Minecon is an annual interactive live stream and previous fan convention about the video game Minecraft, hosted by Mojang. The first gathering in 2010 was known as MinecraftCon. 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 convention, held in Anaheim, had 12,000 attendees. Since 2017, MINECON has taken the form of an interactive live stream, and as such MINECON 2016 was the last full MineCon convention currently. However, similar conventions, now to be known as Minecraft Festival, will be held in the future as announced in MINECON Live 2019.
Events by year
2010
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. This was not technically a convention, but some count it as the first Minecraft convention.
2011
5,000 people attended the first official MineCon convention held in Las Vegas on 18 November 2011. 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. 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 deadmau5. This event also marked the release of Minecraft 1.0 to the public, officially taking the game out of beta.
2012
On 2 August 2012, Mojang announced that the 2012 MineCon convention would take place in the ParisDisneyland Park on 24 and 25 November. The announcement was made over the social networking platformTwitter when the game's creator, Markus Persson, posted a short trailer revealing the new convention location. 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". Joystiq's JC Fletcher said that the site was a "step up" from the first MINECON's location in Las Vegas. 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. It was held in the wake of Minecraft's growing popularity as the Xbox 360 version of the game sold 3 million copies. 2012 was also the start of several in-game unofficial MINECONs, notably a Virtual MINECON, which although an unofficial event, was attended by a member of the Mojang Team. Many in-game MINECONs have announced an intent to return with the start of the next MINECON. The convention in 2012 was attended by 4,500 fans. 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.
2013
In April 2013, Lydia Winters revealed that MINECON 2013 would be held in the United States. Jens Bergensten later said that it would be on the east coast. On 27 June, it was announced on Mojang's YouTube Channel that MINECON 2013 will be held in Orlando, Florida. The website for the Orange County Convention Center had listed MineCon as an upcoming event in November, with an attendance of 7,500, but then removed the event from the web page. Tickets went on sale in three batches each of 2,500 tickets on 31 July 2 August, and 3 August. The first batch of 2,500 tickets was sold out in three seconds, according to Mojang COO Vu Bui. The event took place on 2 and 3 November.
2014 (cancelled)
On 30 March 2014, Lydia Winters revealed in a tweet that MINECON 2014 would be held in Europe. However, on 21 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.
2015
On 2 February 2015, Vu Bui announced MINECON 2015 would be held in London, at the ExCeL London Exhibition and Conference Centre on 4 and 5 July 2015. Ticket prices were announced on 18 March 2015 and were set at £129. During the opening ceremony on 4 July 2015 it was announced by Guinness World Records that MineCon won the world record for the most attendance for a convention that is solely for one game, selling 10,000 tickets.
2016
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 24 and 25 September 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.
2017
On 8 August 2017, Mojang announced that MINECON would be taking the form of an interactive livestream on 18 November 2017, dubbed "MINECON Earth". 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, also announced the winning mob based on a community vote: "The Monster of The Night Skies", later named the "phantom".
2018
On 10 April 2018, Mojang announced that MINECON Earth would be taking place on 29 September 2018 for 90 minutes on stream. During the event, Mojang announced , 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; the Taiga biome won the vote.
2019
On 17 May 2019, MINECON Live 2019 was announced to be held on 28 September of that year, changing the name of the event from "MINECON Earth" to "MINECON Live" to avoid confusion with their new game Minecraft Earth. 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; the Mountains biome won the vote. During the livestream, developers of the game announced the "Nether Update". An early accessrelease date of Minecraft Earth was also announced to be for October 2019.
2020
On 28 September 2019, Mojang announced Minecraft Festival, an in-person event that was to be held in Orlando, Florida, on 25–27 September 2020. Due to the fears surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic the event was postponed to 2021. Minecraft Live, the livestream portion of the event, still ongoing.
2021
Minecraft Festival is planned to be held in Orlando, Florida, in late 2021, after being postponed from 2020 due to coronavirus fears.
