The ever-popular children-friendly building game owes its commercial success and general approval to being an educational tool, too. It was introduced into many schools in Australia, especially in 2020. 

Read these Minecraft Statistics to understand how popular is Minecraft and what made it one of the best selling games of all time.

Fascinating Facts

  • Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time.
  • Minecraft popularity revolves around the fact that it generated more than 1 trillion views on Youtube.
  • Minecraft player stats show there are around 141M active Minecraft users worldwide.
  • The average age of a Minecraft player is 24.
  • In 2020, around 1,700 Aussies teamed up to build a Minecraft version of Australia.
  • In 2020, Minecraft officially hit a new record of 200M sales worldwide.
  • In 2021, Minecraft generated over $160 million in mobile sales.
  • More than 35M students and teachers in 115 have used Minecraft Education Edition.
  • Australia isn’t in the top 5 markets when it comes to the share of Minecraft users.
  • 6 out of the 10 largest Minecraft servers are based in the USA.

General Minecraft Statistics

1. Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time.

(24/7 Wall St.)

Originally released in November 2011 by Mojang, the game has broken all known records in less than 10 years of its launch.  In Australia, Minecraft is the leader of the Apps and Games category among top-selling items.

2. Minecraft popularity revolves around the fact that it generated more than 1 trillion views on Youtube.

(Business Standard, VideoGamesStates)

By the end of 2021, Minecraft reached yet another record by becoming the most viewed video game on this platform. There are over 35,000 active creator channels from around 150 countries, based on Youtube’s official data.

3. Minecraft holds the #12 rank on Twitch, with a recent viewers peak in January 2022.

(TwitchTracker)

These are the most recent Minecraft stats on Twitch from February 2022:

  • The average number of viewers: 42,210
  • The average number of active channels: 2,648
  • The average number of hours watched: 6,859,118
  • The average number of viewers per channel: 15.9

Minecraft Demographics

4. Minecraft player stats show there are around 141M active Minecraft users worldwide.

(Statista, The Verge)

The number of Minecraft users is growing steadily, from 40M in 2016 to 100M more only five years later. Not only that, but there was a 25% increase in new monthly Minecraft users after the pandemic started, and a 40% increase in multiplayer sessions.

5. The average age of a Minecraft player is 24.

(PCGamesN, New Media & Society)

Minecraft actually has a high adult player base, the official data shows. However, when it comes to children, most of them start playing Minecraft between the ages of 5 and 7, one study shows.

(FunTech)

When setting up an account, Minecraft will ask you for your age and, in case you’re younger than 13, certain elements will be locked to you, including in-app purchases.

7. Research conducted by two AU Universities showed that more boys than girls play Minecraft at a younger age.

(New Media & Society)

Boys aged 3-5 and 6-8 play the game significantly more than girls who are the same age. However, this difference has almost disappeared with the 9-12 age group, which is also more likely to use multiplayer mode.

8. 35% of AU students who took part in one study said they’ve successfully used Minecraft for learning.

(QUT Digital Media Research Center)

The majority of them said they regularly play the game, whereas an astonishing 80% have used Minecraft for a mathematics lesson.

9. In 2020, around 1,700 Aussies teamed up to build a Minecraft version of Australia.

(ABC)

One of their biggest challenges was building the Sydney Opera House, which took about 60 hours to complete. The team members were not working as video game designers, architects or construction workers. They were airport engineers, music teachers, students, etc.

Minecraft Market Share

10. In 2020, Minecraft officially hit a new record of 200M sales worldwide.

(The Verge)

Since then, the total sales numbers have surpassed 238M.

11. Minecraft revenue statistics show the game generated over $160 million in mobile sales in 2021.

(Statista)

Compared to the year before, mobile sales of Minecraft grew by 12.68%.

12. 2020 data shows more than 35M students and teachers in 115 countries have used Minecraft Education Edition.

(Tech Xplore)

In 2020, Minecraft made a dozen of activities from the education category available for free, which contributed to the increase of users.  These activities include:

  • visiting the International Space Station
  • a tour of landmarks in the Nation’s Capital
  • learning to code with a robot
  • exploring marine biology
  • 3D fractals

13. Minecraft for Xbox costs around AU$29.95.

(Xbox)

However, playing online multiplayer requires a separate purchase of the Xbox subscription.

Minecraft Servers in Australia

14. Australia isn’t in the top 5 markets when it comes to the share of Minecraft users.

(GPORTAL)

These are the countries where most Minecraft users come from:

  • 21.2% USA
  • 6.2% Brazil
  • 6% Russia
  • 5% Great Britain
  • 4.6% Germany

15. 6 out of 10 largest Minecraft servers are based in the USA.

(Largest.org)

These are the top 10 biggest servers when it comes to the number of Minecraft users:

Conclusion

Minecraft has a respectable reputation of not being just another time-wasting game; quite the contrary, it tackles different brain areas and keeps you stimulated no matter the age. If you add the option of multiplayer, live chat and building your own server to it, and take a look at Minecraft statistics, it’s completely understandable why it’s considered one of the most popular games of all time.