Minecraft

Developer Mojang Publisher Mojang, Microsoft Studios Format Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One Release 2009

Perhaps there’s only so much you can do with a block of dirt. Boot up Minecraft today, nine years on from the open-world survival sandbox’s public release, and little appears to have changed. Giant pixels of terrain – grassy plains, desert, swampland, tundra – stretch out into the distance, containing the occasional boxy tree or chicken. The UI is much the same as it’s always been. You’re still almost completely unguided, your purpose simple: to mine materials and craft new things with which to, well, mine more materials.

Yet over 75 million players still log into Minecraft once a month. Microsoft’s 2014 acquisition of Markus ‘Notch’ Persson’s creation and company has doubtless helped: on its watch, Minecraft has gone from indie sensation to cultural cornerstone. The Education Edition is used in classrooms to teach history, maths, geography and computer science. There’s even the Telltale spin-off, Story Mode, although it only serves to prove that Minecraft’s best adventures remain in-game, and mercifully unscripted, with friends.

An active multiplayer and modding community on PC has been the driving force behind the game’s growth. Servers run custom versions of the game: there is Star Wars roleplay, Pokémon-battling, competitive parkour, and the Hunger Games modes that predate the battle-royale frenzy. It’s a vast, selfsustaining network that has enabled a newly creative and social generation of players – and super-slick online entertainers.

In the hands of its audience, a purposefully basic and malleable sandbox has become something remarkable. Microsoft has taken pains to replicate this community-led appeal on console. It certainly meant well with the Better Together update, which allows players to play together regardless of their platform. What it neglected to mention was that it requires an install of a new version of Minecraft – based on the much-diminished mobile port. As such, carefully wired redstone base game creations are scrambled, and features like large biomes and coordinates missing. It’s hardly the revelation we’d expected, but with work, it could be the key to Minecraft’s console userbase experiencing what makes the PC scene so vibrant.

In any event, Mojang’s steady influx of updates to the base game provide small, constant, welcome changes for everyone. Polar bears, llamas, dualwielding, fresh decorative blocks, strange new enemies and architectural structures provide reasons for a curious 75 million to revisit each month. Then again,

Minecraft players are a naturally curious bunch, and Mojang’s game is still unparalleled in its potential for continuous creation and discovery, even without all the updates. It turns out you can do more with a block of dirt than you might think.