Skyblock

Skyblock is a downloadable world and minigame in the sandbox video game Minecraft. The original world consists of a small island floating in the air, on which a player must survive on and complete various tasks with limited resources.^[1][2][3] It was originally created by a user named Noobcrew,^[4][5] who published the official version of the map to the Minecraft Forum on September 4, 2011.^[6]

Starting island in Skyblock.

Noobcrew acknowledged building upon existing ideas, stating: "I didn't invent the floating island concept—I just made what I thought was the best version of it."^[7]

Being one of the first pieces of user-generated content for Minecraft, Skyblock has become iconic and has been used on various Minecraft servers.^[8][9] It has also inspired various Minecraft mods and maps,^[10] as well as derivative game modes for other games.^[11][12]

Gameplay

In the original Skyblock, the player spawns on a tiny L-shaped grassy island suspended in the sky, populated with just one oak tree and a lone chest. The chest contains a limited amount of materials that must be strategically used with the main goal of surviving, expanding the island, completing challenges,^[13] obtaining food, and continuing to stay alive. Depending on the version selected, an additional sand island, access to the Nether, or the materials in the chest may differ, which can ultimately change the objectives a player can achieve. There is typically no end goal with Skyblock.^[14]

History

According to skyblock.net, Skyblock and all of its original versions (version 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, and 2.1) have been downloaded over 12.3 million times.^[15]

Since the release of the map, various YouTubers have made videos about the map, which greatly increased its popularity.^[16] One of the first YouTubers to review the map was CaptainSparklez, who started a video series about Skyblock on October 2, 2011, just 29 days after the map's release.^[17]

Variations of Skyblock have been created on several Minecraft servers, such as Hypixel,^[18] the most popular server in the game.^[19] Skyblock on Hypixel was released on June 11, 2019.^[20] Skyblock has its own official Minecraft server.^[9][21]

On September 24, 2024, Noobcrew posted a public statement regarding their legal issues with Microsoft and various Minecraft Marketplace–related companies since 2019–2020.^[22] Noobcrew claims that he tried to stop the commercialization of "Skyblock" branded products within the Minecraft Marketplace without his permission. Despite being the original creator and having provided Skyblock for free on his platform since 2011, the involved companies are attempting to invalidate his intellectual property rights. Noobcrew describes how some of the companies have provided Skyblock products for purchase, often labeling them as "Skyblock" directly with no secondary meaning, or names such as "Original Skyblock", and have generated substantial revenues from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Despite backlash from the Minecraft community in favor of Noobcrew, the situation seems to be ongoing as of April 2025.^[23][24]

Adaptations

Minigames similar to Skyblock have been created in other video games, such as Terraria,^[25] Roblox^[26][27] and Fortnite.^[12]

On July 14, 2020, Skyblock was created as a minigame in Roblox, which become among the most popular games on the platform, with over 40,000 players. After a DMCA request by Noobcrew, however, the game was shut down due to copyright issues. The developer, Easy Games, changed the game's name to "Islands" and was allowed to continue operation.^[28]

On November 22, 2023, Skyblock was re-created as a minigame on Fortnite, and achieved over 20,000 players. Due to a DMCA request by Noobcrew, the game was shut down temporarily, and the developer, VisionCreatesFN, later changed its name to "Block Tycoon".^[29]

Various user-made Skyblock-style maps were released for Terraria.^[25] In August 2023, Re-Logic announced in a blog post that a Skyblock mode is being added into the game officially in a form of a map seed that makes the world generate islands floating in mid-air.^[30] +* Terraria: Community maps since 2015,^[31] with an official Skyblock seed added in 2023^[32]

Lead developer Andrew "Redigit" Spinks stated that he spend a lot of time working on the seed to ensure that it isn't "as hardcore and grindy" as the community maps.^[33][34]