It has been a good week forMinecraftand its developer, Mojang. Mojang recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, announced anew ARPokemon GO-like mobile gamecalledMinecraft Earthand now, in a post on Microsoft’s official website, creative director Saxs Persson revealed that, since it’s release in 2009, the sandbox title has sold at least 176 million copies worldwide.
“This is an incredibly exciting time forMinecraft. Ten years ago today, the game launched on PC,” wrote Persson, “Now,Minecrafthas sold more than 176 million copies to-date in virtually every country in the world.” This figure covers unit sales across every platform the game’s been released on, including mobile (though maybe not countingthe version available on web browserssince it’s free). It’s certainly an impressive number and could potentially makeMinecraftthe best selling game of all time. However, that has yet to be officially confirmed.
In 2014, it was reported thatTetrishad sold 170 million copies. If this figure still remains the same, then it meansMinecrafthas most certainly smashed its record. But, at the time of writing, there is no updated figure so it’s entirely possibleTetris' sales have increased in the last five years. Regardless, it’s still an amazing feat, with the only other game to break the 100 million mark beingGrand Theft Auto 5(not counting games bundled with consoles).
The future certainly looks bright for both the game and Mojang, but it’s not without its own drama. Despite the recent 10th anniversary celebrations, Mojang chosenot to involve the game’s original creator, Markus Persson- more commonly known as Notch - due to his now infamous reputation on Twitter, having become well known for making offensive remarks on a number of topics.Minecraft’s title screen doesn’t even reference him anymore, only further re-enforcing how much Microsoft and Mojang no longer wish to have Notch be associated with the game moving forward. Given how much negative press Notch generates, these decisions might be for the best.
