How Minecraft is Popular Again

By Finnegan, Grade 6

So Minecraft is popular again. “How?” you may be asking. Well I’m here to fill you in. Here’s how Minecraft is popular again.

So let’s rewind to late 2018 or early 2019, CallMeCarson and his friends like Jschlatt and more, started a survival multiplayer server called SMP Live. But this wasn’t a regular SMP (Also known as Survival Multiplayer). This was an SMP with streamers only and the streamers have to be live on Twitch (A gaming streaming platform). But that’s not the end of it. If you paid the streamer a certain amount, they would have to kill another streamer that’s online of the donor's choice. So it was fun to watch and interact with a streamer around other streamers trying to kill other streamers. But this SMP wasn’t the only thing that helped with the spike of popularity.

At the peak of SMP Live in March, Minecraft was at peak popularity since around 2014 and some YouTubers where playing Minecraft again while those who stuck with the game are finally getting recognized. Then, watching from the shadows, a familiar face emerged, the #1 independent YouTuber, Pewdiepie, who uploaded his return in June. Then, Minecraft’s popularity went through the roof, with his fans starting to play the game for the first time or veterans who stuck with the game or are coming back after a few years, just like Felix. But that was just the filling on the Minecraft popularity cake.

The same month as Felix’s return, Keemstar, a host of an online show called #DramaAlert, started a Minecraft Minigames event called Minecraft Monday with big YouTubers like CaptainSparklez, a big Minecraft YouTuber and Grandayy, a popular memer. So Week 1 started with just Hunger Games, a game where you spread out, look for loot, and try to be the last man/team standing. So the practice round started and a relatively unpopular YouTuber destroying everyone and came close to winning, and this YouTuber was Technoblade, a MInecraft YouTuber with around 500,000 subscribers. So the next round started and Technoblade destroyed again, then again, and again, eventually winning the event, also killing big YouTubers like Ninja and MrBeast.His teammate was a Fortnite YouTuber called ShotGunRaids. And the prize? A cool, $15,000. The next week, he won again with YouTuber iBallisticSquid, destroying YouTubers like Pewdiepie and James Charles, a beauty guru. The next week, the event had other minigames like Spleef, where you try to knock other people into a pit of lava by breaking the floor. While teamed with Chris from MrBeast, he lost the first time ever to Cscoop and Traves, a pair of original SMP Live members. The next weeks went by in a blur, with Technoblade winning weeks 6 and 10, winning with Jschlatt in week 6 and Philza, a Minecraft Hardcore YouTuber, in week 10. Another winning YouTuber is Skeppy, another Minecraft YouTuber, and teamed with his friend BadBoyHalo. Together they won three times. Another pair is Xqc and M0xy, professional Esports players who won the event twice in a row in weeks 12 and 13. Currently, it’s week 14 but it was canceled due to a streamer convention called TwitchCon.

That’s the story of Minecraft’s comeback, from being overshadowed by Fortnite to overshadowing Fortnite. There’s still story yet to come in this Swedish game’s comeback. So I guess we’ll swing our pickaxe in anticipation, waiting for more of the story.