Minecraft Lawsuit – February 2025 Update

Individuals are filing Minecraft addiction lawsuits against Mojang Studios (Microsoft) alleging the online game is purposefully addictive and harmful. Young people and children who are addicted to Minecraft have developed anxiety, depression, gamer’s rage, seizures, and other losses from gaming addictions. Lawsuits allege Mojang Studios intentionally designed Minecraft to be addictive to increase its profits. Parents and young adults continue to file lawsuits due to injuries experienced after excessive Minecraft and video game use.

Minecraft Lawsuit Timeline & News – February 2025

January 6, 2025: Minecraft Celebrates End of Its 15th Year; Parents Sue Mojang for Causing Childhood Gaming Addictions

Many parents are suing Minecraft and Mojang Studios after their children have developed health issues related to excessive gaming. Minecraft has been on the market for 15 years and continues to have a high volume of community participation. According to Minecraft’s 2024 numbers, players crushed about 300 billion blocks, which, if converted into seconds, would “stretch all the way back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth.” As Minecraft’s makers congratulate themselves on their wild success, concerned parents continue to sue because of the harm the platform is causing children who develop Minecraft gaming addictions.  

January 1, 2025: Minecraft Average Monthly Players Soars to a Record-Breaking 204.33 million in 2024

Minecraft’s average monthly players reached a record-breaking 204.33 million as of December 2024. About 43 percent of Minecraft’s users are between 15 and 21 years old, and 20.59 percent are under 15. Many parents are filing lawsuits because their children and teenagers are becoming addicted to the platform. Parents claim Mojang Studios and Microsoft failed to warn parents and the public about the game’s addictive design and did not do enough to protect children. 

December 13, 2024: California Mother Files Video Game Addiction Lawsuit on Behalf of Minor Child

On December 13, 2024, Evette Gibson filed a lawsuit against Mojang Studios, Microsoft, and others for causing her child’s gaming addiction. Evette says her son has an individualized education plan and looked for outpatient therapy to help him manage his schooling, mood, and behavior due to his addiction. Evette seeks compensation to address the physical, financial, academic, and emotional impacts of her son’s addiction.

What is the Minecraft Addiction Lawsuit About?

Parents allege that Minecraft’s maker, Mojang Studios, intentionally designed an addictive platform that harmed their children. For example, parents claim that endless sandbox play and incentives—like social validation and rewards—encourage compulsive use. Likewise, some parents believe the game’s variable reward systems, like loot boxes in villages and special quests, create an addictive play cycle. 

As a result of their children’s Minecraft addiction, parents believe their children are experiencing gamer’s rage, anxiety, depression, academic issues, and other injuries. Parents allege their children experienced physical, financial, academic, social, and emotional harm due to addiction to Minecraft. Concerned parties are filing lawsuits saying Mojang Studios and Microsoft have not done enough to protect children and teens from the addictive properties of Minecraft.

Minecraft Lawsuit Information
Main Injuries:	Addiction, depression, anxiety, seizures, oppositional defiance disorder, and gamer’s rage
Defendants:	Mojang Studios (Microsoft)
Mass tort or class action?	Individual Civil Lawsuits. It may develop into a multidistrict litigation.
Have There Been Settlements?	No
Active Lawsuit?	Yes

Why Are People Filing Minecraft Lawsuits?

People are filing Minecraft lawsuits because they or their children are developing addictions to the game because of how the game is designed. For example, parents credit things like the game’s endless play and monster respawn loop features for creating a vicious dopamine release and craving cycle that may entrap children. Because of an addiction to Minecraft and an uncontrollable urge to play, parents believe children are suffering from academic challenges, behavioral problems, and social disturbances. People are filing lawsuits alleging Minecraft should be equipped with more warnings and safety measures to protect children and other vulnerable populations.

What Is Minecraft?

