Microsoft has sold an average of 53,000 copies of Minecraft each day this year

[Shawn Knight]

Minecraft creator Mojang revealed on Thursday that sales of the popular sandbox building game have eclipsed the 100 million mark. That’s a significant achievement for a game that began life as a side project.

Owen Hill, director of creative communications at Mojang, revealed the news on Mojang’s official blog, adding that the game has sold an average of 53,000 copies each day since the beginning of 2016. Keep in mind that we’re talking about a game that made its official debut nearly five years ago.

Mojang included a brief infograph, highlighting the fact that the Minecraft community now includes people from every country and every territory in the world (that includes Antarctica where four copies have been sold). Each month, more than 40 million people spend time playing Minecraft and based on recent developments, there’s no reason to believe sales will slow down anytime soon.

Microsoft paid $2.5 billion for Minecraft in 2014, a colossal figure that was tough for many to swallow at the time. Creator Markus “Notch” Persson walked away with more money than he’ll ever be able to spend (that’s not always a good thing) and Microsoft inherited an IP that had already sold more than 50 million copies.

Surprisingly enough, Microsoft has done a great job of expanding the game’s reach and the future – especially if Minecraft becomes the flagship HoloLens app that many are expecting – looks incredibly promising. If you're interested in giving it a try, you can download it here.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/65085-microsoft-has-sold-average-53000-copies-minecraft-each.html

 

[Teko03]

Great to see Microsoft didn't botch this acquisition. I've never played, but hopefully it continues to be successful.

 

[VitalyT]

If they keep selling 53,000 copies every single day, it would take then 5.4 years just to break even on this deal.

They stupendously overpaid for it.

 

[oldikes]

If they keep selling 53,000 copies every single day, it would take then 5.4 years just to break even on this deal.

They stupendously overpaid for it.

Merchandise sales (massive amounts, more than anyone would imagine), school usage has growing popularity, story mode liscensing, etc.

 

[SeanusT]

If they keep selling 53,000 copies every single day, it would take then 5.4 years just to break even on this deal.

They stupendously overpaid for it.

I'm not sure it works like that.
The assumption you're making is that after the 5.4 years Mojang/Minecraft IP has no value.
Even if it doesn't grow in value in 5.4 years they've doubled their investment, excluding making anything from other Minecraft initiatives like merchandise - kids love Minecraft!!

 

[Evernessince]

If they keep selling 53,000 copies every single day, it would take then 5.4 years just to break even on this deal.

They stupendously overpaid for it.

I'm not sure it works like that.
The assumption you're making is that after the 5.4 years Mojang/Minecraft IP has no value.
Even if it doesn't grow in value in 5.4 years they've doubled their investment, excluding making anything from
other Minecraft initiatives like merchandise - kids love Minecraft!!

FYI, the Minecraft fad for kids is over. Merchandise sales fall along with game sales. Minecraft 2 may come out one day but since Microsoft is the one heading it I doubt it will be anything special.

 

[jauffins]

Somehow, I'm both surprised and not at all surprised at the same time, that the majority of Minecraft sales are on console/mobile.

 

[Kreegir]

If they keep selling 53,000 copies every single day, it would take then 5.4 years just to break even on this deal.

They stupendously overpaid for it.

I'm not sure it works like that.
The assumption you're making is that after the 5.4 years Mojang/Minecraft IP has no value.
Even if it doesn't grow in value in 5.4 years they've doubled their investment, excluding making anything from
other Minecraft initiatives like merchandise - kids love Minecraft!!

FYI, the Minecraft fad for kids is over. Merchandise sales fall along with game sales. Minecraft 2 may come out one day but since Microsoft is the one heading it I doubt it will be anything special.

MS isn't pushing minecraft just as a game; community developed content is the driver on that front. Their push is porting it into other worlds, education, VR, AI development and testing. Which is why they are not building Minecraft 2 but rather building a more efficient engine for the game; using c# I think I read. There are huge possibilities in the future there; imagine making math fun?!? there are massive changes coming in the education world and a lot more learning will be done with tablets and interactive applications.

Also, if they have been hitting 53000 downloads a day, then I suspect the hit with kids is not falling off yet.

 

[VitalyT]

To answer many of the comments above, I believe that in 5 years the game will become irrelevant, selling no copies at all.

To me the whole deal looked like another write-off to avoid the corporate mega-taxes.