Microsoft has revealed its latest numbers for Minecraft, and, astonishingly, it’s acquired another 20 million monthly players since previous figures were released just under a year ago.
Last October, official numbers revealed that Minecraft had accumulated 91 million monthly active users, which in itself was a massively leap from December 2017, when the game set a new record with over 74 million players logging in for their fix of cube-based adventure. And Minecraft’s popularity shows no signs of abating, with head of Minecraft Helen Chiang telling Business Insider in a new interview that the game has now amassed 112 million monthly players.
That, of course, accounts for players across all platforms (of which there are many), alongside those playing through Xbox Game Pass – but, even so, it’s another impressive, and slightly head-spinning, number. Furthermore, it sees Minecraft once again stealing the lead over free-to-play rival Roblox, which announced 100 million monthly active users back in August.
Taken alongside developer Mojang’s announcement in July that Minecraft has now sold over 176 million copies (potentially making it the best-selling video game of all time), it’s clear that Minecraft, despite recently celebrating its tenth birthday, continues from strength to strength.
And with such a healthy player base, it’s no surprise that Microsoft is still leaning heavily on the IP which it famously paid $2.5 billion USD for back in 2014. Alongside continuing support of the core game, including the rather swish-looking raytracing update, Microsoft currently has free-to-play, Pokémon-Go-style mobile offering Minecraft Earth in beta for iOS and Android, and is working on the promising Minecraft Dungeons for next year.
Around a decade after its original release, Minecraft continues to grow and reach astonishing new player records. According to Business Insider, the game reached a new monthly player milestone.
As of this week, the open-ended sandbox game has more than 112 million monthly players. This is up substantially from the 91 million monthly players that Microsoft announced in October 2018. The numbers count players on all platforms: console, PC, mobile, and others.
Minecraft still receives regular updates, while the game was added to Xbox Game Pass in April 2019; this no doubt helped expand the footprint of the popular game even further.
Minecraft boss Helen Chiang told Business Insider that Minecraft is a game that people enjoy coming back to again and again. “It may not always be the one that’s in the forefront, because there are a lot of great games that continue to come out, but it’s one that they love to return to,” Chiang said.
Microsoft acquired the Minecraft franchise and developer Mojang in 2014 for $2.5 billion. Series creator Markus “Notch” Persson is no longer involved with the franchise. He spent $70 million on a Beverly Hills mansion, outbidding Beyonce and Jay-Z for the home.
Looking ahead, a Minecraft movie is on the way. Writer Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures, Frozen 2) was hired to pen the latest draft of the screenplay The Minecraft movie is scheduled for release in theatres on March 4, 2022. There is no word yet on if it will be animation or live action, or a hybrid, nor do we know who may star in it. At one point, Steve Carell was apparently connected to the project, though it’s unclear if that’s still the case.
The next new Minecraft game is the AR title Minecraft Earth, which is scheduled to release later this year.
The latest entry in the category I’ll call ‘There Should Really An Annual Awards Show For This Kind Of Accomplishment’ is this Minecraft player who beat the game without ever walking. No walking! At all. With the exception of standing or hopping straight up, this player never used his legs.
Technically, you don’t really beat Minecraft because it’s an endless game, but you can “beat” it by visiting The End and defeating the Ender Dragon. And that’s what YouTuber TheHeightAdvantage did, amazingly, without ever taking a single step. You can watch a fascinating and well-edited video of his accomplishment below:
So, how do you beat Minecraft without actually walking? With a lot of patience and creativity. He created a Minecraft world and then immediately unbound the walking keys. Standing in place, he began doing the usual Minecraft things: chopping trees, collecting resources, and crafting items. He just did it all without walking around.
Of course, you do need to actually move in Minecraft, so TheHeightAdvantage crafted a boat. The boat is on land, one block away, but mounting the boat moves him over to it. Collect the boat, place it one block away, and mount it again: it’s slow, but it does get you around.
Eventually he finds a water source, and can start scooping it up and dumping it with a bucket to use the boat like an actual boat. More boats are later used to created long, mountable pathways over land. And then, after much boat-mounting, he saddles a pig named “Little Timmy” and rides him around.
In a message on Reddit, TheHeightAdvange tells me it took him around 30 hours to complete the no-walking playthrough, but he eventually rode Little Timmy into The End (leading him with a carrot on a stick) and defeated the Ender Dragon. The brave pig, sadly, didn’t survive.
I asked how he came up with the idea for such a challenging run. “I originally thought of the idea when I found a seed where you spawn in a mineshaft right next to a mine cart and wanted to do an entire playthrough without leaving the mine cart,” he said. “I had a few failed attempts and then came up with the boat idea to make things easier on myself, plus it would then be possible on any seed.”
At the end of the video, the stats are shown, which do show some distance traveled by normal movement—though he explains that colliding with mobs or entities that bump you around is registered by the stats page as walking. But as far as true leg locomotion goes, the player never took a step. As for Little Timmy, he carried his master over 45km. That’ll do, pig.
There’s this game called Minecraft and it’s really popular. According to Minecraft studio head Helen Chiang, over 112 million people play it per month. That’s a third of the population of the United States, and the Australian population is a sixth of that figure. If you had 112 million donuts, and divided them up between 10,000 ibises, each ibis would have 112,000 donuts each. That’s too many donuts by anyone’s measure.
Chiang revealed the figure in an interview with Business Insider, adding that the game has grown and endured for over ten years because it’s something people will always return to, even if they put it down for a few weeks to play something else. It doesn’t hurt that Minecraft is now available on virtually every device with a screen, and that Mojang keeps updating the game with stuff like bees and harmony and hope.
Better still, the game is advancing with the times: it’s getting ray tracing support soon, and if you’re the type to turn their nose up at Minecraft’s graphics you may be surprised by how good it looks. That said, not every leap forward comes to fruition: the game’s Super Duper Graphics Pack was canceled recently for being “too technically demanding”.
Bees have found their way into Minecraft. These adorable creatures are beneficial for helping plants grow faster, and they’re a social animal who communicate with others of their species. You can breed these creatures, and learn about their behaviors and where to find them in these handy guides. But how do you harvest their honey? We’re going to discuss that feature right here, detailing how to collect honey and honeycombs from a bee nest.
Collecting Honey and Honeycombs From a Bee Nest in Minecraft
Collecting Honey by Hand
You can harvest honey from a bee’s nest by walking up to it with an empty bottle and picking it out, using the item. The empty bottle is going to fill up with the honey for you to take away, consume, or use how you want. However, there’s a catch: the bees are going to become immediately hostile to you when you steal their honey. You’re going to need to run away, and if they sting you, they’re going to die shortly afterward because honey bees do not live long without their stinger inside them.
To prevent the bees from dying and attacking you, place a campfire underneath the nest. Doing so turns the bees passive, preventing them from attacking you, and you get to ensure they can collect more honey for you in the future.
Collecting Honeycombs
Unfortunately, you can’t locate a bee nest in Minecraft and expect to grab honeycombs as quickly as you would the honey. When you collect honeycombs from a bee nest, you’re going to destroy the home. But, you’re going to need those honeycombs to make a beehive for yourself. You’re going to need a particular tool to collect the delicious reward inside a bee’s home.
You need to make a tool that has the silk touch enchantment on it. Doing so prevents the materials of the bee nest from getting destroyed, allowing you to take the honeycombs. You can then use them in other recipes, or make a series of beehives to give the bees a new home in your backyard or near your garden.
