The History of Minecraft (2009–2026)

The history of Minecraft is really two stories: a solo developer building something he could barely keep up with, and the decade-plus corporate machine that took over once he couldn't.

The short version: Markus "Notch" Persson posted the first public build of Minecraft on May 17, 2009. Alpha followed on June 30, 2010, Beta on December 20, 2010, and the full 1.0 release on November 18, 2011, at MINECON in Las Vegas. Microsoft announced it was buying Mojang for $2.5 billion on September 15, 2014. As of October 2026, the latest Java Edition release is 26.3, the Wilderness Bound drop, which shipped on September 15, 2026.

When Was Minecraft Created?

Minecraft was first released to the public on May 17, 2009, when Persson posted an early build to the TIGSource indie developer forums. That build opened what's now called the Classic phase. These are the milestones that turned it into a finished game:

• Classic: May 17 to November 10, 2009.
• Alpha: June 30 to December 3, 2010.
• Beta: December 20, 2010 to November 11, 2011.
• Full release (1.0.0): November 18, 2011, at MINECON 2011 in Las Vegas.

How Was Minecraft Created?

Minecraft started as Persson's project, and its clearest influence is Infiniminer, a block-based, open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, only weeks before Minecraft's first public build. Infiniminer inspired Persson's vision for the game and heavily influenced its blocky visual style.

The early builds changed fast. Multiplayer and a survival mode with hostile monsters both arrived during the 2009 Classic phase. That was the moment the project stopped being a toy and started being a game. Within a month of the first public build, Minecraft was making enough money for Persson to take time off his day job, and by May 2010 he had quit it entirely.

Alpha and the Founding of Mojang

Minecraft entered Alpha on June 30, 2010. Redstone, the material that carries signals between blocks, arrived during this phase, not in Beta. In September 2010 Persson visited Valve, then got in touch with Jakob Porsér, and the pair incorporated Mojang AB on September 17, 2010, with Carl Manneh as CEO.

Alpha v1.2.0, released on October 30, 2010 and commonly called the Halloween Update, added biomes and the Nether. While the game itself was taking shape, players were already running servers for it, and that multiplayer side has a timeline of its own, covered in our history of Minecraft servers.

Beta, and the Full 1.0 Release

Beta began on December 20, 2010. Beta 1.0 brought smaller changes such as throwable eggs and leaf decay. In January 2011, Minecraft reached 1 million registered accounts, still the better part of a year before its official release. Beta 1.8, in September 2011, added the hunger bar, sprinting, critical hits and creative mode. Sprinting and critical hits are combat mechanics, and for what players went on to do with Minecraft combat, our best PvP servers of all time list picks up the story.

On November 18, 2011, Mojang formally released 1.0.0 during a presentation on the first day of MINECON 2011 in Las Vegas, held November 18–19. It added the End dimension and the Ender Dragon, which gave an open-ended sandbox something to aim for. In December 2011, Persson handed his role as lead designer to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. By March 2012, Minecraft had sold around 5 million copies and brought in about $80 million.

Microsoft Buys Mojang

By 2014, Minecraft had become a commercial phenomenon. Microsoft first approached Mojang about an acquisition in June 2014, and on September 15, 2014, it announced it would buy the company for $2.5 billion in cash.

Persson owned 71% of Mojang's shares and received $1.8 billion. Porsér and Manneh received $300 million and $100 million respectively. All three founders then left Mojang, and the acquisition was finalised on November 6, 2014.

The Mojang Studios Era

Since the acquisition, Java Edition's biggest updates have each shipped under a name and a theme:

• 1.16, the Nether Update (2020)
• 1.17 and 1.18, Caves & Cliffs (2021)
• 1.19, The Wild Update (2022)
• 1.20, Trails & Tales (2023)

Sales kept climbing after the acquisition, reaching 147 million copies by May 2019. Alongside the main game, Minecraft: Education Edition launched on November 1, 2016. iPadOS support followed in 2018 and ChromeOS in 2020, and it now runs on Windows, macOS, iPadOS, iOS, ChromeOS and Android.

Minecraft Today: Java 26.3 and What's Next

Java Edition's version numbers no longer follow the 1.x pattern. As of October 2026, the latest release is 26.3, the release of Wilderness Bound, a game drop for Java Edition that shipped on September 15, 2026. For what it changed, see our latest Minecraft update page.

The next drop, 26.4 (labelled "Fourth Drop 2026"), is expected in Q4 2026 and had not shipped when this page was updated. Our Minecraft snapshot roundup follows the snapshots on the way to it.

Records and Cultural Reach

Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time. As of October 2026, Wikipedia puts its sales at over 400 million copies. Its reach also left gaming: A Minecraft Movie, released in 2025, became the second-highest-grossing video game film.

Minecraft Timeline at a Glance