Minecraft Passes 176 Million Copies Sold

Before Fortnite, the last big thing was Minecraft. And people forget how big Minecraft was. Like [...]

By Tyler Fischer

minecraft
(Photo: Microsoft)

Before Fortnite, the last big thing was Minecraft. And people forget how big Minecraft was. Like Fortnite, it was a pop culture phenomenon. There was ton of people playing, and even more watching it. Many popular YouTubers and streamers built their career off playing the game, and in a lot of ways, it formed and shaped the "Let's Play." Even to this day, more than 91 million people play it every month. There's even merchandise still releasing. It's a very big deal, despite being 10 years old. And this should come as no surprise, after all, it's the best-selling game of all-time, and the only title that really even comes close to it in terms of sales is Grand Theft Auto V.

That all said, Microsoft and Mojang have revealed that, to date, the game has sold more than 176 million copies. Further, it boasts over 200 million players in China. Part of what has made the game so successful is that one, it's kid friendly, but two, it's also been supported really, really well. Also, it's available on virtually every platform ever, which certainly helps.

There's a good chance the game will never be usurped as the best-selling single title of all-time. Maybe Grand Theft Auto V catches it if it's ported to next-gen consoles and Switch, but it currently has 60 million copies to make up, plus whatever Minecraft sells as GTA catches up.

In addition to announcing new sales figures for Minecraft, Microsoft and Mojang also announced Minecraft Earth, a new AR Minecraft experience similar to Pokemon Go that is coming to mobile devices sometime in beta form this summer. With this release, the Minecraft brand will presumably only expand, which means more people buying the original. In other words, it's only a matter of time until it becomes the first game ever to hit 200 million copies sold.

As always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Have you ever played Minecraft? Do you think it deserves the title of best-selling game of all-time?

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