Minecraft is the Lego of video games. In times of high-tech toys, Lego manages to sell sets of plastic blocks for hundreds of dollars and is loved by people of all ages. Minecraft has comparable levels of popularity and gives an impression of utter simplicity, just like Lego. However, the game is not that simple, and its monetization system surely isn’t. Let’s find out: how does Minecraft make money?
Minecraft revenue streams
Minecraft is not a free game, although, like many popular games, it doesn’t limit its revenue streams to just direct one-time purchases. A lot of their income comes from DLC (downloadable content) sales, subscriptions, licensing, and merchandising.
The in-game currency is called Minecoins, and it is used to buy cosmetic items in the marketplace — skins, textures, and worlds. Part of these items are produced by Mojang studios, Minecraft’s developer, and include mash-up packs, worlds, and adventures, such as Minecraft x Sonic the Hedgehog adventure, Minecraft x Super Mario Mash-Up, or Simpsons World.
The marketplace also includes items created by players: custom skins, textures, adventure maps, pre-built worlds, minigames, and resource packs. That way, creators can earn money on Minecraft, and the company takes a percentage of these transactions. Mojang motivates people to sell their creations through the Marketplace Partner Program. There are even small studios that specialize in Minecraft content creation.
Another revenue stream of Minecraft is eSubscriptions. Minecraft Realms is a subscription service that allows players to host private servers for multiplayer gameplay. For $7.99/month, ten players can play together.
An original subscription service is Minecraft Education Edition. It is licensed to schools and educational institutions that use the game for teaching purposes. Imagine learning the history of Ancient Egypt while building pyramids in Minecraft. At the same time, teamwork skills and creativity can be trained. Minecraft’s learning potential spans every subject, and the potential is endless—limited only by the imagination of the teachers.
Minecraft Education. Image source: the74million.org
Thanks to its solid and recognizable brand, Minecraft earns the bulk of its income through licensing and merchandising. Minecraft Lego sets are massively popular, but there is a wide variety of themed products, such as a cookbook or Minecraft Creeper Crunch Cereal. The game occupies many unexpected niches: Minecraft: The Movie is currently in production.
Image source: shop.minecraft.net 
Image source: wkkellogg.com
Minecraft has also demonstrated profitability as a freemium model. The Chinese edition of the game is run on separate servers and includes censorship to comply with state regulations. Minecraft China is free to play and makes money solely on in-game purchases, subscriptions, collaborations, and merchandise.
How Many People Play Minecraft?
At any given time, from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 people play Minecraft, according to Activeplayer count. The game’s popularity has risen during the pandemic, but the number of players remains almost the same now. Here is the Minecraft popularity chart.
As of May 2024, Minecraft had generated approximately 4.7 billion cumulative hours watched across live-streaming platforms. In November 2024, people watched Minecraft streams on Twitch for over 37 thousand hours.
What Makes Minecraft So Popular?
Every time a simple pixelated game takes over gamers’ minds in the world of hyperrealistic 3D graphics, people are truly amazed. Minecraft is one of those singular games that became a cultural phenomenon. So, what are the elements that build its popularity?
First of all, there is endless creative freedom. Minecraft is a sandbox open-world game with no specific goals. Players can do what they please, and each one will have a unique experience due to procedurally generated worlds. The creative mode of the game allows people to create absolutely anything.
Image source: pocket-lint.com
However, for those who like more challenging gaming experiences, advanced mechanics exist, including survival challenges and modding. The game can be played in so many ways that it adapts to everyone.
Simple, intuitive mechanics make Minecraft accessible to all ages and gaming skill levels. Low system requirements and affordable prices make it more accessible than many other popular games. The game age limit is 7+, and many people start playing at a very young age.
A strong community keeps players engaged for a long time, as the game’s social elements are developed very well. Minecraft communities on Reddit or Twitch are huge.
The game allows players to earn money if they are willing to sell their creations. Although it doesn’t appeal to every player, it becomes a strong motivation for some, even if they don’t make as much as expected.
How Many Downloads Does Minecraft Have?
Although we don’t have recent data on the total number of downloads across all devices, here are some numbers to get an idea of the scale. On the App Store, the game was downloaded over 50 million times, and Minecraft China was downloaded over 500 million times.
Daily and Monthly Player Counts
On November 28th, 1,357,664 people played Minecraft. With over 188 million monthly active users, Minecraft statistics reveal the sheer scale of the game’s player base.
Player Demographics: Who Plays Minecraft?
54% of Minecraft players identify as male, while 32% identify as female. The majority of Minecraft players (43%) are between the ages of 15 and 21, although many are younger than 15. The data is taken from users at registration, and there is no verification. Here is a chart showing the age and gender distribution of Minecraft players.
Minecraft Sales and Revenue
How Many Copies of Minecraft Have Been Sold?
The exact number of copies sold by 2025 is unknown, but in 2023, Minecraft announced that it had sold over 300 million copies, making it the second best-selling video game in the world. The only one that sold even more copies is Tetris, and since many people consider Tetris to be a series of games rather than a single game, Minecraft could also be the absolute best-seller.
Minecraft’s Total Revenue: How Much Money Has Minecraft Made?
Total revenue data is not disclosed yearly, but here are some numbers that provide insight into how much has Minecraft made in total, giving a glimpse into its financial success.
Here is data on mobile sales. As many games, Minecraft’s sales peaked during the lockdown in 2020 and 2021 and later got back to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang Studios for $2.5 billion, reflecting the immense Minecraft value as a gaming franchise. When discussing how much has Minecraft made, estimates suggest that its revenue over the last 10 years exceeds 3 billion USD, though precise figures are not available. Yet this doesn’t give us a clear idea of the deal’s profitability since we don’t know the expenses.
According to different sources, Minecraft’s net worth is estimated at $4 billion or $10 billion. The acquisition was well worth it.
Want to Develop a Game Like Minecraft?
Like many top games, although the initial game looks simple, all that has grown around it makes it a massive enterprise with hundreds of employees. However, if you want to build a sandbox game from scratch, you can do it with a relatively small team of game designers, developers, artists, QA testers, and project managers.
If you want to hire a studio, look for those providing full-cycle game development services and check their portfolios for interesting projects. At Kevuru, we have extensive expertise working with video games of all sizes, from hypercasual to AAA titles and world multiplayer best-sellers like Fortnite. Contact us, and you will be one step closer to starting to develop your dream game.
Minecraft cost around $250,000 to develop in 2009-2011, but similar sandbox games released later were way more expensive in development. For instance, Valheim was estimated to cost $1-2 million (developed by an indie team), while No Man’s Sky is estimated at $2-5 million.
Summary
Minecraft’s financial success comes from its genius ability to combine simplicity with innovation. Put simply, the revenues flow naturally when you have a great game. Here are the main sources of revenue contributing to Minecraft profit:
- Game sales
- Subscriptions (private multiplayer server hosting and licensing for educational projects)
- Licensing and merchandise
If you want to learn about other popular games’ monetization strategy, be sure to check out our articles on how Candy Crush and Fortnite make money.
