Everyone knows Minecraft is a success. The development path and financial methods it took have literally revolutionized the gaming industry and proved that user-funded development was not only plausible but potentially very profitable.
The game has jumped from platform to platform, which is not surprising given its success and simple graphics. What might be surprising is how successful those multiple platform games have been. After all, how many people are going to buy a game they already have?
Over 5 million, apparently
Johan Bernhardsson, who is one of the developers at Mojang, confirmed less than twelve hours ago that Minecraft Pocket Edition has officially sold over 5 million units. This brings total Minecraft sales up to approach 18 million when looking at the cross-platform numbers.
The pocket edition still lacks many features of the base game, including online multiplayer, requiring players wishing to have a social gaming experience to connect over much shorter-ranged Wi-Fi connections. As is the case with previous versions of Minecraft, however, the game is continually being updated and added to, so while it isn’t coming in the next patch, I expect it’s only a matter of time.
