Are Minecraft capes becoming too common?

Cape is a cosmetic item in Minecraft that players can apply to their in-game characters. It is somewhat special since it has a 3D model and is completely separate from the player's skin. When Mojang first created capes for their game, they were extremely rare, only given to those who attended Minecraft events or to the game developers.

However, recently capes have become a bit too common, to the point where almost every player has at least one of them. Here is more to know about how capes became so common in Minecraft.

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History of Minecraft capes and how they gradually became so common

Capes were extremely rare in Minecraft's early days

Prior to 2016, capes were regarded as a rare skin customization item in Minecraft. Only Mojang's staff, those who contributed to the game's growth, and attendees of MineCon (a physical Minecraft event) received special capes.

Any player wearing a cape was regarded as unique for several years following the game's 2011 release. Whenever these players streamed on platforms or participated in multiplayer lobbying, people took notice that they had a cape and talked eagerly about it.

Some capes were even rarer because they were gifted by Mojang to certain individuals, making the accessory one-of-a-kind. Among them were BetterLight's modder, the game's music composer, a player who was the game's one-millionth purchaser, and others.

While older capes still hold a special place in Minecraft's history, new ones do not because of how common they are.

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How did Minecraft capes start becoming common?

After Microsoft purchased Mojang in 2021, all Mojang accounts were merged into Microsoft accounts. Given that millions of people were using Mojang to play Java Edition and Bedrock Edition, this procedure took a while. Therefore, the developers provided a cape called migrator as a gift for players who shifted their Mojang account information into their Microsoft account.

The migrator cape was the first one that became extremely common since almost every player who logged back into the game had to transfer their account.

Following this, Mojang decided to make capes much more common. All Bedrock Edition players received the pan cape, those who participated in the 2023 mob vote competition received the cherry cape, and those who owned Java and Bedrock Edition separately before they were a combined purchase received the vanilla cape.

In 2024, Mojang decided to use capes to further promote their game updates or any other major events they planned for the year. They often collaborated with Twitch and TikTok to create special capes, which players can redeem by watching Minecraft streamers for a few minutes. Capes were also given to those who participated in special Bedrock Edition event servers.

The cape essentially became a reward for players who stayed connected with the game and followed all the latest content that was being created for it.

In this way, Mojang gradually made Minecraft capes a lot more common than they were previously.

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