Introduction

Minecraft, as we write this book, is the third best-selling video game of all time. It’s sold over 65 million registered copies across many platforms, and continues to grow and expand. It has spawned its own convention (Minecon), and has fans all over the world. But where did it come from?

Minecraft started its alpha testing in 2009, and it was released in full during 2011’s holiday season. It’s been several years since then, and several rounds of improvements have been made to the base game. If you’ve ever wondered about the timeline for this, read on. We’ve catalogued everything that’s come and gone in the last six years. Let’s see where it takes us.