Minecraft Statistics - Featuring Image

22 Minecraft Statistics: A Look at the Numbers [2023]

Even if you haven’t played Minecraft, you’ve probably heard of the incredibly popular sandbox game. Minecraft statistics tell a tale of a game that is not only incredibly popular but has also grown into a world and community of its own.

But why is the game so well-liked? How many copies has Minecraft sold? To learn the answers to these questions and many more, keep reading!

Top 10 Minecraft Statistics and Facts

General Minecraft Statistics and Facts

Since the game has been around for quite a while, both avid and casual players probably know a lot about the gameplay. 

However, there are surely some things you didn’t know about Minecraft, so check out our medley of information on this global sensation.

1. The original Minecraft release date is May 17, 2009.

(Minecraft Wiki)

The game initially became available in May 2009 as a developmental release. The first name for Minecraft was Minecraft Classic. 

Before that, the creator intended to name it Cave Game.

2. The full version of the game was released on November 18, 2011. 

(Minecraft Wiki)

Since the first version of Minecraft was a developmental release, you might wonder — how old is Minecraft officially?

The game was deemed complete two and a half years later, in 2011.

3. The Minecraft age rating is 10+.

(Game Revolution) 

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) says Minecraft players should be at least 10 years old.

The reason for the Minecraft age limitations is because the game includes fantasy violence and contact with strangers online.

4. You can buy Minecraft for $26.95.

(Minecraft Help Center, Minecraft Wiki) 

This is the price of the Java Edition.

As for the Bedrock Edition, the Android version costs $7.49, whereas the iOS/iPadOS and Fire versions can be bought for $6.99.

A few years ago, the price went up a bit, so you can always simply google “How much is Minecraft?” to see if anything has changed.

4. Minecraft selling to Microsoft for $2.5 billion was one of the most significant tech acquisitions in 2014.

(BBC)

Markus “Notch” Persson, who is the developer of Minecraft, earned this amazing amount when he sold Mojang, the Swedish firm behind the game, to Microsoft.

According to some speculations, Microsoft made this move to attract more users to its Windows Phone devices.

5. A day in the game lasts 20 minutes in real-time, according to one of the Minecraft facts.

(Sportskeeda)

Time in Minecraft is based upon a system of ticks. One tick corresponds to 3.6 seconds in real-time. This means that one second in the game is 0.0138 seconds in real-time, one minute is 0.93 seconds, one hour is 50 seconds, and one day is 20 minutes.

Also, unlike in real life, day and night always have equal durations (10 minutes each).

6. It’s estimated that as of 2016, the total Minecraft playtime has passed 68 million years, a Minecraft statistic says.

(Sportskeeda)

This estimate is based on the Chinese Minecraft community, applying their average playtime to the total player count.

We should note that the average active Minecraft user might not spend as much time playing the game as registered Chinese players.

Additionally, those who play offline can’t be tracked, and  Minecraft data from before 2016 aren’t available, so the total playtime is very roughly calculated.

7. Minecraft: Education Edition was launched in 2016.

(Minecraft Wiki, VGS)

Minecraft player activity was so high that it led to the idea to launch Minecraft: Education Edition. This learning platform based on the game was introduced on November 1, 2016.

According to data from 2020, the platform is used by 35 million students and teachers in 115 countries around the world.

8. Believe it or not, a Swedish school has compulsory Minecraft lessons.

(The Local) 

One of the most interesting Minecraft facts is that a school in Stockholm introduced compulsory Minecraft lessons for 13-year-old students in 2013. 

The aim was to encourage the children to develop their thinking skills.

(Forbes) 

You can often assess the popularity of a particular phenomenon based on how much it is present on YouTube. So, how popular is Minecraft?

Figures from the end of 2020 suggest that Minecraft is one of the dominant topics on this platform, as you can tell by this staggering number of total views.

10. One of Minecraft fun facts tells us the game has won several awards.

(IMDb) 

Minecraft has been recognized by not only users but award-giving organizations, as well. The game has won the following awards:

  • Best Independent Game (Spike Video Game Awards 2011)
  • Most Addicting Game (Kids’ Choice Awards, USA 2015)
  • Best Debut Game (Game Developers Choice Awards 2011)
  • Best Downloadable Game (Game Developers Choice Awards 2011)
  • BAFTA Kids’ Vote – Game (BAFTA Awards 2014)
  • Best Family Game (BAFTA Awards 2015)
  • BAFTA Kids’ Vote – Game (BAFTA Awards 2016)

MC Statistics About Sales and Revenue 

Based on everything we’ve listed so far, you can tell this game is immensely popular. Therefore, it’s not hard to guess that Minecraft sales and revenue have gone through the roof over the years. 

Still, you may be surprised by some of the MC stats regarding revenue and sales.

11. Minecraft statistics for 2020 tell us the game has been sold in all formats more than 200 million times.

(Business of Apps) 

The question of how many copies of Minecraft have been sold has a quite mind-blowing answer.

Let’s look at the number of total sales reached between 2011 and 2022.

  • 2011: 4 million
  • 2012: 9 million
  • 2013: 33 million
  • 2014: 54 million
  • 2015: 72 million
  • 2016: 100 million
  • 2017: 122 million
  • 2018: 154 million
  • 2019: 176 million
  • 2020: 200 million
  • 2022: 238 million

12. Minecraft revenue coming from game sales totals around $3 billion.

(Business of Apps) 

This figure is based on game sales alone since the launch of Minecraft.

Data for 2021 aren’t available yet, but websites offering Minecraft facts from 2020 suggest that last year’s revenue stood at $415 million. 

