# Minecraft (early growth)

> Notch reported one million Minecraft sales before its full release.

- Owner: Markus Persson / Mojang
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 2009-05-17
- Milestone date: 2011-01-12
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 56 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Shareable output, Underdog, Maker origin, Platform jump, Press loop

## Summary

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.

## Timeline

- 2009-05-13 — Markus Persson (YouTube) — Persson posted the Cave Game tech demo before the playable release.
- 2009-05-17 — Markus Persson (Open web) — Persson released Minecraft 0.0.11a as a public Java applet and shared it on TIGSource.
- 2009-06-13 — Markus Persson (Open web) — Persson opened pre-orders after the free playable version had become public.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/minecraft-2009

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Minecraft (early growth).” Case HIS-01346. Spread Score v1.2: 56/100. Updated 2026-10-22. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01346