Minecraft timeline

2009

April

• 29 – Infiniminer is released, a game by Zachtronics Industries whose concept mainly inspired Notch for Minecraft. It was regularly updated and became open-source less than a month later.

Birth of Minecraft

May

• 10 – Development of an abandoned game project of Notch, and Infiniminer as bases for the code.
• 13 – Java : First video of "Cave Game", Block placement, first Mobs (Humans) created
• 14 – Java : "Cave Game" renamed to "Minecraft : Order of the Stone" after a suggestion by RinkuHero from The Independant Games Wiki.
• 16 – Java : Early private testing, among TIGSource members
• 17 – First release of the game named shortened to simply "Minecraft".
• 21 – Accounts can now be registered.
• 24 – An official Minecraft Forum is opened.

June

• 1 – Java : First Multiplayer test, Notch starts his new job at Jalbum.
• 8 – Java : Multiplayer released.
• 14 – Java : Custom Skins released.

August

• 4 – Java : First elements of Survival
• 18 – Java : Introduction of Health

October

• 9 – Passwords can now be changed.
• 20 – Beginning of SURVIVAL TEST

December

• 22 – Hayden Scott-Baron becomes the Minecraft Artist.
• 23 – Minecraft for Java passes to Indev development stage (which requires a €5.00  Premium Account to be accessed), introduction of Torches and dynamic lighting.

2010

January

• 13 – Minecraft passes 100,000 registered users.
• 21 – Minecraft can now be gifted to non-premium players.

February

• 5 – Hayden Scott-Baron leaves Minecraft development.
• 27 – Minecraft for Java passes to Infdev development stage, introduction of infinite maps

June

• 1 – Notch gets back to work 100% on Minecraft after a pause after having left his job at Jalbum
• 17 – Minecraft passes 20,000 sales.
• 18 – Minecart system introduced.
• 25 – Dungeons introduced.
• 30 – Minecraft for Java passes to Alpha development stage price raised from € 5.00 to € 10.00.

July

• 9 – Winter Mode introduced.
• 22 – Java : First Survival Mode Multiplayer.

August

• 4 – First release of Survival Multiplayer
• 31 – Minecraftcon, a spontaneous gathering of over 50 fans after a call by Notch, is held in Bellevue, Washington.

September

• 2 – Notch, JahKob and Carl Manneh return from the trip in the U.S– Daniel "Kappische" Kaplan joins the Mojang team.
• 18 – Minecraft becomes free-to-play for the weekend, due to the login server not working correctly.
• 23 – Minecraft Classic is available again on Minecraft.net.

December

• 16 – Gift system revised : the process now uses Gift Codes.
• 20 –price raised from €10.00 to €15.00

2011

January

• 3 – Tobias Möllstam and Carl Manneh join the Mojang team.
• 12 – Minecraft surpasses 1 million sales.

February

• 21 – Updates are now manually triggered.

March

• 2 – Scrolls, Mojang's second game, is announced on The Word of Notch.
• 4 – "Minecraft - Volume Alpha", the soundtrack of the game is released.

May

• 25 –  Minecraft: Pocket Edition on Mojang's site.

June

• 1 – Minecraft: Pocket Edition is first shown on a Youtube video
• 6 – Microsoft reveal Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition at the E3 conference.

July

• 1 – Minecraft passes 10 million registered users.
• 30 – Minecraft T-shirts are made available on Battlefield Heroes for the 30-31 of July week-end only as a form of "neighborly friendly cross-promotion" between DICE and Mojang.

August

• 5 – Notch receives a 15-page letter from Bethesda Softworks, threatening him with a lawsuit if he doesn't change the name "Scrolls" (which is too close to "The Elder Scrolls", according to Bethesda) for his next game. A little while before this.
• 14 – Marriage of Ez & Notch, an extra copy is offered to all people who purchase Minecraft on the 13th and 14th of August.
• 16 – Minecraft: Pocket Edition  officially released (Xperia PLAY only).

September

• 14 – "Adventure Update" released.

November

• 13 – "Sound Update" released.
• 18 – MineCon 2011 is held at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. Over 4,500 people from 24 countries attend to it. On the same day, Minecraft 1.0.0 for Java edition is officially released, price is now 20.00 €.

December

• 6 – Notch first evokes the possibility of Minecraft-themed LEGO sets as part of the LEGO CUUSOO project.

2012

January

• 18 – As part of the worldwide protest against SOPA, Mojang establishes a blackout on all their sites for the entire day.
• 24 – LEGO announces that the LEGO Minecraft project has passed the 10,000 required votes.

February

• 11 – Alpha 0.2.0 released for Android.
• 15 – LEGO reveals the final design of the first LEGO Minecraft set.
• 17 – Alpha 0.2.0 released for iOS.
• 18 – "Catacomb Snatch", a game developed by Mojang in the span of a weekend as part of a charity project, is released.
• 28 – The 'Bukkit' team officially joins Mojang in order to further develop the Minecraft server software

March

• 12 – The "Elder Scrolls vs. Scrolls" lawsuit has an outcome : Mojang can call their game "Scrolls", but no sequel using this name will be allowed.

May

• 9 – Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition TU1 officially released.

June

• 1 – "Micro World", the first LEGO Minecraft set, is released (coincidentally with Notch's birthday) and available on the LEGO online shop.

July

• 16 –  Skin Pack 1 released. It includes 45 skins inspired by Minecraft, "Halo", "Fable" and "Gears of War" amongst others as well as new skin designs.