This is not that surprising, considering that the global gaming market was worth some $162.32 billion in 2020.

13. Bedrock Edition sales reached 93 million in 2018, Minecraft statistics about Bedrock say.

(Business of Apps)

As far as we know, Minecraft data for the Bedrock Edition (formerly known as the Pocket Edition) are only available for 2012–2018. 

  • 2012: 3 million
  • 2013: 14 million
  • 2014: 21 million
  • 2015: 30 million
  • 2016: 50 million
  • 2017: 63 million
  • 2018: 93 million

14. Minecraft revenue on mobile reached $142 million in 2020.

(MGTBlog) 

Last year, Minecraft mobile revenue soared. Here you can see how much the mobile revenue grew in 2012–2020.

  • 2012: $21 million
  • 2013: $33 million
  • 2014: $45 million
  • 2015: $55 million
  • 2016: $85 million
  • 2017: $100 million
  • 2018: $110 million
  • 2019: $111 million
  • 2020: $142 million

15. Last year, there were 5.43 million copies of Minecraft sold for Xbox One until August.

(Statista) 

In the first six months of 2020, almost 5.5 million Minecraft copies were sold for Xbox One worldwide. Out of the total, 3.23 million were sold in the US alone, another 1.71 million in Europe, and the remaining 490,000 in the rest of the world.

Some game stats show that Minecraft is ranked 5th by the number of units sold for Xbox.

Minecraft Player Statistics

The entire world seems to be crazy about Minecraft. Something about this game attracts an incredible number of users.

We offer you info on how many people are playing Minecraft, the best players, the influence of the pandemic on the number of players, and so much more!

16. If you’d like to know how many people play Minecraft, the answer is over 140 million.

(Statista) 

Since the full release in 2011, the Minecraft player count has reached incredible heights. This number of Minecraft active players.was obtained in March 2021.

17. The Minecraft player count graph shows that the number of users grew by 25% when the COVID-19 pandemic started.

(The Verge) 

In April 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, Microsoft reported this considerable rise in the number of new players. 

There was also a 40% spike in multiplayer sessions.

18. In 2020, there were 132 million Minecraft monthly players.

(Mobile Marketing Reads) 

The number of monthly Minecraft players reached this astonishing figure in the last quarter of fiscal 2020. 

As previously noted, this is probably a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, since Minecraft is a game you can enjoy for hours in the comfort of your home.

(Minecraft Multiplayer)

Minecraft is played across the globe, but the US is the leader in this respect.

The monitoring of all popular servers indicates that the game is the most popular in the following 10 countries.

  1. US
  2. UK
  3. Turkey
  4. Germany
  5. Canada
  6. Taiwan
  7. Indonesia
  8. Brazil
  9. Netherlands
  10. Spain

20. Minecraft demographics stats say the average age of Minecraft players is 24.

(PCGamesN)

The Minecraft age range statistics show that the game’s audience includes a lot of children, so you may be surprised to discover that the average Minecraft player is in their mid-20s.

21. Minecraft user statistics tell us that boys play the game more than girls.

(The Conversation)

According to a survey conducted in Melbourne, only 32% of girls aged 3–12 play Minecraft, as opposed to 54% of boys of the same age category.

However, it’s important to note that the survey encompassed only the children of 753 parents, so the actual numbers could be much different.

22. Fruitberries is the best Minecraft player, among others.

(Sportskeeda)

It is difficult to rank the best Minecraft players since different people excel at different skills necessary for being successful in the world of Minecraft.

Several people are often mentioned as the top Minecraft players nowadays.

  • Josh “Fruitberries”
  • Technoblade
  • Key “Illumina”
  • Clay “Dream”
  • Brandon “PeteZahHutt” Clemont

Conclusion

Minecraft is really a remarkable phenomenon that has taken the gaming world by storm. 

Is Minecraft the most popular game? Well, there are other games reporting major success, too, but it is definitely at the top.

We can certainly expect many great things that’ll become a part of Minecraft statistics in the upcoming years.

FAQ

How much does Minecraft cost?

As previously noted, you can buy Minecraft for $26.95 (or your local currency equivalent).

Schools, libraries, museums, and other organizations that want to use Minecraft for educational purposes can get educational discounts.

Who owns Minecraft?

Minecraft was developed by a company called Mojang, but Microsoft bought the game in 2014.

How many people play Minecraft in 2021?

Based on the latest data on how many people play Minecraft, there are more than 140 million Minecraft players worldwide.

How many copies of Minecraft have been sold as of 2021?

There are no official data for this year yet, but Microsoft estimates that more than 238 million copies have been sold worldwide since the release of the game.

Compared to how many people own Minecraft, Fortnite has more users (350 million monthly players in 2021), and it has a higher revenue ($1.1 billion in 2020).

Google Trends and Twitch data indicate that Fortnite is also more watched, but Minecraft is more searched for.

Also, we previously pointed out that the total playing time for Minecraft is more than 68 million years. The total Fortnite playtime is 10.4 million years, which is much lower.

Absolutely! As mentioned before, the Minecraft popularity graph reports no downward trends. The number of copies sold and the Minecraft player base keep growing every year.

Sources

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As an English linguistics Ph.D. student, an EFL teacher, and a translator, Milica’s everyday life is full of research tasks. Always willing to acquire new knowledge, she enjoys writing about it and sharing it with others. In her free time, Milica can be found reading, watching cute animal videos, spending hours trying to master Korean, and learning about digital marketing through her study blog on Instagram.

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