Minecrafthas been out for over a decade now, and during the peak of its popularity, helped redefine what it meant to be an indie game. WhileMinecrafthas since been purchased by Microsoft along with recentlyrebranded developer Mojang Studios, the game’s sales have been consistent, with the game now crossing an unprecedented sales milestone.
In a blog post this morning, Mojang Studios Studio Head Helen Chiang announced thatMinecraftsurpassed 200 million copies sold, reaffirming its place as the best selling game of all time. It’s a staggering amount, nearly double that of the runner up,Grand Theft Auto 5,which has sold 120 millioncopies.Grand Theft Auto 5is the most profitable entertainment product of all time, though, which makes sense due to its initial $60 price tag.
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It’s difficult to imagine just how massive of a player base that is, especially considering that the game is still played by 126 million people each month, according to the blog post, an impressive percentage of owners after such a long period of being on the market.Minecrafthas beenovershadowed byFortnitein the mainstream for some time, but it doesn’t appear to have affected its sales at all.
Markus “Notch” Persson, the game’s original creator, is no longer associated withMinecraft,andwasn’t invited to theMinecraftanniversarylast year due to racist, sexist, and transphobic tweets the developer published. Notch doesn’t appear to have commented on the game’s milestone yet, and it doesn’t seem likely that he will.
Following the tweets, references to Notch were removed fromMinecraft,with Microsoft clearly wanting to put distance between its IP and the controversial statements. The move upset some longtime fans of the creator, though it was a wise business decision on Microsoft’s part.
There’s no telling how much furtherMinecraftwill go. With next-generation consoles looming in the near future, it’s possible that more ports of the game are announced for future generations of hardware. It’s difficult to imagine the game crossing the 300 million sales mark, but certainly not impossible — though it will likely take a few more years if that is the case. Either way,Minecraftis a massive achievement for everyone involved.
Minecraftis available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
