In July 2014 one Minecraft server made $215,000. The next month it made $52,000. Nobody hacked them. Nobody took them offline. They were killed by an email.
This is the story of MCPVP the server hCLUKE launched in June 2011, the mode that became Hunger Games, the $5.9 million it made from 3.6% of its players, and the single Mojang rule change in June 2014 that made every one of its revenue streams illegal overnight.
And then it is the story of what happened to the NAME after the server died. Because mcpvp.com is one of the biggest names in competitive Minecraft in 2026, and it has no connection to hCLUKE's network at all. None. Not the code, not the company, not the ownership. It is a brand revival and the launcher it now requires is Dawn, which is Feather, which four months ago was accused of quietly farming ad impressions off 600,000 people.
Everything here is sourced from what is on the record: the revenue figures, the June 2014 commercial guidelines, the May 2015 shutdown post, the April 2026 investigation, the response that denied all of it, Tebex's public statement, and the ad partner that walked away on March 20th over a month before any of it was public.
Two things I want to be straight about up front: MCPVP did not invent Minecraft PvP on its own (Team Vareide built the Survival Games alongside it), and the QuakeCon 2012 claim has no primary source I could find. Both are in the video.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The spreadsheet $215,000 to $52,000
00:46 Quick confession, and the two halves
01:41 June 2011 hCLUKE launches MCPVP
02:31 Tournaments, The Hunger Games, +103%
02:57 The part of the title that isn't true
03:51 The QuakeCon claim with no source
04:08 $5.9M from 3.6% of players
04:45 Kits, advantages, and the unban fee
05:17 June 12 2014 the rule that killed it
06:03 The last $11,000
06:51 Brawl, and the real end of MCPVP
07:13 1.9, MCTiers, and the domain
07:47 A name wearing a costume
08:21 Feather Client and 600,000 users
08:54 The investiga