it_wasnt_arson

how? Isn’t Minecraft free to play and you can just host servers yourself on your computer?

For years now, custom plugins have made public Minecraft servers much less "block building game" than "robust engine for MMOs that every kid with a computer already has the client for," and even though it's mostly against Mojang's TOS, all the kinds of monetization you'd expect have followed. When you hear "Minecraft server that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit," imagine "freemium PC game that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit" and you'll get roughly the right picture. Peer pressure-driven cosmetics, technically-TOS-violating-but-who-cares lootboxes, $500 "micro"transaction packages, anything they can get away with. It puts into perspective why you hear so much about Minecraft YouTubers running their own servers.