Iconic 'Minecraft' Server Mineplex Shuts Down Days Before 10-Year Anniversary

First opening its virtual doors on May 24, 2013, the Mineplex multiplayer gaming server in Minecraft has earned its fame from its entertaining minigames and PvP battles that players could enjoy with others.

Mineplex was a hub space for vets and newcomers to step away from the sandbox structure of Minecraft over the years, presenting new ways of competing and diversifying what fun possibilities are achievable in the polygon world.

The server would have reached its 10th anniversary next week, but the team over the project suddenly announced its shutdown on May 16.

Before the announcement, players connected the dots that something was up with the Mineplex server, seeing that its Java and Bedrock Minecraft versions stayed down for multiple days without official word from the developers.

Now with the sudden closure, players are scratching their heads trying to figure out why Mineplex shut down. We may have an idea as to what sparked its shutdown.

In the statement from the Mineplex developers released on May 16, there aren't any direct answers as to why Mineplex had to shut down. Instead, a developer on the team provided players with a message on the server's Discord to officially close the curtains on Mineplex.

"I wish that things would have gone differently, and I wish we all would have had time to say a proper goodbye to it ... I am sorry that it went the way it did, you guys are passionate about this server, and it's always inspired me to want to do better even if I didn't have the opportunity to."

In response, many players paid respects to the iconic server. One Reddit user reminisced about the moment Mineplex hit "42k players and set a world record," as another mentioned the epic excitement behind Turf Wars years ago.

According to several players on that thread, Mineplex's demise was understandable:

"Definitely a shame, but it makes sense," said a Reddit poster. "Joined it recently and there weren't many players on." Others noted Mineplex had a rampant anticheat issue and unstable server stability, theorized to be a couple of many reasons behind its shutdown.

Minecraft YouTuber VIPmanYT speculated Mineplex had to shut down its Java and Bedrock versions due to server costs and a low player base.

Early in 2021, another well-known Minecraft server called Hive closed its Java iteration because of those crucial factors and focused on its Bedrock version instead for more profit. However, in the case of Mineplex, there doesn't seem to be any way for the developers to recover since both versions suffer from these issues.

Regardless, Mineplex's run has come to an untimely end. Former Mineplex devs are starting a new project called "Mineplex V2" and have a Discord server going, but who can say if it'll live up to what the original accomplished.