Not many games can remain relevant and popular after 10+ years, but Minecraft is certainly both those things. If you're doubtful, statistics shared by YouTube reveal that Minecraft-related videos have collectively been viewed at least one trillion times. That's 12 zeroes.
This isn't just gameplay videos either. Anything involving Minecraft counts, including animated shorts, music video parodies, and role-play videos. To celebrate the milestone, YouTube put together its own animation featuring key content creators and call-backs to certain videos.
"If each of those one trillion views were just one second long, that would add up to over 30,000 years," reads an article by YouTube. "If each view were a Minecraft block 12 inches square, you could build a stack that reached from the Earth to the sun and back - with about seven million miles to spare. That’s how big one trillion views is."
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YouTube has a surprisingly comprehensive breakdown of the numbers, with an entire timeline of prominent videos and channels that have contributed to the milestone. It could be quite nostalgic for those who have been part of the Minecraft community since its early days.
There are some interesting finds from the data, such as Minecraft's popularity in certain regions. For example, Minecraft animations are overwhelmingly popular in Japan more so than actual gameplay videos. South Korea appears to be the largest contributor to views for role-playing videos, while both Egypt and South Korea love watching videos about survival game mods.
YouTube's findings also suggest that Minecraft videos are only getting more popular. It took eight years to generate 500 billion views, yet only an additional two to double that to one trillion. So, we could potentially see the community reach two trillion views in half the time it took to reach one trillion.
Minecraft: Origins
Essentially the video game equivalent of playing with Lego, Minecraft became a near-instant hit when it was released to the public in 2009, followed by a full release in 2011. Since then, it's been ported to nearly every platform there is, putting Swedish developer Mojang on the map and becoming a key IP for publisher Microsoft.
Unsurprisingly, its popularity led to a few spin-offs, including a point-and-click adventure game from Telltale Games called Minecraft: Story Mode and, more recently, dungeon crawler Minecraft Dungeons. Its characters have even made it into Super Smash Bros., the premier video game crossover.
