Minecraft is still one of the most popular games worldwide. In 2009, the sandbox game was developed by a single person – The raw form was created in just one weekend.
Markus Persson, better known as “Notch”, began developing Minecraft in May 2009. At that time, he was working as a game developer at King.com, as he recounts in an interview (via Youtube). The website is known for browser games, with Candy Crush as their biggest hit. King is now part of Activision Blizzard.
Minecraft started as a side hobby
Persson programmed his own games at home as a hobby. In April 2009, he was working on a game called “RubyDung,” which was inspired by Infiniminer. Many today only know this name because Persson mentions it as his source of inspiration for Minecraft. It’s an open-world game with blocks that allows players to build and dig tunnels (via Minecraft Wiki).
In a single weekend in May 2009, Minecraft was created at Persson’s home – back then called “Java Edition.” Unlike Infiniminer, his game was meant to have RPG elements.
In the video, you see the story of the inventor of Minecraft:
After several tests, the full version of Minecraft was released in 2011
Since then, the creative survival game has gradually gained momentum:
- On May 17, 2009, Persson then released Minecraft in the TIG Source Forum, a platform for indie developers. Persson improved the game based on feedback from the forum.
- Several pre-alpha tests were conducted in 2009 and 2010.
- In December 2010, the beta started.
- On November 18, 2011, the official full version of Minecraft was released from the beta.
Meanwhile, Persson also founded his own video game company Mojang and left his regular job to focus entirely on Minecraft. Since 2009, the game has sold over 238 million copies (via Xbox.com)
Mojang is still responsible for Minecraft today, but has belonged to Microsoft since 2014. 2.5 billion dollars were exchanged in the deal.
Now the game is also available for consoles and as a Pocket Edition for Android and iOS. Minecraft continues to receive regular updates, like the recent “The Wild Update” in mid-2022.
What do you think about the fact that Minecraft was created in its raw form in just one weekend? How long have you been playing the game and what platform do you use for it? Feel free to write us in the comments here on MeinMMO!
If you’re looking for more survival games, you should check out Smalland: Survive the Wilds:
New survival game on Steam looks like ARK, but with insects instead of dinos – Coming this March
