Minecraft Hits a Trillion Views on Youtube

By Max Fried

A video game that started as a small sandbox game that turned into a video game full of adventure, creativity, and strategy has revolutionized gaming and social media for the better. Mojang Studios' Minecraft was released on November 18th, 2011, with its 1.0 update. However, the game was first playable on May 17th, 2009.

This game has undergone several changes throughout the years, including new mechanics, blocks, items, and in-game nonplayer characters (NPC) called mobs. This means that the NPC is controlled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and code.

Minecraft is a game where the player (you) is spawned inside a block dimensioned world. The player must mine, gather, and hunt for materials such as food, armor, weapons, and shelter in this world. The blocks in Minecraft do not fall (except for gravel and sand), making the building opportunities endless. Also, there are two other dimensions players can explore. There are achievements that players can complete by performing specific tasks, and they can beat the game by going to the end dimension and defeating the Ender Dragon.

Youtube uploaded the first-ever Minecraft video on October 2nd, 2010, the first step towards a brand new game facing the internet. Across Youtube, there are thousands of Minecraft YouTubers with their content ranging from multiplayer to solo survival let's play. Trend insights lead at youtube, Earnest Pettie, says, "One trillion views doesn't happen without the creative ingenuity of all the creators who have uploaded Minecraft videos over the years." Lots of other types of Minecraft content have been successful as well. This includes animation, music, and role-playing.

Some of the creators that have revolutionized Minecraft throughout the years are Dantdm with his survival let's plays and mod adventures, Stampylonghead, and Dream with his role-playing server and speedruns.

Minecraft hit one trillion views on December 15th, 2021. Youtube responded to this with a video titled "One Trillion Minecraft Views on YouTube and Counting." In this video, there were cameos and creators to celebrate the achievement. Also, Minecraft as a game has been doing well off of Youtube, raking in $415 million in 2020 alone. Mojang Studios' chief storyteller, Lydia Winters, said, "It's kept going up."