'Minecraft' Builds Up Over 4 Million Sales

Game Rant

By John Jacques

Published Nov 7, 2011

Less than two weeks before the full game is released to the world, Mojang announces that the 'Minecraft' beta has managed to sell four million copies.

It's been a long time since the Minecraft alpha was first posted by Notch on the internet, quickly expanding in terms of both gameplay and fanbase over the following months. More than a year later, Mojang - the company started by Notch - has come a long way in developing the creative, adventurous, and admittedly sometimes-scary game (though baby sheep help balance things out with pure cuteness!).

The popular group has now reached a pivotal milestone in its efforts, clocking in the four- millionth sale of Minecraft today -- a figure which certainly isn't bad for a game that still hasn't officially broken out of beta status.

The group is busy working on getting the finishing touches in place, having stopped official beta updates in favor of focusing on the live release of the full version of Minecraft at MineCon. With the current beta including everything from NPC villages to dragons, fans will have plenty to keep them busy for the time being while Mojang works on adding more features and ironing out any bugs before the game launches. For those wondering, that launch is on November 18th, a date satisfyingly close on the calendar.

Minecroft hit 2 million sold in April, back in "ye olde" days before pistons were official (if you can remember then, old one). The game reached 3 million by August, implying that sales are growing exponentially faster in buildup to the full version. This isn't surprising, considering Mojang's recent promotions like the "Wedding 2 For 1 Sale" and the current offer of a 25% discount with purchase. Those interested can purchase the game from the official Minecraft website. (Over 5,000 people picked up the game while this article was in the process of being written -- the kind of statistic only good things can come from!)

With the mobile Minecraft Pocket Edition set to reach a broad audience, the Xbox 360 version ready to play at the convention, and the developer winning an interim injunction against Bethesda in court, everything seems to be turning up Mojang this month. Let's hope they have a smooth live release and look forward to seeing new, currently under-wraps features being put in the game. We'll have an official review of Minecraft for you shortly after its release!

What do you think about Minecraft? Are you excited for the release of the full version?

Minecraft releases November 18, 2011, for the PC.

Follow me on Twitter @Makelevi.

Source: Minecraft