What is Minecraft?
Minecraft is a sandbox video game where players explore blocky 3D worlds, gather resources, build structures and survive. It is the best-selling video game of all time.
Minecraft was created by Swedish developer Markus Persson and released in full by his studio Mojang in 2011. Microsoft bought Mojang in 2014. Each Minecraft world is generated randomly and is almost endless, with forests, mountains, oceans, caves and villages to discover. Everything is made of blocks that players can break and place.
There are several modes. In Survival mode, players collect materials, craft tools, find food and defend themselves from monsters such as zombies, skeletons and creepers at night. In Creative mode, they have unlimited resources and can fly, which lets them build huge structures. Many players also join online servers to play together.
More than a game
Minecraft is used in classrooms through Minecraft Education to teach subjects like math, history and coding. Players have built detailed replicas of real cities and even working computers inside the game. A Minecraft Movie, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, was released in 2025.
Did You Know?
The Ender Dragon, the game's main boss, lives in a dimension called the End. Defeating it rolls the game's credits, but players can keep playing forever.