Minecraft’s beloved Mineplex server is back from the dead

One of the biggest and most beloved Minecraft servers is back from the dead. Mineplex, home to many Minecraft players since 2013, has been resurrected by an Overwatch streamer and former pro player just weeks after the sudden announcement of its shutdown. Filled with Minecraft multiplayer maps and custom minigames, Mineplex had previously won a Guinness World Record for the most concurrent players on a single server in the sandbox game, but had since been eclipsed by other offerings and saw its playerbase decline slowly before suddenly shutting down.

On May 16, it was announced that Mineplex had shut down for good. Despite falling off from the heights of its earlier years, the server still regularly served thousands of players with all manner of minigames, Minecraft parkour courses, and modded multiplayer matchups, leaving many heartbroken by the news.

That’s all changed now, thanks to Sam ‘Samito’ Dawahare. “As of today I have acquired 100% of Mineplex and am fully committed to bringing the passion that changed the lives of tens of millions of players around the world,” the former Overwatch pro and rank one player announces on Twitter. He later shares a video thanking fans for their positive reception to the news, but says, “We’ve got nothing to celebrate yet, our main focus is to EXECUTE. We feel the love though so thank you.”

Samito’s no stranger to Mineplex – indeed, before he became ‘SamitoFPS,’ his career as a YouTuber and Twitch streamer began thanks to Minecraft, and his original YouTube channel ‘SamitoD’ exploded in popularity alongside that of the Mineplex server that he often played on. He even became an admin of the server for a while, before ultimately transitioning to Overwatch not long after the FPS game’s launch.

For those of you worried that this might mean he’s abandoning Blizzard’s shooter in favor of his old love, Samito reassures, “I’m not quitting Overwatch guys, I’m just expanding what I wanna do with my life. I still wanna see OW succeed and the game is always gonna be very special to me, but I still wanna chase my dream and what I wanna do long-term with my life and that’s to give great games to the next generation like I was given.”

The Minecraft 1.20 release date is almost upon us, with the pre-release already available, so make sure you’ve got the best Minecraft mods installed for the best possible experience. You might also fancy sprucing up the look – the best Minecraft shaders have come such a long way in 2023 that it’s well worth considering something new.