LibraryNowPlayMechanicsMCP

Kinds

Campaign384Product105Food & drink30App & software57Film61Series75Music61Game124Book46Creator moment60Meme & format111Trend & aesthetic41Activity61Moment112
PricingPrivacyTermsRefundsPress
Library/Game/Minecraft (early growth)
Grade B20 sourcesHIS-01346

Minecraft (early growth)

Game · 2009 · Notable

56Editable slideCertificate

Notch reported one million Minecraft sales before its full release.

Trailer · Minecraft on YouTube
Clip · paulsoaresjr on YouTube
Minecraft Classic v0.30 with brick blocks
Xbox México
Forest scene from the official Minecraft trailer
Minecraft on YouTube
Paul Soares Jr.'s How to Survive your First Night tutorial
paulsoaresjr on YouTube
Penny Arcade's Mine All Mine strip about Minecraft
Penny Arcade
An early Minecraft world, from PC Gamer's first moments feature
PC Gamer

Spread Score

How it works
Reach41Contagion75Breadth60VelocityNo data yetLongevityNo data yet56

Numbers

YouTube's ten most-viewed Minecraft derivatives; game seed had no video
15M
As of Dec 22, 2010 · YouTube · Self-reported · YouTube Trends
Seed to milestone
20 months
May 17 ’09 to Jan 12 ’11
Platforms
4
Started on Open web
Origin
Seeded
Gaming

Mechanics

  • Shareable outputPrimary
  • Underdog
  • Maker origin
  • Platform jump
  • Press loop

How it spread

Trace the origin

Persson released a Java applet on TIGSource and sold access while developing it. Players shared builds and tutorials on YouTube and Reddit. Persson reported one million paid copies in January 2011; press reported four million before the full release.

Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.

Mar ’09JunNovJun ’10SepNovMar ’11JunSepDecMar ’13Jun ’14DecYouTubeOpen webPressReddit
YouTubeOpen webPressReddit

13 more events on this chart

Join free to see them

Timeline (16)

  1. May 2009

    Markus Persson precursor · May 13 ’09

    Persson posted the Cave Game tech demo before the playable release.[1]

    Open the first post ↗
  2. Markus Persson seed · May 17 ’09

    Persson released Minecraft 0.0.11a as a public Java applet and shared it on TIGSource.[2][3]

    An early Minecraft world, from PC Gamer's first moments feature
  3. June 2009

    Markus Persson commercial · Jun 13 ’09

    Persson opened pre-orders after the free playable version had become public.[4]

  1. press · Mar 23 ’10

  2. platform jump · Jul 29 ’10

Join free to see the other 13 events and the full chart. Free, on every case.

or continue with Google

Why it worked

Do this

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Pro opens the playbook, all 12 sourced numbers and 20 sources. Start with a free account.

Join freeGo Pro
Origin
Seeded
Sector
Gaming
Region
SE
YouTube's ten most-viewed Minecraft derivatives; game seed had no video
15M
As of Dec 22, 2010 · YouTube · Self-reported · YouTube Trends
Evidence
Grade B

Spread the same way

Game · Open web · 201566

Rocket League

Psyonix

Car soccer spread through GIFs and streams; Psyonix reported $110 million in revenue.

$110M revenue

1 / 8

  • Rocket League
  • Phasmophobia
  • Lethal Company
  • Content Warning
  • Mewgenics
  • Stardew Valley
  • Loop Hero
  • Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

New cases, every week

How the next thing spread, the week it does.