Minecon
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Minecon (alternatively capitalised as MineCon, or MINECON) is an annual interactive livestream and fan convention about the video game Minecraft, hosted by Mojang.<ref name="pcgamer-2012" /> The first gathering in 2010 was known as MinecraftCon. The event then went by the Minecon name from 2011 to 2019. The Minecon 2011 convention was held in Las Vegas and celebrated the launch of the game with Minecraft-related discussion panels and gaming areas. The most recent in-person convention, Minecon 2016, held in Anaheim, had 12,000 attendees. Since 2017, Minecon has taken the form of an interactive livestream and, as such, Minecon 2016 was the last in-person convention to bear the Minecon name. The livestream was called Minecon Earth in 2017 and 2018, and was later renamed to Minecon Live in 2019 and Minecraft Live starting in 2020. Today, people still call them one of those three names.
An attempt at returning to in-person events was prevented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Events by year[edit]
| Year | Event | Dates | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | MinecraftCon | 31 August | Bellevue, Washington |
| 2011 | MINECON | 18 November | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| 2012 | 24–25 November | Disneyland Paris | |
| 2013 | 2–3 November | Orange County Convention Center | |
| 2014 | Cancelled | ||
| 2015 | 4–5 July | ExCeL London | |
| 2016 | 24–25 September | Anaheim Convention Center | |
| 2017 | MINECON Earth | 18 November | Indianapolis Motor Speedway paddock, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| 2018 | 29 September | ||
| 2019 | MINECON Live | 28 September | |
| 2020 | Minecraft Festival | 25–27 September | Postponed to 2021 |
| Minecraft Live | 3 October | Livestreamed | |
| 2021 | Minecraft Festival | 25–27 September | Postponed to 2022 |
| Minecraft Live | 16 October | Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, Florida | |
| 2022 | 15 October | ||
| Minecraft Festival | Cancelled | ||
| 2023 | Minecraft Live | 15 October | Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden |
2010[edit]
MinecraftCon 2010 was a gathering of more than 30 people at Bellevue, Washington, on 31 August. Markus Persson made an appearance at the meet-up when several requests were made for a community meet-up, so he called on the community to pick no specific venue.<ref name="2010-spontaneus" />
2011[edit]
5,000 people attended the first official MineCon convention held in Las Vegas on 18 November.<ref name="MCV-2012-paris" /> The convention focused on celebrating the game's release and hosted Minecraft-related discussion panels, and invited people to play the game with others while at the convention.<ref name="MCV-2012-paris" /> There were keynote speeches from members of the community, building contests, costume contests and exhibits. One of the many events at MINECON was the "Nether Party", an event for those aged 21 and over, featuring Canadian DJ deadmau5. This event also marked the release of Minecraft 1.0 to the public, officially taking the game out of beta as Notch pulled a giant lever. It was also the first time that Minecraft on the Xbox 360 console was first shown and played outside of the development.
2012[edit]
On 2 August 2012, Mojang announced that the 2012 MineCon convention would take place at Disneyland Paris on the 24 and 25 November.<ref name="eurogamer-2012-paris" /><ref name="joystiq-2012-paris" /> The announcement was made over the social networking platform Twitter when the game's creator, Markus Persson, posted a short trailer revealing the new convention location.<ref name="eurogamer-2012-paris" /> The video shows Mojang team members wearing Disney paraphernalia, and Persson comments to lead developer Jens Bergensten, "I think they are trying to tell us something".<ref name="gi.biz-2012" /><ref name="yt-2012-announcement" /> Joystiq's JC Fletcher said that the site was a "step up" from the first MINECON's location in Las Vegas.<ref name="joystiq-2012-paris" /> The second annual convention was the first held outside of the United States, making it available to European fans who might not have been able to attend the first.<ref name="ign-2012-venue" /> It was held in the wake of Minecraft's growing popularity as the Xbox 360 version of the game sold 3 million copies.<ref name="ign-2012-venue" /> 2012 was also the start of several in-game unofficial MINECONs, notably a Virtual MINECON,<ref name="forum-1" /> which although an unofficial event, was attended by a member of the Mojang Team.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> Many in-game MINECONs have announced an intent to return with the start of the next MINECON.<ref name="2013-virtual" />
The convention in 2012 was attended by 4,500 fans.<ref name="pcgamer-2012" /> Mojang made several announcements at the 2012 convention. Details about the 1.5 "Redstone" update were revealed as well as information on the game's modding API.<ref name="MCV-2012-over" />
2013[edit]
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On 7 April 2013, Lydia Winters revealed that MINECON 2013 would be held in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> Jens Bergensten later said that it would be on the east coast.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> On 27 June, it was announced on Mojang's YouTube Channel that MINECON 2013 will be held in Orlando, Florida.<ref name="yt-2013" /> The website for the Orange County Convention Center had listed MineCon as an upcoming event in November, with an attendance of 7,500,<ref name="ocounty-calendar-2013" /> but then removed the event from the web page.<ref name="ocounty-calendar-2013" /> Tickets went on sale in three batches each of 2,500 tickets on 31 July, and the 2 and 3 August. The first batch of 2,500 tickets was sold out in three seconds, according to Mojang COO Vu Bui.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> The event took place on 2 and 3 November.
