Why is Minecraft Back on the Rise?

Like, ninety percent of everyone reading this probably played Minecraft at least once in their life, right? Back in fourth and fifth grade, the playing of the game was as ubiquitous as people jokingly singing Gangnam Style. Of course, I'm speaking from personal experience, but it goes without saying that from the years of around 2011 to 2015ish (this is a fat guesstimate) Minecraft was easily the top dog in terms of player counts. During that time it was pretty much the face of entertainment, especially on youtube where channels would reach into the tens of millions of subscribers. However, after 2014, the playerbase started to drop. Even though it has since always had millions of players at any given moment, no one has thought about it as the cultural icon it once was, but rather as a passing fad. However, now it seems to be changing again. While it will never be omnipresent as it once was, Minecraft for once is being thought of a by many across the internet again, so why?



Many blame Minecraft's fading as a result of Microsoft's failure to update the game in over a year, because of pedophilia scandals, etc., but that doesn't matter. All we know for sure is that the game has been on a downward spiral in terms of player count for years, and just last year seemed to have some life injected into it. I was randomly recommended Minecraft videos on YouTube and the friends I play online with all started talking about it again. It was weird, but I started seeing in a lot of places again after I hadn't touched the game or heard much about it since I played with my middle school friends the summer before freshman year. After watching some videos of PVP and building videos just to pass the time after track practice while the shower warmed up, nostalgia swept through my brain and the next weekend I was hooked again. This emotion is probably the reason around 80-90 million got back online. Another reason has to do with what reminded them of this nostalgia, YouTube. In all honesty, what allowed Minecraft to resurface is that some random youtuber decided to play it in a livestream and a bunch of others followed, and now their subscribers/followers are playing, and then their friends play, etc. One could say that these youtubers were also playing on people's nostalgia to get views. Many probably wanted to escape back to their childhood obsession one more time because it was acceptable again to play the game unironically again, since now their friends and popular internet personalities are playing it again for the sake of enjoyment. It's the needs for affiliation and escapism that allowed Minecraft to resurface, but also the fact that Microsoft finally has a frequent update schedule again. I remember seeing a good chunk of my friends leave the game during the year-long update hiatus between versions 1.8 and 1.9. I think that, now that Microsoft released 1.14 long enough after 1.13 so as to allow the previous update to ferment in the minds of those who played it, interest went up again because people realized that there is still care being put into this game. The promise of new content so as to prevent boredom and the needs for affilitation, escapism, and security that allowed for Minecraft to resurface.

Comments

  1. Owen JacksonJune 11, 2019 at 6:16 PM

    After reading this, I can agree to everything you have said. In third grade I got my account made and started playing nonstop with my friends and family. As time went on, I kept on playing and playing until I was in Eighth grade. Back then, streaming was no where close to how big it is today. Because of these streamers playing the old, loved game, it doesn't necessarily attract the new generation, but brings in the past miners who have somewhat forgotten about the game. It is like the Nintendo Switch bringing in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Everyone in high school most likely has a memory playing that game, or just a memory involved with it. Since these marketers know about these things, it makes us perfect targets for the return of the older games and I can guarantee that Fortnite will gain more recognition in ten years.

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