Minecraft is a sandbox survival game where players are dropped into a world and must create things to survive. Players gather resources—like wood, coal, stone, and iron—to build houses, armor, furnaces, torches, and weapons to stay alive. Players can play in a world filled with monsters or turn off monsters for an uninterrupted gaming experience. Players can explore dozens of biomes on the expansive map, each providing different resources, challenges, and treasures. 

Users can interact with others remotely on the platform. They can also form friend groups and collaborate on missions or tasks. Players can purchase items, skins, or other features to help create a more immersive, customized, or whimsical play experience. 

What Stage is the Minecraft Lawsuit In?

The Minecraft lawsuit is in its early stages, with new cases being added as parents take a stand against Mojang Studios for creating an addictive platform that may harm children. At this time, parents are filing lawsuits in state courts. As more people sue Mojang because of their Minecraft addictions, a federal multidistrict litigation or class action lawsuit may form. 

About the Defendant: Mojang

Mojang Studios was founded by Markus Perrson and is a Swedish company that created the explosively popular game in 2009. Minecraft’s retro, unfinished feel and ability to let users create their own experience housed a charm that attracted millions of gamers. Because of Minecraft’s unprecedented success, the founders decided to sell it to Microsoft, which they said was better equipped to handle the management and scaling needed to support its membership. 

Microsoft’s Acquisition of Mojang Studios

Microsoft acquired Mojang Studios in 2014 to allow the game’s founders to focus on other ventures. After the acquisition, Microsoft continued to develop Minecraft in a way that aligned with the founders’ visions, community requests, and profit demands. Even so, parents believe Microsoft and Mojang were not mindful of the addictive impact the game has on vulnerable young minds.

Allegations Against Mojang Studios

Parents allege that games like Minecraft are intentionally designed to be addictive, especially for young children and adolescents. People claim the reward system, social validation, and endless gameplay create an environment that feeds off the vulnerabilities of young minds. For example, the use of the cyclical monster and resources respawn system and rewards through treasure chests found in hidden villages draw young people in. People claim that addictions to Minecraft cause young users to experience anxiety and depression, as well as gamer’s rage when on or off the system. 

What Is Minecraft Video Game Addiction?

Evidence shows that compulsive use of Minecraft may cause someone to develop internet gaming disorder (IGD). According to the research section of the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, for someone’s use of Minecraft to become an addiction, it needs to impair several areas of their life substantially. Areas that might be impacted include schooling, work, social life, hygiene, eating, and family relationships. Additionally, the person needs to show other signs of addiction, like thinking or worrying about the game excessively, lying about playing the game, and increasing their game time by neglecting responsibilities or fundamental needs—like eating or sleeping. 

What Are the Signs of Minecraft Addiction?

The signs of a Minecraft addiction include constantly thinking about and planning gaming sessions, like strategizing about what to do next in the game or worrying about how their plan played out. Additionally, the child may be unable or unwilling to control the time they spend on the platform. They might experience a decline in their grades and withdraw from things they previously enjoyed—like sports and in-person socializing—or need to survive—like eating and sleeping. A child addicted to Minecraft might also experience significant distress—like outbursts, violence, or dysregulation—when playing or if they cannot play the game. 

What Makes Minecraft Addictive?

Minecraft uses many attractive features to keep users on the platform. For example, Minecraft’s social networks, variable reward system, and engaging challenges provide social validation and dopamine releases, increasing the chance someone will keep playing. Likewise, players are constantly presented with opportunities to keep playing because the size of the Minecraft world is limited by the memory on the player’s system, and parts respawn at different rates. 

Minecraft also encourages users to use microtransactions to purchase items for a small amount of money, which can provide them with benefits—armor, skins, items, or upgrades. Because players spend small amounts of money at a time, they may overspend, especially in high-pressure, high-stimuli gaming environments where they feel they must act fast. 

How Are the Different Modes in Minecraft Addictive?

Minecraft has many modes for players to play on to customize their experience based on their preferences. In survival mode, players have access to an essentially limitless world in which their character can get eaten, burnt alive, starve, drown, and perish in other ways. Players may feel pressured to stay on the platform to save the character. 

