Minecraft. The most important games of the decade

What are we talking about here?

Minecraft is a unique, niche production to which few admit to having it installed. "Let's play" youtubers often say that this game doesn't and won't appear on their channels, while others ridicule it. Such opinions appear among "hardcore" players 11 years after the release, which does not change the fact that Minecraft is an absolute phenomenon of this decade - some compare it to Tetris. Created by one person, this sandbox with simple graphics has won the hearts of gamers around the world in the same way LEGO bricks previously managed to do.

It's true that the game contains survival mechanics and ubiquitous crafting, but these features have been received warmly, having appeared in many sandbox action titles. However, it was the ability to build literally everything out of tiny cubes in a never-ending, procedurally generated world that made Minecraft not boring after numerous nights facing angular zombies. The effect? The title is the best-selling game of all time with more than 200 million copies and 126 million players per month, and subsequent spin-offs coming out to this day.

What do we owe Minecraft?

Minecraft is a cultural phenomenon. We've just had the launch of the latest game based on this brand – Minecraft: Dungeons, and that's just a small part of an entire industry with gadgets, novels, games based on Minecraft or references found in cult series like South Park and The Simpsons. A huge part of Minecraft is YouTube videos and various "Let's plays" According to a study by the University of Pennsylvania, as many as a third of Minecraft players learned about the game through online videos. On the other hand, many of today's internet celebrities have had adventures in their careers or started with Minecraft episodes. In a number of publications, the work of Markus "Notch" Persson is considered one of the most influential games in history.

1. More about Minecraft