You know the drill by now: Minecraft is massive; it's the best-selling game ever made and is even more popular in 2025 than it was back when it launched in 2011. But following Minecraft, the majority of hyper-popular game releases on that level have been free-to-play games like Fortnite, Marvel Rivals, and Roblox (which did release before Minecraft but grew way more popular in the years since). And despite that, Minecraft has remained a paid title, which has worked. I can't think of a time where I noticed it wasn't in the Nintendo Switch eShop's best-selling list since it launched in 2017.
Speaking to IGN, Mojang producer Ingela Garneij revealed that despite the way the industry is going, Minecraft isn't jumping on the free-to-play wagon. "It doesn't really work with the way we built it," Garneij explained, saying, "we built the game for a different purpose. So monetization doesn't work in that way for us. It's a purchase of the game, and then that's it," and dubbed the game "the best deal in the world."
