Minecraft Popular Again Because of Pewdiepie

2019 has had a few constants on the internet so far: "One-time Town Road," Keanu Reeves, Area 51, a general sense of unease nearly our impending ecological disaster. Surprisingly, a 10-yr-old video game has as well joined the mix — Minecraft, the iconic block builder.

Minecraft, it should be noted, has quietly been dominating video games this entire time: By Mojang's count back in 2018, over 91 one thousand thousand unique players log in every calendar month across all platforms. (Fortnite, the hottest visible game of 2018, had 78 million unique players during an all-time high.) But things are changing in 2019. Minecraft's dominance is no longer out of sight from the mainstream. For one matter, it is picking support on Google searches:

Google

But, perhaps most notably, seemingly every big YouTube star is championing the game correct now. What's causing the uptick?

The first and about obvious reason is that Minecraft is a prophylactic bet on platforms like YouTube. Correct now, many top creators feel that monetization on the platform is volatile, simply Minecraft seems to be an advertiser favorite. It makes sense, too: Minecraft isn't trigger-happy, and information technology's not controversial. Kids beloved it. Of course influencers are embracing Minecraft again. Simply the increased interest tin also be traced back to specific creators and irresolute attitudes equally well.

For over a year, YouTube creator Grandayy — who is known for his Minecraft memes — kept suggesting the idea of a "Minecraft Monday" to Keemstar, a YouTube gossip reporter who has increasingly been holding more than video game competitions over the final year. Later begging for Keemstar to host it, the YouTube personality finally gave in. Like his Friday Fortnite tournament, Keemstar opted to bring in big names who could attract huge viewerships, such as Fortnite superstar Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. Blevins alone brought in nearly one million viewers on Twitch for that kickoff week. So, on calendar week 2, at that place was another megaton: Keemstar had convinced YouTube king Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg to participate in the event alongside beauty guru James Charles. Suddenly, nearly every big proper noun on YouTube and Twitch was playing Mojang'southward sandbox game. Minecraft became a spectacle once again. According to Keemstar, millions of people tune in to his prove every week.

Kjellberg lone has been driving huge interest to Minecraft. The Swedish YouTuber started a Minecraft play-through in June, and installments in the series are getting enormous views. (The first in the serial, for instance, has 21 million views.) A YouTube representative reinforced Kjellberg'south influence on Minecraft's resurgence to Polygon, citing him as a specific example of "new video formats and trends effectually the game." Game developers have noted in the by that Kjellberg has a powerful upshot on the visibility of whatever given game, sometimes improving the sales of a title by orders of magnitude.

But part of what made people turn out for Kjellberg's playthrough was that the YouTuber has continually joked nigh refusing to play Minecraft. Part of Kjellberg's protest against the game was seeing that high-profile YouTubers were heralding the game dorsum in its heyday despite not actually enjoying it. To wit, Adam "SkyDoesMinecraft" Dahlberg made headlines in 2017 after announcing that he was giving up the game because standing to make content nearly it felt "imitation." (He has since gone back to making Minecraft videos in 2019.) And so, for longtime PewDiePie viewers, watching the blond YouTuber go back on his word and actually bask a game he used to denounce has delighted fans.

Part of why he's finally diving into Minecraft in 2019 is that he feels that he is flexible plenty to non accept the game define his channel. He's playing it for now, because he wants to — not because it'due south a tendency, or because it'due south easily monetizeable.

"If Minecraft gets boring, I can just move on to other things," Kjellberg said in the video where he explains why he's playing the game correct at present.

The combination of being an advertiser-friendly game, Kjellberg's buying of the game, and Minecraft Monday has sent visible shockwaves throughout YouTube. Seemingly everyone, from Jacksepticeye to Lazarbeam accept been broadcasting the game on the video platform. It'south become a running joke, even, that Fortnite channels are pivoting to Minecraft equally interest in the battle royale genre seems to be decreasing on social media.

PewDiePie via YouTube

And, to Minecraft'south credit, the game has managed to maintain involvement through updates and increased ways engage with its world. Augmented-reality game Minecraft Earth, which is currently in beta, seems to be the only thing capable of putting upward a fight confronting Pokémon Get. Minecraft Dungeons, as well announced this year, will bring a Diablo-similar feel to a younger audience.

Co-ordinate to the people spearheading this new moving ridge, it actually helps that Minecraft is an old game. The people who grew up on Minecraft and left it behind equally they got older are starting to miss it, influencers say.

"9 years afterward those children are older teens or adults and nostalgia has set up in," Keemstar told Polygon. "Over the final ii years, Minecraft has been added to meme culture, making it also cool again."

Grandayy, who has made a name for himself making elaborate Minecraft jokes on social media, agrees with this assessment. He thinks people are pining for the game based on nostalgia cistron, and then are surprised to observe that the feel tin still feel fresh in 2019.

"To anyone who hasn't played [Minecraft] since 2013, the game today near feels similar a totally dissimilar game ... I think Minecraft is one of the few games that never truly gets old, at least non permanently. Since information technology'due south a sandbox and y'all tin do pretty much annihilation yous desire in it, it's more than merely a game, it's almost like a digital toy or digital platform."

Information technology's non just that the game has new stuff. Creators on social media go on to reference the game, which helps the game feel relevant even in 2019. I don't fifty-fifty play Minecraft, but I yet enjoy watching Grandayy'due south baroque videos, such as the 1 where he parodies Belle Delphine past advertising "Craven Farm Water" in Minecraft.

"I pretty much never stopped making Minecraft memes and Minecraft note block music," Grandayy told Polygon. Some would fifty-fifty credit Grandayy for helping convince Kjellberg to pick up the game, though Grandayy himself says many people were pushing for this to happen. Whatever the case, the ripples are everywhere. Simply this calendar month, a 2011 remix of an Usher song created by YouTuber CaptainSparklez started trending again on sites similar Genius. As of this writing, the video has 184 1000000 lifetime views.

"Generations in the past collected baseball game cards, toy cars or Barbies every bit adults because of nostalgia," Keemstar told Polygon. "In this solar day of age we volition meet video games of the past resurrected due to the same thing. Minecraft will be hot for the next ii years before nosotros see it decline once again."

parrishowayll.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/1/20727946/minecraft-youtube-popularity-memes-pewdiepie-grandayy-keemstar-minecraft-monday

Share this post