At an event over the weekend, Minecraft’s developer, Mojang Studios, announced that it has broken another sales record. The company has now sold over 300 million copies of the game worldwide. Minecraft was already the best-selling video game globally. The latest jump in sales has been significant. The company announced 238 million in sales in April 2021.
Minecraft was officially released in November 2011 by Mojang Studios, although an unfinished, pre-release version of the game had been available since 2009.
Over the years, it’s become incredibly popular with a wide audience, particularly with children. The game uses imaginary blocks and allows users to create anything they can imagine in “worlds”. The unrestricted nature of the game is often given as the reason for its popularity.
In 2014, Microsoft purchased Minecraft for $2.5 billion. Since then, it has rapidly expanded and become a leader in the gaming industry. In particular, its $69 billion takeover of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard helped push it to become an impressive gaming empire.
In a statement, the head of Minecraft Studios, Helen Chian, said that this is a “milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks”.
One of the key drivers of the game’s appeal has been YouTube content from some of the most popular content creators, including DanDTM, PewDiePie, and Mr Beast. According to Google, Minecraft videos have been viewed over a trillion times on the platform.
Although Mojang announces its sales figures regularly, the breakdown of the numbers is less clear, and it’s likely that some users are buying the game more than once as they include sales on all platforms, including PC, iOS, Android, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. It’s possible that some users bought the game on multiple platforms.
However, the latest figures still put Minecraft well ahead of its closest rivals. The second best-selling game is currently Grand Theft Auto V, with 185 million copies sold.
