The competition, released in a video published late on January 17, brought together teams from various countries, including the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Argentina, Colombia, India, Poland and Turkey. Teams were tasked with building an in-game version of its home country using Minecraft’s signature block-based environment.

Vietnam’s entry, led by Vietnamese YouTuber Neji, stood out for its scale, level of detail and narrative approach. Rather than focusing solely on iconic structures, the team designed a cohesive virtual landscape that blended natural scenery, architecture and everyday cultural elements into a single interactive map.

The product featured recognisable sites from northern Vietnam’s Ninh Binh province, including Hang Mua, Ngoa Long Mountain and the Bai Dinh Pagoda complex, integrated into a wider environment designed to resemble a living, explorable destination rather than a static exhibition.

Judges, including MrBeast, praised the project for its visual depth and immersive quality. Non-player characters (NPCs) were programmed to move and interact within the environment, creating the impression of a dynamic world and enhancing the sense of realism.

Vietnam received a perfect score of 10 from MrBeast and finished with a total of 38.5 points, surpassing other finalists such as Colombia and Turkey to secure first place. At the end of the video, MrBeast confirmed Vietnam as the overall winner and said a trophy would be sent to the team in recognition of their achievement.

Beyond the competition itself, the result highlighted the growing role of video games as a platform for cultural storytelling. By using Minecraft as a creative medium, the Vietnamese designer introduced elements of the country’s geography, heritage and everyday life to a global audience of millions.

The video quickly gained traction after its release, attracting millions of views within hours on MrBeast’s main channel, which has more than 50 million subscribers. It was dubbed and translated into 13 languages, with customised titles and thumbnails for countries participating in the challenge.

Vietnamese students shine at global ICT competition

Vietnamese students earned high marks at the 2024–2025 Huawei ICT competition, which concluded on May 24 in Shenzhen, China.