Who Plays ‘Minecraft’ Today? 6 Stats You Need To See

Minecraft has been around for over a decade, and it’s always interesting to see how the player base has changed over the years. Older players will say that Minecraft really is a game for everyone and that there’s no age or gender imbalance within the community and player base but are that just their misconception based on what they want to believe and encouraged by their love of the game or is it really true?

It’s also no secret that Minecraft is as popular as ever, with over 170 million people playing the game at least once a month. Compared to six years ago, that’s a big spike in player counts, so will the demographics change, or are they practically the same? Let’s see who plays Minecraft today and the stats you have to see.

The problem

What could be the problem in counting player stats regarding Minecraft? Mojang and Microsoft collect user data but keep it very well hidden. Every statistic you see online is based on individual perceptions or data gathered on small statistical samples. Not enough to make conclusions about the entirety of the Minecraft player base

Mojang might be so secretive about revealing its user data because most of its player base are children, Mojang even fine-tuned its chat settings to protect children, and there are even parental control settings so you can protect your kid from online dangers. It’s a great thing that Mojang is doing it, but it does make it hard to learn about the statistics we so desperately want to see.

The solution

On the other hand, web pages keep user data public, and since Minecraft has its own website, we can use the data to get a greater statistical sample and make conclusions about the player base. It’ll be a much more precise analysis since you wouldn’t be visiting the Minecraft.net website if you weren’t already a player or are planning on becoming one.

A quick note is that no statistical data will ever be 100% factual. That would happen only if Minecraft gathered its player base, gender, age, nationality, and other demographic data. Still, this way, we can get an idea of how close the real data is since the audience sample we’ll be using in revealing this data is 20 million.

A note before revealing the stats

Don’t take these stats to heart and as a be-all-end-all fact. These are just assumptions that I’ll try to back up with statistical data gathered from other sources. It’s the only way to get to the truth of the Minecraft player base today since most of the data is pretty old and irrelevant by today’s standards.

Minecraft player age

It’s obvious that Minecraft appeals to people of all ages, but in which age range is Minecraft played the most? Let’s look at the stats. Note that these are just Minecraft.net website visits.

It’s obvious that most Minecraft players ages 18 to 24, but the problem is that there’s no data to show the percentage of players under 18. Still, the average Minecraft player is 24 years old, so it makes sense that most players would be in the 18-24 age range.

What’s also obvious from looking at the table is that Minecraft truly is an inclusive game that attracts both children and adults well into their 50s. A quick note to add is that Minecraft is a game targeted at children aged ten and up, but many of its players are younger than that.

The youngest children who play Minecraft are only three years old. Around 53% of children in the age range of 6-8 play Minecraft, and in the age range of 9-12, there are 68% active Minecraft players. Taking into account these statistics alone and within the age range of 6 to 12, 50% of players report playing more than once every week.

Parent demographics

We all know that Minecraft is best played with friends and family. It’s truly an educational game that sparks creativity and increases problem-solving skills. Many parents will turn to playing games with their children to connect with them on another level but do parents do that in terms of Minecraft?

Only 11% of parents play Minecraft with their kids, even though 80% of children play with their friends, siblings, and other family members, and 50% of those prefer playing this way instead of playing alone. This might be because Minecraft is a game where you’re excited to share your achievements with others. It can get boring if there’s no one to share it with.

Minecraft player gender

Let’s go back to the site data within the age range of 18 to 65+. Of the users that visited Minecraft in November of 2022, only 23.30% are female, whereas 76.70% are male. It turns out that Minecraft, a game that teaches people about tech, falls victim to the gender gap as well.

What about the actual players and not just the site visitors? The data isn’t any different. Only 32% of girls aged 3-12 play Minecraft whereas 54% of boys within the same age range play it. In the age bracket 6 to 8, only 29% of Minecraft players are girls, as opposed to 68% of boys.

Alas, we come to the true face of the average Minecraft player. The data shows that apart from being 24, the average Minecraft player is also male. The reason why the average player is 24 is obvious from the table and user data among children. If we took the average of ages 3 to 65, we’d get 31, and if we count in the fact that most players are younger and the higher we go in age, the numbers deplete, it makes sense why that number would go down to 24.

Minecraft and YouTube

Minecraft and YouTube share a special connection, proven by the fact that Minecraft-related content exceeded 1 trillion views in 2021. Thirty-five thousand active channels post Minecraft content regularly. Almost one-third of boys watch Minecraft-related content on YouTube, whereas only 9% of girls do the same. It seems that the gender gap is even more prominent when it comes to YouTube.

Leaving aside the data and looking at it from a personal perspective, most successful Minecraft YouTubers are male. In contrast, girls must fight through the YouTube algorithm to share even a sprinkle of success with their male colleagues.

Minecraft players by country

It seems that most Minecraft players come from North America or Europe, proven by the server numbers by country. The US has 3748 servers, the UK follows with 2137, Germany has 1180, Russia has 627, France has 459, Ukraine has 382, Canada has 343, Italy has 213, and so on.

If we look at the Minecraft.net website, the top five countries visiting the website are the US with 28.69% of visitors originating from there, up next is Germany with 4.16%, Brazil with 4.03%, France with 3.97%, and finally China with 3.66%.

Without looking at the server count or website visits by country, The US still leads in daily usage with 21.21% of players, then follows Brazil with 6.17%, Russia, the United Kingdom, and lastly, Germany.

Changes in demographics over the years

Have the demographics changed over the years, and just by how much? 10 years ago, Minecraft forums polled the percentage of players within certain age ranges. We can’t talk about the changes in data from a player perspective since we took into account visitors of the Minecraft.net website, but the pole does give us a wider age range to work with and analyze.

The poll made percentages based on 714 votes, a pretty small statistical sample but enough for us to compare data.

Back then, most players were in the age range of 15-21, so the players grew older. It makes sense that this is the case since many Minecraft players that were there from the start still play the game to this day which would mean that the under-15 players migrated into older categories, and so on.

The user who shared the data with us also stated that it’s an educated guess how the majority of those demographics were male back then. The gender gap was always prominent in Minecraft and hasn’t changed. It would be great if we could check the percentage of female players back then to compare the two, but unfortunately, the data isn’t available.

Fun Minecraft data to ponder over

Minecraft was officially released in 2011 but made its first appearance in the world in 2009. It was made by Markus Peerson, also known as Notch, and it only took six days to make the first version. The players got hooked, and development continued. Back then, you could buy Minecraft for only 13 USD, and even though the price doubled, it’s still one of the cheapest games.

In April of 2021, Minecraft officially sold 238 million game copies worldwide. This includes all of the game’s spin-offs, mobile versions, and console versions. Fans seem to enjoy the mobile version the most since almost half of those sales are reserved for the mobile version.

Even though Minecraft is cheap, it does not mean that Mojang doesn’t earn good money annually. 2018 was their peak revenue year with 500 million USD, whereas 2020 followed with 415 million USD in revenue. Minecraft is a giant, and it seems like no one can stop its success and growth. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!