Minecraft began in 2009 as a personal project by Swedish programmer Markus Persson, known online as Notch. Its first prototype, called Cave Game, let players dig and build in generated worlds. Persson drew on several games he admired, then developed the idea through experiments, public releases and player feedback until Minecraft reached its full 1.0 release in 2011.
Who created Minecraft?
Markus Persson created Minecraft. In a May 2010 Reddit AMA, he wrote: “My name is Markus Persson, and I made Minecraft. I started work on it in 2009.” Persson initially worked on the game as an independent project. He later said it began making a profit after a couple of months, and that he and two friends had started a company to support development.
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Xbox Wire’s 2024 retrospective places the start of work about a week before May 16, 2009. The sources establish the year and a rough point in the spring, but not a precise day-by-day account of the prototype’s development.
What inspired Minecraft?
Persson described several influences, rather than identifying one game as the blueprint for Minecraft. In a July 2010 interview with Minecraft Forum, he said he was playing Dwarf Fortress and wanted to make a similar game with an interface like RollerCoaster Tycoon. While experimenting with first-person play, he came across Infiniminer on the Tigsource forums and liked its visual style. Xbox Wire’s 2024 retrospective also names Dungeon Keeper as an inspiration.
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- Minecraft is a game about placing blocks and going on adventures
- Explore randomly generated worlds and build amazing things from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles
- Play in creative mode with unlimited resources or mine deep into the world in survival mode, crafting weapons and armor to fend off the dangerous mobs
- Play on the go in handheld or tabletop modes
- Includes Super Mario Mash-Up, Natural Texture Pack, Biome Settlers Skin Pack, Battle & Beasts Skin Pack, Campfire Tales Skin Pack; Compatible with Nintendo Switch only
“I was playing Dwarf Fortress at the time, and got the idea to do a similar game, except with an interface similar to that in Rollercoaster Tycoon.”
That is Persson’s own description of one part of the idea. The accounts support treating these games as influences on his experiments—not saying Minecraft was copied from any one of them.
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- Explore randomly-generated worlds and build amazing things from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles
- Play in Creative Mode with unlimited resources or mine deep into the world in survival mode, crafting weapons and armour to fend off the dangerous mobs
How did the early game develop?
The first version was known as Cave Game. The name Minecraft: Order of the Stone was considered during the project’s early days before it was shortened to Minecraft. In the Java Classic version, players could dig and build freely in generated worlds. Creative and Survival modes took shape during 2009, giving the game more defined ways to play.
| Period | What changed |
|---|---|
| 2009 | The Cave Game prototype became publicly known as Minecraft. Generated worlds, digging and building formed its early play; Creative and Survival modes emerged during the year. |
| January 2010 | Crafting arrived, according to Xbox Wire’s 2024 retrospective. |
| June 2010 | Minecarts arrived, according to the same retrospective. |
| August 2010 | An early Survival multiplayer version appeared, according to the same retrospective. |
| January 2011 | Xbox Wire reports that Minecraft had reached one million players by this point. |
| November 18, 2011 | Minecraft reached its full 1.0 release during Minecon. |
The early audience grew quickly. Xbox Wire reports more than 100,000 players by January 2010; this is a historical figure, not a current player count. The same retrospective reports one million players by January 2011.
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How did Minecraft change after its first release?
Minecraft’s creation did not end with version 1.0. Mojang’s September 2024 account describes a game that continued to evolve from its 2009 beginnings, with player feedback influencing ideas and revisions. As examples, Mojang cites community suggestions connected to cherry groves and variations of wolves. That continuing exchange helped make development a process of adding to and reshaping the game over time, rather than simply finishing the original prototype.
Quick Recap
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- DELUXE COLLECTION — Includes Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition, three Bedrock add-ons, three exclusive Character Creator items, and 700 Minecoins.
- CREATE YOUR WORLD — Build whatever you imagine in an infinite world that’s unique in every playthrough.
- EXPLORE AND CRAFT — Discover biomes, resources, and mobs, then craft your way through a sandbox world filled with surprises.
- SURVIVE THE ADVENTURE — Face mysterious foes, travel across exciting landscapes, and venture into perilous dimensions.
- PLAY TOGETHER — Play cross-platform with friends in Bedrock Edition on console, mobile, and PC, or join community servers in Java Edition on PC, Mac, and Linux. Online console multiplayer requires a platform-specific subscription (sold separately).
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- CREATE YOUR WORLD — Build whatever you imagine in an infinite world that is unique in every playthrough.
- EXPLORE AND CRAFT — Discover biomes, resources, and mobs, then craft your way through a sandbox world full of surprises.
- SURVIVAL ADVENTURES — Face mysterious foes, travel across varied landscapes, and venture into perilous dimensions.
- PLAY TOGETHER — Play solo or join friends in local split-screen and cross-platform play across console, mobile, and PC. Online multiplayer supports up to 8 players.
- COMMUNITY PLAY — Connect with players on community servers, or subscribe to Realms Plus (sold separately) to play with up to 10 friends on a private server.
Sources
- Joe Skrebels, Xbox Wire, “The Most Important Moments in Minecraft’s First 15 Years,” May 17, 2024.
- “Interview With Notch!,” Minecraft Forum, July 30, 2010.
- Markus Persson, Reddit r/IAmA, “IAmA indie game developer who made a commercially successful game. AMAA,” May 2010.
- Ryan Cooper, Minecraft / Mojang Studios, “The future of Minecraft’s development,” September 8, 2024.
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