The Verdict Is In, The World Loves Minecraft
We all know Minecraft is a hugely successful game that has been a cultural phenomenon but according to latest reports from Microsoft, it seems like it’s bigger than we ever anticipated.
Microsoft and Mojang announced on Thursday that Minecraft sold over 100 million copies since 2011 when the sandbox game was released. It sold more than 50 million copies by the fall of 2014 when Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion. Even in 2016, it continues to sell with over 53,000 units being sold on average. Another interesting fact is if every person who bought a copy formed a nation, it would rank as the 12th most populated nation in the world just behind Russia, Japan and Mexico.
These figures make Minecraft the second most successful video games of all time with 100 million units sold, the top spot belongs to Tetris, which sold over 400 million to date.
“We’d like to offer our heartfelt thanks to every one of you who’s bought Minecraft over the past few years, no matter which platform you play on,” Mojang wrote in a blog post. “We’re constantly in awe of our community and the amazing things you achieve together.”
To commemorate this milestone achievement, Mojang created an infographic showing more details regarding who plays Minecraft and where. According to the chart, North America prefers Minecraft in mobile format with 41% usage, while 40% prefer consoles and 19% use PC.
Mojang states that more than 40 million people ‘Minecraft’ each month. The game has even been sold in Antartica just to recognize the fact that it’s in every country and territory across the globe. This month, be on the look out for Minecraft: Console Editions new update that’s rolling out mini-games, allowing players to create their own games with sets of rules.