Minecraft sells over a million copies, still in beta

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson announced this week that the adventure sandbox game has surpassed one million sales. The title entered beta in December after more than a year of development and it reached 500,000 sales last October while still in alpha. That's a massive success considering it was initially developed by only Persson. With Minecraft's revenue, he has established a new company called Majong.

During alpha, the Minecraft ran €9.95 (around $13), but that rate increased to €14.95 ($20 or so) upon entering beta. Along with getting the game for five euros less, alpha customers were guaranteed all future versions of the game for free. Buying the game during beta includes all content released until the final game launches sometime this year, which will be followed by another price increase. Bug fixes will remain free for all.

Minecraft, if you're unfamiliar, is extremely difficult to describe. It's a game of exploration, construction, and survival. The world is made of different blocks, each of which is destructible, collectible and reusable in your own creations. Valuable materials are buried deep under the surface along with zombies and other monsters that spawn anywhere it's dark -- and that includes the surface, which has a brief day and night cycle.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/41979-minecraft-sells-over-a-million-copies-still-in-beta.html

 

[TomSEA]

Even though I don't play it, I love the fact that this game is wildly successful for two reasons: 1) prove that you don't have to have uber graphics to have a good game and 2) one person can still put out a good game if you have the imagination to do it.

 

[veedubguy]

Never heard of it until now, and after seeing that video, I want to play it!

 

[bugejakurt]

Copyright (c) from Inception

 

[Guest]

I can't understant why people like that game and do the things they do.

 

[mccartercar]

@guest1
Why? Because it is like nothing else. The closest I can think of would be garry's mod and then that just covers the creative side and is totally different anyway.
It is such a simple premise that just about anyone can grasp it. Build,Gather,Survive; is the basics.
.....
When you actually do the work to play the game it becomes more than just those basics.
It becomes the ultimate problem solving, fun/chaos filled, DIY adventure sandbox.
The game itself is simplistic, but the atmosphere draws you in; to just dig off one more row or just travel a little farther to discover the next buried treasure. All the while spelunking and traversing in the humongous sprawl of different varieties of enviroments,creatures, and baddies.

Good Sir, Would you like to be able to play with all your friends in a giant sprawling open world with almost no end to the functionality of creativity?
Yes, My good man, and btw who told you what my idea of the best game in the world was anyways?

 

[mccartercar]

Oh yea...MODS,MODS,MODS!

 

[codefeenix]

It is very easy to describe; You mine then you craft.

 

[Tanstar]

The last time they talked about this game here they didn't say anything about the game play. I complained about it and asked why I should care about a game I've never heard of and questioned why anyone would pay for a Beta, much less Alpha version of a game. This time they explain the game and show a video of game play. Thank you! Now I understand the appeal at least. Looks like a cool idea and I even like the old school, all right-angle, graphics

 

[Omnislip]

mccartercar said:
@guest1
Why? Because it is like nothing else. The closest I can think of would be garry's mod and then that just covers the creative side and is totally different anyway.
It is such a simple premise that just about anyone can grasp it. Build,Gather,Survive; is the basics.
.....
When you actually do the work to play the game it becomes more than just those basics.
It becomes the ultimate problem solving, fun/chaos filled, DIY adventure sandbox.
The game itself is simplistic, but the atmosphere draws you in; to just dig off one more row or just travel a little farther to discover the next buried treasure. All the while spelunking and traversing in the humongous sprawl of different varieties of enviroments,creatures, and baddies.

Good Sir, Would you like to be able to play with all your friends in a giant sprawling open world with almost no end to the functionality of creativity?
Yes, My good man, and btw who told you what my idea of the best game in the world was anyways?

Please don't say simplistic when you mean simple! I would say that LittleBigPlanet is better than this because you have objectives in the levels, and you can actually construct complex machinery which does something in a decent period of time (yes the minecraft computer DOES take ages)

I would have thought it was quite frustrating to have to dig for ages to get the things that you want to build with, in fact hampering your creativity. Furthermore there are methods to ake things in minecraft using a kinect scan instead of putting in all that effort to harvest and place your bricks.

 

[mccartercar]

"Please don't say simplistic when you mean simple! "

I feel as though simplistic, meaning excessively simple, would sum up minecraft very well. You even seem to share this sentiment as you point out that there is really nothing in the game but objects and mobs.
There are no goals, no penalties for death, no end game, no scoring system. I believe simplistic accurately hits the mark when describing minecraft. Even the visuals scream simplicity with just the bare minimum of shapes and colors to make objects and textures.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Nice trailer!

 

[AnonymousSurfer]

Speaking of minecraft, is anybody having the same problem as me where they cannot create a new account on the minecraft website? Please let me know if this is happening to you!

 

[NickV]

Cool game

 

[AnonymousSurfer]

Thats a pretty sweet video...

 

[Guest]

love minecraft,
ive spent thousands on games over the years, most recently GT5, for my ps3, but tbh minecraft on my pc,is the most addictive, intresting and harmless game ever made.

once you start its always 1 more block or 1 more thing to do, and whoosh there goes 2 hours.

i bought it, i may never play it again, but so for for $8 its had more gameplay time and satisfaction than COD or GT5, (yes i know its not FPS (well not COD FPS))
oh and you can play it anywhere theres internet,

at work, at home, at mates, and as long as you login you get your saves.

<3 Minecraft

 

[stylestrauss]

Minecraft

The game allows you to be the architect of your own world, and many ppl subconsciously dream of doing that. It is pretty amazing such a simple game can garner so much recognition.

 

[Lokalaskurar]

AnonymousSurfer said:
Speaking of minecraft, is anybody having the same problem as me where they cannot create a new account on the minecraft website? Please let me know if this is happening to you!

I've had this problem. Such a shame, Minecraft is such an epic game! But still, all blocks seem rendered at any given moment, so my computer always crashed while playing the (temporarily free but now removed) version.

Still; the concept itself is almost award-winning. "First you mine, then you craft" - pretty much says it all.