Creative mode allows users to engage with all aspects of survival mode—endless play, building buildings, and crafting items—without fearing death, encouraging them to continue playing and self-create endless missions. In hardcore mode, players cannot respawn after they die, creating incredible pressure to continue playing to avoid making a mistake that might jeopardize all their hard work until that point. 

In adventure mode, players can play Minecraft in a world—map—created by another user. The person’s actions are limited, so they cannot destroy what the other user created and prevent others from enjoying the map. Spectator mode enables users to fly around the map, invisible to anyone else in their world. They can travel great distances, and many creators use spectator mode during their live streams of their gameplay. 

Are Minecoins Similar to Gambling?

Minecoins are virtual currencies that users purchase to buy experiences, skins, packs, items, and other merchandise on Minecraft. PlayStation users can do the same thing by purchasing tokens for their version of Minecraft. Minecraft users may also buy loot boxes, which give them a randomized set of items in a category. This reward system may function similarly to real-world gambling, where the user does not always know what they will get. 

Studies About Video Game Addiction in Children and Young People

Many studies highlight the troubling link between gaming addiction and other consequences and disorders like non-suicidal self-injury, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder. People with autism and ADHD, for example, may be at a higher risk of developing an addiction to a game like Minecraft because of how the mechanics stimulate their brains. 

Important Study: The Association Between Mobile Game Addiction and Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness

The Association Between Mobile Game Addiction and Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness surveyed 578 adolescent-age students in China. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship (if any) between mobile gaming addiction and social anxiety, depression, and loneliness. According to the results, students who met the criteria for an addiction to mobile gaming had a higher rate of depression, social anxiety, and loneliness than their non-addicted peers.

Additionally, they found that male students who were addicted to mobile games experienced a higher rate of social anxiety than female students with a mobile game addiction. This study highlights the importance of developing safe, research-based features to protect youth against the harmful effects of using mobile games excessively.

Overview: The Association Between Mobile Game Addiction and Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness
Description of Study:	Explore the connection between mobile game addiction and social anxiety, depression, and loneliness in adolescents.
Published In:	Frontiers in Public Health
Study Authors	Jin-Liang Wang1, Jia-Rong Sheng, and Hai-Zhen Wang
# of Participants	578
Findings	Children with mobile game addictions had higher levels of social anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Male students addicted to mobile games had a notably higher rate of social anxiety compared to female students with a mobile game addiction.

Can Parents File Minecraft Lawsuits for Their Children?

Parents and legal guardians can file a Minecraft addiction lawsuit if their children are addicted to Minecraft and meet the other eligibility criteria. Parents can contact a lawyer who is experienced in video game addiction and product liability lawsuits to learn about their legal rights. If parents do not take action within a specific amount of time, they may miss the filing deadlines for their cases. Each state has its own rules about when parents, legal guardians, or young adults need to file lawsuits. Young people who are just realizing their injuries may have been caused by Minecraft addiction may have extended legal options.

What Damages Can People Sue Minecraft and Mojang Studios For?

People may qualify to ask Minecraft and Mojang Studios for damages related to their gaming addictions. For example, if they or their child had to retake courses or seek psychiatric treatment because of their gaming addiction, the parent may ask for reimbursement. Likewise, if they or their child spent excessive amounts of money on the game and Mojang is at fault, the parent or young person may receive compensation for these losses. 

Who Qualifies to File a Minecraft Lawsuit?

In order to file a Minecraft addiction lawsuit, each person has to meet certain eligibility requirements. Our legal partners are focusing on the specific injuries listed below:

• The person must have a medical diagnosis of depression, anxiety, gamer’s rage, seizures, or a similar injury after they developed a gaming addiction. 
• The person must have started playing Minecraft before turning 24 and started experiencing symptoms before turning 25. 
• The person needs proof that they played Minecraft for at least three hours daily for five weeks or more. 

An attorney can help you and your family understand your legal options and develop a plan of action to help hold Mojang Studios and Microsoft accountable for their wrongdoing. The lawyer can also help you identify and gather the evidence to support your claim. 

