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453K Copies of Minecraft Sold on Christmas Day

By - Source: GamePolitics | B 19 comments

Minecraft sells big on Christmas Day says Mojang.

Mojang co-founder and Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson said via Twitter that across all five platforms – PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Xbox 360 – the company's popular world building game sold 453,000 units on December 25 alone.

As of December 13, the Minecraft franchise had sold over 17.5 million copies, 5 million of which stemmed from Minecraft: Pocket Edition for the iOS and Android platforms. The PC and Mac versions were the dominant sales, pushing 8.3 million units whereas the Xbox Live Arcade version sold 4.48 million copies.

Fans interested in getting an inside look at the development of Minecraft can now purchase 2Player Productions' Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, the official Minecraft documentary. It's offered in two formats: a $20 limited edition DVD set, and an $8 DRM-free digital download. The soundtrack is also up for sale for $7, composed by C418.

"Minecraft: The Story of Mojang is a feature-length documentary that follows the young company over the course of its first year as their profile expanded across the world stage and into the homes of millions of gamers," reads the product description. "Featuring insights from industry icons (Peter Molyneux, Tim Schafer), journalists (Geoff Keighley, Stephen Totilo), tastemakers (Gabe & Tycho of Penny Arcade), and players profoundly impacted by the game (Yogscast, The Shaft, Minecraft Teacher), the film serves as a time capsule for one of this generation's most unorthodox success stories."

"During the editing of what was supposed to be a twenty-minute short, it became clear that an important chapter of gaming history was still being written, and that a feature-length documentary about Mojang's first year would make a powerful statement about what it means to create, release, and play games in the twenty-first century," 2Player Productions said.

Minecraft originally launched as an alpha on the PC in May 2009, and then finally went "retail" in November 2011. The mobile version eventually landed on the Android-based Xperia Play smartphone as Minecraft: Pocket Edition during E3 2011 and later on Google Play in October 2011, followed by an iOS release in November 2011. The Xbox 360 version, co-developed by 4J Studios, didn't crash the console scene until May 2012.

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  • -1 Hide
    reprotected , January 2, 2013 7:18 AM
    The Android version is better than the iOS version.
  • 6 Hide
    apache_lives , January 2, 2013 7:18 AM
    chimera201What is the world coming to?I would make a world in my own game and sell it rather than making a world in someone else's game that is bought.This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs.


    the game actually need decent amounts of cpu and ram to play well
  • Display all 19 comments.
  • 7 Hide
    captainblacko , January 2, 2013 7:26 AM
    chimera201What is the world coming to?I would make a world in my own game and sell it rather than making a world in someone else's game that is bought.This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs.


    Have you tried it?
  • 5 Hide
    infernocy , January 2, 2013 7:40 AM
    chimera201What is the world coming to?I would make a world in my own game and sell it rather than making a world in someone else's game that is bought.This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs.


    That my friend is totally wrong .. minecraft needs a hell lots of ram to run and good cpu power ..
    also if you go to minecraft forums you can see that this game increased java development cos a lot of kids are creating their own mods

  • 3 Hide
    infernocy , January 2, 2013 7:42 AM
    damn you tom when are going to add an edit button
  • 1 Hide
    wardoc22 , January 2, 2013 7:57 AM
    Well someone is rich
  • 3 Hide
    Darkerson , January 2, 2013 8:08 AM
    chimera201What is the world coming to?I would make a world in my own game and sell it rather than making a world in someone else's game that is bought.This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs.


    The game is actually rather deceptive and needs a decent amount of CPU/GPU power to be played smoothly, especially if you start adding in high res texture packs, various mods, or to run a decently sized server. But im sure you actually knew that, and were just looking for a way to make some snarky, asinine comment.

    infernocydamn you tom when are going to add an edit button


    See up top, right after the comment section starts?

    "Read the comments on the forums"

    Click on that, and in the forums, you can edit your comments.
  • 5 Hide
    CrArC , January 2, 2013 10:00 AM
    chimera201What is the world coming to?I would make a world in my own game and sell it rather than making a world in someone else's game that is bought.This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs.
    You have demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of what is required to "make a world in my own game and sell it", and simultaneously missed the point of Minecraft entirely. Well done.
  • -9 Hide
    mazty , January 2, 2013 12:05 PM
    apache_livesthe game actually need decent amounts of cpu and ram to play well

    Proof that it's a badly coded pile of shit.
    Minecraft is just the autistic version of farmville & it's just as good for gaming as farmville. It's nothing but a worthless time sink that autists get hooked on - meth for autists if you will.
  • 5 Hide
    warmon6 , January 2, 2013 12:44 PM
    maztyProof that it's a badly coded pile of shit. Minecraft is just the autistic version of farmville & it's just as good for gaming as farmville. It's nothing but a worthless time sink that autists get hooked on - meth for autists if you will.


    no, just no. Farmville and minecraft are 2 completely different types of games. Minecraft is a sandbox type of game.

