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New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of nine possibilities, including Steve or Alex,[23][24] but are able to create and upload their own skins.[25] Players encounter various mobs (short for mobile entities) including animals, villagers, and hostile creatures.[14][26] Passive mobs, such a... |
Minecraft has two alternative dimensions besides the Overworld (the main world where the player spawns): the Nether and the End.[30] |
The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via a player-built obsidian portal; newer versions of the game feature naturally generated damaged portals that the player can repair.[32] The Nether contains many unique resources and can be used to travel great distances in the Overworld, due to every block trav... |
The End can be reached through an end portal, consisting of twelve end portal frames |
End portals are found in underground structures in the Overworld known as strongholds |
To find strongholds, players must craft eyes of ender using an ender pearl and blaze powder |
Eyes of ender can then be thrown, traveling in the direction of the stronghold |
Once the player reaches the stronghold, they can place eyes of ender into each portal frame to activate the end portal.[39] The dimension consists of islands floating in a dark, bottomless void |
A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island.[40] Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough,[41] which takes about nine minutes to scroll past,[42] i... |
In Survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items.[18] Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter in order to survive at ni... |
Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game unless the player is playing on peaceful difficulty.[46] If the hunger bar is empty, automatic healing stops and depletes |
Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful.[46] |
Upon losing all health, items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so |
Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be reset by sleeping in a bed or using a respawn anchor.[47][48] Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn after 5 minutes |
Players may acquire experience points (commonly referred to as "xp" or "exp") by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, breeding animals, and cooking food.[49] Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons |
Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects.[27] |
The game features two more game modes based on Survival, known as Hardcore mode and Adventure mode |
Hardcore mode plays identically to Survival mode, but with the game's difficulty setting locked to "Hard" and with permadeath, meaning players only have one life, forcing them to delete the world or explore it as a spectator after death.[50] Adventure mode was added to the game in a post-launch update,[51] and prevents... |
It was designed primarily for use in custom maps, allowing map designers to let players experience it as intended.[51][52] |
In Creative mode, players have access to an infinite number of nearly all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or mine them instantly.[53] Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, while their characters do not take any damage nor are affected by hun... |
Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world |
It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, LAN play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted).[56] Players can run their own server by making a realm, using a host provider, hosting one themselves or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live, PlaySta... |
Single-player worlds have local area network support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup.[57] Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players |
Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server.[56] Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs |
The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players.[58][59] Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players.[60] |
In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own.[61][62] Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use IP addresses |
Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time |
Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time.[63] The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps.[64] Minecraft Bedrock Realms servers support user-made add-ons, re... |
On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play.[67] Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018.[68] |
The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers |
Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps |
Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms.[69][70] The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counte... |
Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new achievements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, and world generation.[75][76] |
The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins.[77] It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs wit... |
Another based on Fallout was released on consoles that December,[82] and for Windows and Mobile in April 2017.[83] In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game.[84][85] Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when a... |
In June 2017, Mojang released the "1.1 Discovery Update" to the Pocket Edition of the game, which later became the Bedrock Edition.[87] The update introduced the "Marketplace", a catalogue of purchasable user-generated content intended to give Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game".[88][89][90]... |
Before creating Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009 |
At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages |
During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers.[100] |
One such project was "RubyDung," a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but with an isometric, three-dimensional perspective similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon.[101] Among the features in RubyDung that he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper, though he ultimately discarded this idea, feelin... |
The first public alpha build of Minecraft was released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource.[107][108] Over the years, Persson regularly released test builds that added new features, including tools, mobs, and entire new dimensions |
In 2011, partly due to the game's rising popularity, Persson decided to release a full 1.0 version—a second part of the "Adventure Update"—on 18 November 2011.[2] Shortly after, Persson stepped down from development, handing the project's lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten.[109] |
On 15 September 2014, Microsoft, the developer behind the Microsoft Windows operating system and Xbox video game console, announced a $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, which included the Minecraft intellectual property.[110][111] Persson had suggested the deal on Twitter, asking a corporation to buy his stake in the ... |
Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts.[114] The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires".[114][115][116] |
After 2014, Minecraft's primary versions received usually annual major updates[117]—free to players who have purchased the game—[118] each primarily centered around a specific theme |
For instance, version 1.13, the Update Aquatic, focused on ocean-related features,[119] while version 1.16, the Nether Update, introduced significant changes to the Nether dimension.[120] However, in late 2024, Mojang announced a shift in their update strategy; rather than releasing large updates annually, they opted f... |
Other versions of the game, such as various console editions and the Pocket Edition, were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and have not received further updates.[122] |
On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of an old 2009 Java Edition build named Minecraft Classic was made available to play online for free.[123][124][125] |
On 16 April 2020, a Bedrock Edition-exclusive beta version of Minecraft, called Minecraft RTX, was released by Nvidia |
It introduced physically-based rendering, real-time path tracing,[126] and DLSS for RTX-enabled GPUs.[127] The public release was made available on 8 December 2020.[128] Path tracing can only be enabled in supported worlds, which can be downloaded for free via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace, with a texture pack from... |
On 22 March 2025, a new visual mode called Vibrant Visuals, an optional graphical overhaul similar to Minecraft RTX, was announced |
