sep 14: Beta 1.8 "Adventure Update"



Oct 7, 2011: Pocket edition released for Android.



Nov 7, 2011: Minecraft hits 1 million sates.



Nov 13: Minecraft 1.0 RC2



50 people showed up for the free MinecraftCon in August 2010.



A little over a year later, MineCon has sold out the Mandalay Bay convention center, with tickets at $99.



That is more than Notch has spent on marketing since he started.



MINECON

18-19 NOVEMBER, LAS VEGAS, NV.



Nov 18, 2011: Minecraft comes out of beta.