    SandBox = the ability to roam anywhere you want to in the game and have the ability to change the world there in.

    Farmville is no where close to that.


    Second, because it's a sandbox game, it's actually pretty well coded. (Compared to other Sandbox games that I know of.)

    I can play plain vanilla Minecraft on a 4 (almost 5) year old dual core laptop with only 1GB ram (with intergrated graphics). It's when you start adding Mod's and High Resolution Texture Packs that you'll need more power.
  • -2 Hide
    alidan , January 2, 2013 1:17 PM
    Quote:
    unorthodox success stories

    its more or less legos, on a computer, that doesn't suck like any of the legos games like creator.

    you have to be a complete screw up to fail at making what is basically legos not sell well.

    that said, i hate every aspect of mine craft aside from the creation element, only thing stopping me from buying it is the cost. yea, i could have gotten it in alpha or beta for cheaper, but with no guarantee the game ever comes out or with no way of knowing if it will be good. im honestly waiting for a 10$ or less sale.
  • 1 Hide
    11796pcs , January 2, 2013 7:15 PM
    I've tried multiple times to pick Minecraft up and play it, but I just can't stand it. I find it boring and pointless. Lack of a story is also annoying. I'm probably missing the point, but hitting and collecting bricks on a blocky world that looks like it was developed in the early 90s is not my idea of fun.
  • 1 Hide
    mazty , January 2, 2013 8:35 PM
    warmon6no, just no. Farmville and minecraft are 2 completely different types of games. Minecraft is a sandbox type of game. SandBox = the ability to roam anywhere you want to in the game and have the ability to change the world there in. Farmville is no where close to that.Second, because it's a sandbox game, it's actually pretty well coded. (Compared to other Sandbox games that I know of.)I can play plain vanilla Minecraft on a 4 (almost 5) year old dual core laptop with only 1GB ram (with intergrated graphics). It's when you start adding Mod's and High Resolution Texture Packs that you'll need more power.

    A sandbox where what you make does jack all. Just like the farms in farmville.
    You can roam anywhere you want on your farm. It's just smaller. You can't change a world which has almost zero interactivity with it. Smash block. Place block. Wow. How revolutionary. I think Lego beat you guys to it...
    It's really poorly coded. Why does Skyrim give me better frames then Minecraft?

    Mincecraft is just as much a cancer to gaming as angry birds or farmville. It's poorly coded, is nothing but a pointless grind, and looks like shit to top it all off.
  • 0 Hide
    Kami3k , January 3, 2013 1:50 AM
    chimera201What is the world coming to?I would make a world in my own game and sell it rather than making a world in someone else's game that is bought.This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs.


    Really? Minecraft made for low end PCs?

    That is why it can use 2GB easily?
  • 0 Hide
    Kami3k , January 3, 2013 1:52 AM
    maztyA sandbox where what you make does jack all. Just like the farms in farmville. You can roam anywhere you want on your farm. It's just smaller. You can't change a world which has almost zero interactivity with it. Smash block. Place block. Wow. How revolutionary. I think Lego beat you guys to it...It's really poorly coded. Why does Skyrim give me better frames then Minecraft? Mincecraft is just as much a cancer to gaming as angry birds or farmville. It's poorly coded, is nothing but a pointless grind, and looks like shit to top it all off.


    Why does minecraft have the performance issues it has? Easy, Java.

    And Minecraft has a pointless grind and looks like shit?

    The mods I have install say otherwise about it looking like shit and the point of the game went so far over your head it is now in orbit around stars in another universe.
  • 0 Hide
    chimera201 , January 3, 2013 11:49 AM
    I was expecting these kind of comments. And a lot of wrong inferences made.

    I DO NOT dislike minecraft because it has retro graphics.
    I dislike minecraft because of the very basic concept that drives minecraft.
    I dislike minecraft because I get to create the world.

    FYI, I do play games like Limbo,Mark of the Ninja,etc. even if my PC can run Crysis(it does).
    I would prefer playing the original Mario over Minecraft anytime.


    Minecraft needs lots of RAM,cpu gpu power. Can u guys be more specific?
    And i'm talking about the original Minecraft without any community made modifications(which i'll get into later) and an average world size/complexity.
    4GB RAM? That isn't exactly lots of RAM.
    a Sandy Bridge i3? That is(and was) cheap.
    Geforce GT 240? Now that's funny.
    Now let's look at the official recommended system requirements. Wait it's not official, it's compiled by the minecraft community. Good work there Mojang , And Notch of course!
    CPU : Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 (K8) 2.6 GHz
    RAM : 4GB
    GPU : GeForce 6xxx or ATI Radeon 9xxx and up with OpenGL 2 Support (Excluding Integrated Chipsets)
    Now this is a low end cheap PC even in 2011. Anyone has any doubts over this?
    If u can't play Minecraft with such a PC with the restrictions i stated above then either u are trying to play multi monitor or making gigantic worlds or doing some show-off s**t like that or there is a problem with ur pc.