What Proof Do You Need to File a Minecraft Lawsuit?

To qualify to file a Minecraft lawsuit, you need to have enough proof to establish that Minecraft’s design caused your child to develop a gaming addiction that harmed them. For example, you can use logs of your child’s game time hours on Minecraft, medical records of video game addiction treatments, and documentation of academic or work challenges. You, your family members, neighbors, and others can also give sworn statements about observed changes in your child’s behavior after playing Minecraft excessively. You must also show that your child meets the other eligibility criteria to file a lawsuit, such as the age requirements.

Five Steps to File a Minecraft Lawsuit

These are the five steps for filing a Minecraft addiction lawsuit:

1. Determine if you qualify to file a product liability claim against Mojang Studios
2. Locate critical evidence to use in your legal complaint
3. Meet with a seasoned gaming addiction lawyer to help you prepare and file the necessary paperwork
4. Pursue a settlement if you do not wish to go to trial
5. Engage in a trial in civil court (if you cannot reach a fair settlement)

Your first step is to review your situation and the applicable laws with your attorney to determine if you have a product liability claim against Mojang Studios and Microsoft. Next, you can look for key evidence—like medical, academic, and gaming records—to support the allegations you plan to make in your legal complaint. 

You can also meet with a respected lawyer who has experience with gaming addiction claims and can help you write and submit the proper legal paperwork. The next step is to try to settle with Mojang Studios and Microsoft without going to trial. If these discussions are unsuccessful, you can request a formal trial where you can present evidence and legal arguments to support your claims for damages. 

What to Expect When Filing a Minecraft Lawsuit

Filing a Minecraft addiction lawsuit can empower you and your family to seek the resources you need to move forward. You can request a range of compensation for the harm you and your family have experienced because of Mojang’s negligence. For example, you can ask for reimbursement for treatment costs, like prescriptions or counseling to address your child’s depression, anxiety, gamer’s rage, or a similar injury. Likewise, you can ask for reimbursement for tutoring expenses you paid to help your child keep up with their peers despite challenges due to their Minecraft addiction.

What is the Deadline for Filing a Minecraft Lawsuit?

State and federal laws give you a specific amount of time to file a Minecraft addiction lawsuit. The filing window may open when an event occurs—e.g., when your child is diagnosed with a gaming-related disorder or starts to experience symptoms from excessive gameplay—and close within a few years afterward. Exceptions may give you more time to file than you would typically have. For example, if your child is under 18 when they are injured because of their gaming addiction, the statute of limitations may not begin until your child reaches 18. A Minecraft addiction attorney can help you identify the deadlines you need to meet. 

Minecraft Lawsuit Settlements and Awards

Our attorneys estimate that some successful claimants may receive between $100,000 and $300,000 from Mojang Studios or Microsoft if they win their claims. That said, there is no guarantee that someone will receive a specific amount of money if they file. The likelihood of winning a lawsuit depends on many factors, including how quickly the parents start their Minecraft addiction lawsuits, the extent of their children’s injuries, and the strength of their legal claims. 

Factors Affecting the Value of a Minecraft Lawsuit

A range of factors can affect whether someone receives a Minecraft addiction settlement and the amount they receive. The seriousness of their psychological, physical, and financial injuries can increase the amount they are eligible for if they win their lawsuit. Additionally, the extent of the impact their Minecraft addiction has on their quality of life—e.g., uncontrollable spending, increased agitation, and compulsive gameplay—may increase how much they get in damages if their legal claim is successful. 

Learn More About Minecraft Lawsuits From Our Legal Team

Mounting evidence shows that games like Minecraft can be addictive to children and young people and that these addictions can cause children real-world harm. If your child developed a Minecraft addiction and experienced gamer’s rage, depression, anxiety, or a similar injury, consider taking legal action. Our distinguished legal partners have helped many clients take on giant corporations and hold those institutions accountable for injuring vulnerable populations. Reach out to us today to schedule a no-obligation consultation.

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