2014 (cancelled)[edit]
On 30 March 2014, Lydia Winters revealed in a tweet that MINECON 2014 would be held in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> However, on 1 August 2014, Vu Bui created a blog post, stating that there would be no MineCon 2014, but instead the next MineCon would be in Spring 2015 in London.<ref name="mojang-2015" /> The fact that this Minecon was cancelled was later used on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch "legacy console" edition tips as "Nobody remembers where Minecon 2014 was held."Template:Citation needed
2015[edit]
Template:Multiple image On 2 February 2015, Vu Bui announced MINECON 2015 would be held in London, at the ExCeL London Exhibition and Conference Centre on the 4 and 5 July 2015.<ref name="mojang-2015-announcement" /> Ticket prices were announced on 18 March 2015 and were set at £129. During the opening ceremony on the 4th of July 2015, animated by Element Animation Studios,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> it was announced by Guinness World Records that MineCon had won the world record for the most attendance for a convention that is solely for one game, selling 10,000 tickets.<ref name="guiness-2015" /><ref name="ign-2015" />
2016[edit]
On 7 March 2016, Mojang announced in a blog post that MINECON 2016 would be held in Anaheim, California, at the Anaheim Convention Center on the 24 and 25 September 2016.<ref name="mojang-2016" /> They announced new features during that time, such as the Minecraft novel, Minecraft: The Island, and an update coming to the console versions of the game.<ref name="BI-2016" /> promoted in the opening and closing ceremonies a two-part short film from Element Animation, entitled A Minecraft Adventure.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
2017[edit]
On 8 August 2017, Mojang announced that MINECON would be taking the form of an interactive livestream on 18 November 2017, dubbed "MINECON Earth".<ref name="MS-2017-inclusive" /> The host of MINECON Earth is Will Arnett, a Canadian actor. After this announcement came the introduction of 'Official Community Events', which allow events such as Minefaire, Minevention and Multiplay's BlockFest to be considered 'Official Minecraft Conventions'. During MINECON Earth, developers announced the next major update, the "Update Aquatic"; this update was released in July 2018. Vu Bui, COO of Mojang Studios, also announced the winning mob based on a community vote: "The Monster of The Night Skies", later named the "phantom".<ref name="eurogamer-2017-mob" />
2018[edit]
On 10 April 2018, Mojang announced that MINECON Earth would be taking place on 29 September 2018 for 90 minutes on stream.<ref name="onmsft-2018-earth" /><ref name="digitaltrends-2018" /> During the event, Mojang announced Minecraft Dungeons, a dungeon-crawler spin-off of Minecraft, and features of the upcoming "Village & Pillage" update, which was released in April 2019. Viewers voted for one of three in-game biomes to be updated in the next update;<ref name="shack-2018-earth" /> the Taiga biome won the vote.
2019[edit]
On 17 May 2019, MINECON Live 2019 was announced to be held on 28 September that same year, changing the name of the event from "MINECON Earth" to "MINECON Live" to avoid confusion with their new game Minecraft Earth.<ref name="playerone-2019-live" /><ref name="comicbook-2019-live" /> Like the previous year, viewers were able to vote for new features to be added to one of three in-game biomes in a following update;<ref name="eurogamer-2019-biome" /> the Mountains biome won the vote. During the livestream, developers of the game announced the "Nether Update", and "Village & Pillage" update, the latter promoted via a Mojang and Element Animation Studios collaboratory episode of Villager News starring Dan Lloyd.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> An early access release date of Minecraft Earth was also announced to be for October 2019.<ref name="wc-2019-roundup" />
2020[edit]
Minecraft Live 2020 was held on 3 October 2020. It included a mob vote, where users could vote about which Minecraft creature should be added into the next update.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The three options were Iceologer (featured in Minecraft Dungeons), Moobloom (featured in the game Minecraft Earth) and Glow Squid, with the Glow Squid winning.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The livestream also provided details on Minecraft's next big update, "Caves & Cliffs",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a musical "Nether Update Encore" from Element Animation Studios promoting the present version of the game.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
2021[edit]
Minecraft Live 2021 was held on 16 October 2021.<ref name="Live 2021">Template:Cite web</ref> It featured a live mob vote, like previous years, with the options consisting of the Copper Golem, the Glare, and the Allay, the last of which won the vote, as well as another Element Animation Studios musical short film opening the event, describing the features of the previous "The Caves & Cliffs Update Part 1" in song form.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> The show also announced the theme of the next major update, called "The Wild Update", which added a new biome, the mangrove forest, and an underground biome called the Deep Dark, which was originally planned for the, "Caves & Cliffs Update: Part 2".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022[edit]
Minecraft Live 2022 was held on 15 October 2022. It featured an in-game mob vote, unlike previous years, with the options consisting of the Sniffer, the Rascal, and the Tuff Golem, the first of which won the vote.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also announced some basic features for the next update, 1.20, including camels, bamboo wood, and hanging signs. It also announced the basic gameplay for the upcoming game Minecraft Legends and the Season 3 update for Minecraft Dungeons.<ref name=mention>Template:YouTube</ref>
2023[edit]
Minecraft Live 2023 was held on 15 October 2023, which featured another mob vote, featuring the crab, armadillo, and penguin, the second of which won the vote.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Minecraft Festival[edit]
A return to the convention format was announced at Minecon Live 2019, named Minecraft Festival, which would happen in September 2020, after three years of hosting livestreamed-only events.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Minecraft Festival's venue, the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, would have been the same venue for Minecon 2013. More details were revealed at the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but was swiftly postponed a week later to the same dates in 2021,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> then to an undetermined date in 2022,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Live 2021" /> and then cancelled for 2022<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> as the pandemic continued throughout 2021 and 2022. As of 2023 no further updates to the status of this event have been announced and it is presumed permanently cancelled.