    If u are so creative and talented at making worlds and have so much time in life to do that, then why are u wasting ur time making worlds in minecraft?
    It is not hard to create ur own games nowadays. U can get free SDKs on several popular game engines. U people will argue then "i have no idea of a game , how can i build my own game then, one person cannot do all the things".
    Well there are lots of community guys looking for level designers, mappers that have lots of spare time like u people do.
    U can join them and learning an SDK is not hard. It's just as easy as learning to play minecraft.
    And if it ends up good, u can even sell it. Several offer affordable indie licenses and with Steam Greenlight its even more easier now to publish.
    But if you people got no life, and find satisfaction in making worlds in minecraft, then go ahead play minecraft.
    Now this paragraph seems way off-topic but i'll come to the point later, which is a very big point to be noted.

    Quote:
    A member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said that “Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program.”

    To me Minecraft is more of a software than a game.


    I appreciate what the minecraft community makes. Actually speaking Minecraft was driven by the community from the very alpha stages.
    And you people enjoy what the community makes.
    Now this is where my goddamn point lies - THE MONEY IS GOING TO THE WRONG PERSON. One of the reasons why i dislike minecraft.
    Elsewhere, Valve is doing something new to its Dota 2 community made content. If the content gets accepted in game, the maker gets a share of its sales.
    Now you'd argue that Valve's got the resources and Valve's got a share of this - that's true, but the point here is that the community gets what it deserves(other than respect and a point in his portfolio).

    Now the other thing u people say that mods, high res textures and stuff decrease performance.
    Of course they will. Because they weren't meant to be in minecraft. If u got the PC power then u are good.
    One of the reasons why minecraft was designed retro in the first place - to have good performance.

    Now my point where all people noted and started the argument.
    "This just proves that there are way too many casual players with low end pcs."- i said this.
    Clearly people never try to see the big picture.
    First read the title of the article - "453K Copies of Minecraft Sold on Christmas Day"(I wonder how many of u people bought Minecraft on that day).
    Since u people are here at Tom's , I assume that u all are computer enthusiasts and have decent pcs or laptops.
    And all our friends circle and the people we meet are computer knowledgeable.
    But that doesn't mean that all people in the world are computer enthusiasts.
    More precise to say - Majority of people in the world are computer idiots.
    And most of them have low end pcs with screens of about 720p res. You'd know that if u ever launched a computer-related product.
    And i bet more than 80% of the 453K copies sold were brought by these kind of people(ur kind of people belong to the other 20%). (Minecraft runs on low end pcs , i already explained).

    "Why does Internet Explorer have a high market share when there are better browsers available?
    Why is Minecraft so popular when there are better games(or should i say tools/dev kits) available?"

    Hey look, this game runs on my pc and is quite popular, let's try this.
    Hey look at these cool community made shaders..... Oh s**t this doesn't run on my pc.











  • 0 Hide
    chimera201 , January 4, 2013 12:21 PM
    The article got too old? Or everyone learnt the bitter truth?
    Wasted my precious time explaining that.
    I know u automatically get subscribed unless u changed the settings or unsubscribed.




    Quote:
    the game actually need decent amounts of cpu and ram to play well

    Quote:
    That my friend is totally wrong .. minecraft needs a hell lots of ram to run and good cpu power

    Quote:
    The game is actually rather deceptive and needs a decent amount of CPU/GPU power to be played smoothly

    But that still doesn't change it from being a low end cheap PC.

    Quote:
    The game is actually rather deceptive

    Yes , the GAME is actually rather deceptive.

    Quote:
    You have demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of what is required to "make a world in my own game and sell it", and simultaneously missed the point of Minecraft entirely. Well done.

    And u have demonstrated that u have been a complete idiot by wasting ur precious lifetime in minecraft. well done.

    Quote:
    I'm probably missing the point, but hitting and collecting bricks on a blocky world that looks like it was developed in the early 90s is not my idea of fun.

    Minecraft is more of a software than a game. I hope that is the point u are missing.

    Quote:
    Really? Minecraft made for low end PCs?

    That is why it can use 2GB easily?

    Adding some more RAM to ur PC doesn't make ur PC high-end. It's still the same old cheap low end pc.
    I wonder whether i underestimated the 80% thing i stated earlier.

    I remember that someone here in this article comments section called me an arrogant jackass. I dont see that comment anymore?
  • 0 Hide
    chimera201 , January 6, 2013 5:35 AM
    captainblackoHave you tried it?


    Isn't that a useless message?