During a truly exciting week for Minecraft, it has been announced that the game has sold a total of 20,025,013 copies on PC/Mac, selling an astounding 10,242 in the last 24 hours. These figures are obviously time sensitive and will grow, however the statistics are quite extraordinary.
The very popular sandbox game was released on May 17th 2009, and it continues to sell on a daily basis in very high volumes.
A major part of the game's success has been it's evolution. No longer is Minecraft the simple "build a block, break a block" video game as Mojang once simply described it. The game has been updated time after time, adapting and evolving with it's consumers.
Mojang's Owen Hill gave his reaction to the sales figures via Twitter, earlier today:
Zoik! 20 million! pic.twitter.com/d5vH270PbU
— Owen Hill (@Bopogamel) June 30, 2015
We reported earlier, since Mojang was purchase by Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5billion, Minecraft has evolved tremendously. It's recent step into the educational field is not only groundbreaking for the game and it's developers, but is living, breathing proof of consumer appreciation.
The shrewd path into the public sector could see the development of Minecraft increase tenfold, because if there is a way that education could use Minecraft as a means to teach, the possibilities are truly endless. The game is evolving and is growing as a result, these figures just prove it!
The fanbase that Minecraft has acquired over the years has evolved too, which has contributed to it's success. Many have argued that the game looks like was built for "nerdy" gamers, although this is an inaccurate stereotype. Minecraft has appealed to all parts of the gaming spectrum, using updates to target consumers of all different kinds. But it's development doesn't just rest with Mojang, the consumers promote the game just as much through YouTube, social media and other platforms.
With the recent cancellation of the Scrolls franchise, Minecraft is now Mojang's only active game. Gamers can expect a huge emphasis to be placed on Minecraft in the near future, as it was the sole reason that Microsoft bought Mojang in the first place. Already we have seen part of Microsoft's plans for the game as they made Minecraft the focal point of the HoloLens product, which featured at the E3 trade fair 2015.
Minecraft started out as a simple game, building and breaking blocks. But now, it is building a legacy and breaking records.