August

• 2 – MineCon 2012 is officially announced on a promotional video to be in Disneyland Paris on November 24–25.
• 15 – Notch and Ez divorce.

October

• 24 – Mojang starts the Minecraft Bug Tracker, an online tool that simplifies the communication of found game issues between the players and the developers.

November

• 6 – Minecraft gift cards are available in physical stores in the US. This is the first time Minecraft can be bought without a credit card.
• 24 – MineCon 2012 is held at Disneyland Paris, France.

2013

April

• 1 – Minecraft 2.0 announced as an April Fools joke.
• 5 – Minecraft for Java surpasses 10 million sales.

June

• 10 – Xbox One Edition is announced during Microsoft's press conference at E3.

August

• 6 – MineCon 2013 details were announced.
• 20 – Minecraft was announced for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. The PS4 edition will be released on the same day the PS4 gets released for North America (November 15), and Europe, Australia, and Latin America (November 29).

September

• 2 – Minecraft for Java surpasses 12 million sales.

November

• 2–3 – MineCon 2013 is held at Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida.

December

• 13 – Minecraft for Java surpasses 13 million sales.
• 17 – Console : Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition 1.0 officially released.

2014

February

• 27 – Minecraft Realms is launched in Nordic countries.

April

• 1 – Villagers have taken over Minecraft.
• 1 – Minecraft Realms is launched in Canada.
• 2 – Minecraft: Pocket Edition released for the Amazon Fire TV.
• 24 – Minecraft Realms is launched in the United States.

May

• 6 – Minecraft Realms is launched in more countries in Asia and Europe.
• 9 – Minecraft Realms is launched in the Oceania region.
• 19 – Minecraft Realms is launched globally in all remaining countries

September

• 4 – Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition officially released.
• 5 – Minecraft: Xbox One Edition officially released.
• 15 – Mojang and Minecraft are acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion.

October

• 14 – Minecraft released for PlayStation Vita.

November

• 5 – The founders of Mojang AB – Markus Persson, Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh – leave the company

December

• 10 – PE : Minecraft: Pocket Edition is released for Windows Phone.

18 – Mojang announced that they will collaborate with Telltale Games to create a new Minecraft spin-off

2015

February

• 2 – Minecon 2015 is announced for July 4–5.
• 4 – Java : Mojang releases the ability to change your Minecraft username.

March

• 12 – Minecraft: Console Edition wins a BAFTA Games Award in the family category.
• 28 – Minecraft wins a Kids' Choice Award for "Most Addicting Game".

May

• 30–31 – Mojang gives away 12,000 2-week Realms trials.

June

• 30 – Minecraft for Java surpasses 20 million sales game called Minecraft: Story Mode.

July.

• 1 – Minecraft wins the first ever BAFTA Young Game Designers Hero Award.
• 4–5 – MineCon 2015 takes place in London.
• 4 – MineCon receives the Guinness World Record for Largest Convention for a Single Video Game.
• 21 – Mojang announces Rob McElhenney as the director for the upcoming Minecraft movie.

August

• 21–23 – Mojang gives away 36,000 2-week Realms trials.
• 26 – Telltale Games announces that Minecraft: Story Mode will be released for the Wii U this fall, making it the first ever Minecraft-themed game to be released on a Nintendo platform.

September

• 3 – Minecraft is nominated for a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Family Game category.

October

• 22 – Minecraft is nominated for a BAFTA Children's Award in the Game category.

December

• 7 – Minecraft announced for the Wii U.
• 14 – Realms price reduced to $10.
• 17 – Console : Minecraft: Wii U Edition officially released.

2016

January

• 19 – Minecraft: Education Edition announced.

February

• 2 – Minecraft: Story Mode is nominated a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Video Game. 

April

• 21 – Minecraft: Story Mode is nominated a Google Play Award in the Early Adopter category.

May

• 2 – The Minecraft website received a major design overhaul.
• 20 – Mojang announced a partnership with NetEas  to bring both the Pocket Edition and the Java Edition of Minecraft to China.
• 24 – Price raised from 19.95 € to 23 €.

June

• 2 – Minecraft is sold for all platforms 100 million times and makes the second best selling games.
• 27 – Mojang announces Minecraft: The Movie, the release date for the movie is May 24, 2019 and in 3D and in IMAX.

September

• 24–25 – Minecon 2016 takes place in Anaheim, California.
• 24 – Mojang announces Minecraft: The Island as the first official Minecraft novel.

October

• 27 – Apple CEO Tim Cook announced an edition of Minecraft for the Apple TV, featuring cross-play between that platform and iOS devices, to be released by the end of year 2016.

November

• 1 – Minecraft: Education Edition officially launched.

2017

January

• 13 – Minecraft announced for the Nintendo Switch.
• 18 – Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Windows Phone is no longer supported. There will no longer be any updates.

February

• 2 – Minecraft: Story Mode is nominated a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Video Game, for the second year in a row.

April

• 7 – Closed beta for Chinese version of Minecraft announced in Beijing.

May

• 11 – Console : Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition officially released.

August

• 8 – PC : Open beta for Chinese version of Minecraft was released.
• 8 – Mojang announced MineCon Earth, an interactive live show that can be accessed by anyone for free, and "Official Community Events", smaller Minecon-like events that take place in various regions.

November

• 18 - MineCon Earth event.

December

• ? - Minecraft hits 74 million active players and 144 million total sales.