I'm not looking down my nose at anybody, or trying to say it shouldn't be. I just genuinely want to know why it is. (Had the same questions about Resident Evil 7 at its heyday because OH MY GEEZE did that game have a ton of runners when it first came out)

I guess that games that have a very large (normal) player base are more likely to get a larger speedrunning base.

for context, i rarely play Minecraft (last time i play Minecraft was in 2013/2014) so if i said something wrong, feel free to confirm this.

there's a lot of reasons to it. primarily, due to simplistic and "sandbox" aspects to it. Unlike most games, Minecraft is a game that gives you a freedom to do anything as you want. The game has a simple premise, no restriction, and you free to do so. Not only that, the game itself were easy to play (the classic "easy to play, hard to master" formula) thus brings people to the "bandwagon" of it. same principle can be said to the speedrun aspects of the game (afaik).

For additional info, Minecraft has a heck ton of version (Java, Pi, Android, etc.) and this also supports the popularization of the game.

I’m pretty sure it’s also gaining popularity because of the Youtuber Dream who has some videos of Minecraft speedrunning stuff get well into the multi-million view range.

MC and MCBE youtubers did speedruns

i play minecraft with friends and alone. like astroneer i find relaxing and fun both games are a little grindy ( getting research and mining for diamonds )

Well I have no idea who those people are but if they're that popular that's probably a good reason why

It's Minecraft. 'Nuff said.

Jokes aside, it's a contender for the most sold game ever, and more importantly for speedrunning, it has a massive following on Youtube. Speedrun content of Minecraft can gather views far higher than many other games, and these videos are often teenagers' (targeted audience!) first experience with speedrunning.

it's good because of its simplistic nature, although its updates since 1.4 (i think) hasn't instilled much of its classic nature, it feels like the blank slate of minecraft with heavy mod usage and admittedly good quality of life improvements/actually putting stuff in the vast "why bother?" biomes. its popular because of its new outlook by the newly furnished community which YouTube has once again supplied the game.

1. best selling game of all time
2. popular youtubers starting to do speedrun content (even full speedruns and world records)
3. easy-ish to learn/run
4. largest game on the site so people see it first and do runs, endless loop of growing and becoming more recognized

Bro, it is popular because of its simplicity and capabilities.

I think maybe the thing that made minecraft so popular is the fact that you can play it however you want, like you can just build a house and live peacefully or you can go crazy and start making a lot of projects. It's a game for everyone, which I personally love.