It promises modern rendering features—such as dynamic shadows, screen space reflections, volumetric fog, and bloom—without the need of RTX-capable hardware.[134][135][136] Vibrant Visuals was released as a part of the Chase the Skies update on 17 June 2025 for Bedrock Edition and is planned to release on Java Edition a... |
Development began for the original edition of Minecraft—then known as Cave Game, and now known as the Java Edition—on 10,[140] 11[141] or 12 May 2009,[142] and ended on 13 May, when Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of the game, dubbed the "Cave game tech test " or the "Cave game tech demo".[... |
Persson completed the game's base programming over a weekend in May 2009, and private testing began on TigIRC on 16 May.[146] The first public release followed on 17 May 2009 as a developmental version shared on the TIGSource forums.[108] Based on feedback from forum users, Persson continued updating the game.[100][10... |
The first major update, known as Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010.[148][149] At the time, Persson was still working a day job at jAlbum but later resigned to focus on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version surged.[150] Updates were distributed automatically, introducing new blocks, items, mobs, and change... |
On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft would enter its beta phase on 20 December.[152] He assured players that bug fixes and all pre-release updates would remain free.[153] As development progressed, Mojang expanded, hiring additional employees to work on the project.[154] |
The game officially exited beta and launched in full on 18 November 2011.[2] On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer.[109] On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced the hiring of the developers behind Bukkit, a popular developer API for Minecra... |
In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released as an early alpha for the Xperia Play via the Android Market, later expanding to other Android devices on 8 October 2011.[158][159] The iOS version followed on 17 November 2011.[160] A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Moja... |
On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1.[164] In July 2015, a port of the Pocket Edition to Windows 10 was released as the Windows 10 Edition, with full crossplay to other Pocket versions |
In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition.[165] On 20 September 2017, with the "Better Together Update", the Pocket Edition was ported to the Xbox One, and was renamed to the Bedrock Edition.[166] |
The console versions of Minecraft debuted with the Xbox 360 edition, developed by 4J Studios and released on 9 May 2012.[167][168] Announced as part of the Xbox Live Arcade NEXT promotion,[168] this version introduced a redesigned crafting system, a new control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, an... |
Initially, the Xbox 360 version resembled outdated PC versions but received updates to bring it closer to Java Edition before eventually being discontinued.[170] The Xbox One version launched on 5 September 2014, featuring larger worlds and support for more players.[171] Minecraft expanded to PlayStation platforms with... |
Nintendo platforms received Minecraft: Wii U Edition on 17 December 2015, with a physical release in North America on 17 June 2016[177] and in Europe on 30 June.[178] The Nintendo Switch version launched via the eShop on 11 May 2017.[179] During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced th... |
The game is compatible only with the New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS or 2DS systems.[181] |
On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update introduced Bedrock Edition across Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile platforms, enabling cross-play between these versions.[182][183] Bedrock Edition later expanded to Nintendo Switch[182] and PlayStation 4, with the latter receiving the update in December 2019, allowi... |
An educational version of Minecraft, designed for use in schools, launched on 1 November 2016.[189] It is available on Android, ChromeOS, iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Windows,[190] It was built on the Bedrock Edition codebase, and beta testing ran from 9 June to 1 November 2016,[191] with the full release available on macOS... |
It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018.[192] On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China.[193] On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks |
The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020.[190] |
On 20 May 2016, China Edition (also known as My World) was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang.[194] The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017.[195] The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017,[196] and the ... |
The edition is free-to-play and had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023.[198] |
This version of Bedrock Edition is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems |
The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015.[199] After nearly a year and a half in beta, Microsoft fully released the version on 19 December 2016 |
Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs.[200] On 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft were merged into a single bundle for purchase on Windows; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to th... |
Both game versions would otherwise remain separate.[201] |
Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, Mojang collaborated with The Lego Group to create a Lego brick-based Minecraft game called Brickcraft |
This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets |
Persson worked on an early version called "Project Rex Kwon Do," named after a Napoleon Dynamite joke |
Although Lego approved the project and Mojang assigned two developers for six months, it was canceled due to the Lego Group's demands, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan |
Lego considered buying Mojang to complete the game, but when Microsoft offered over $2 billion for the company, Lego stepped back, unsure of Minecraft's potential.[202] On 26 June 2025, a build of Brickcraft dated 28 June 2012 was published on a community archive website Omniarchive.[203] |
Initially, Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a Minecraft port |
However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled the plans, stating, "Facebook creeps me out."[204] In 2016, a community-made mod, Minecraft VR, added VR support for Java Edition, followed by Vivecraft for HTC Vive.[205] Later that year, Microsoft introduced official Oculus Rift support for Windows... |
Vivecraft was endorsed by Minecraft VR contributors for its Rift support.[205] Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition.[207] Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017 |
On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 Bedrock version would receive PlayStation VR support later that month.[208] In September 2024, the Minecraft team announced they would no longer support PlayStation VR, which received its final update in March 2025.[209] |
Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418.[210] To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of Foley techniques |
On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley’s an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties |
Early on, I wasn’t that knowledgeable about it |
It’s a whole trial-and-error process |
You just make a sound and eventually you go, 'Oh my God, that’s it |
Get the microphone!' There’s no set way of doing anything at all."[211][212] He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don’t actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing |
What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders |
He elaborates, "I like the spiders |
Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like |
Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you."[211] |
Many sounds for the game were created accidentally or spontaneously |
On the creation for the sound for the creeper, Rosenfeld recalled, "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic] |
We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick |
It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it."[213] On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary |
I intentionally made them sound comical |
It’s nice to hear that they work so well [...]."[213] Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash |
There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine."[212] |
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