The Creepers, Ender Dragon and Steve are as relevant as ever as Mojang has announced the latest sales figures for Minecraft. ย Since its inception, the sandbox builder game has now sold upwards of 122 Million units. ย Just how big of a number is that? ย That would be like if every person in Canada bought 3 copies of the game and every person in Belgium bought one, they would still be 3 million units short. ย Mojang had some of their own stats, indicating that statistically: 12 million people who purchasedย Minecraft hate cilantro, 3.8 million are as tall as Hugh Jackman and 4 million are cat people.
The second newย Minecraft statistic of note was that there are 55 million players who still boot up the game every month. ย While these numbers tend to boggle the mind the continued growth of the title has to be what has Microsoft most pleased about purchasing the game’s Swedish developer. ย In June 2016, Microsoft reported 40 million monthly users. ย That means that in a mere eight months, the base of monthly players has exploded by 15 million gamers or an increase of 38%. ย Questions answered on the officialย Minecraft Twitter page also confirm that the sales and player numbers do not double count gamers who received a free Microsoft 10 version of the game because they owned the previous PC/Mac version.
The newest sales figures forย Minecraft help it easily pad its lead as the second best-selling video game of all time. ย While these numbers tend to be fluid, Wii Sports or GTA V, depending on who you talk to, are a distant third place to the blocky juggernaut. ย If you are wondering what number 1 on the list is, then “blocky” may just be the best hint. ย According to Forbes, as of June 2016, the king of video game sales was Tetrisย with 495 million copies. ย Comparingย Tetrisย to Minecraft may not be the fairest comparison for revenue generation. ย Minecraft still garners a typical retail price between $19.99 and $29.99 while the 1980s classic is lucky to be valued more than a couple of bucks.
