Microsoft acquired Mojang - the game developer studio behind the critically acclaimed "Minecraft"- for $2.5 billion last year. While the move was treated as skepticism by most, keeping in mind that Mojang is essentially a "one-game company", the purchase has been largely beneficial for Microsoft. As part of its financial results from the second quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, Microsoft announced that first-party video game revenue increased by 79 percent to $171 million over the same period last year. Now, the game has raced across yet another milestone; it has surpassed 20 million copies sold across both PC and Mac.
Developed by Swedish programmer, Markus Persson, Minecraft was released in 2009 for PC in alpha stage while the full version was launched in 2011. Since then, it has been regularly updated with new contents and features, skin packs and much more, attracting audience of all ages. It has been released across multiple console and mobile platforms including Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Needless to say, Minecraft has been a cultural phenomenon for Mojang, with children of all ages contributing to the game's wild success across almost every gaming platform available. The game is now even being used for educational purposes for creating dynamic classrooms experiences, with a HoloLens version of Minecraft being shown off at E3 2015 as well.
But the road hasn't been entirely smooth for the company, a few months ago, the Turkish Ministry called for a nationwide ban of Minecraft, citing animal violence, children becoming socially isolated and becoming a victim of Internet bullying. With that being said, the game is massively popular, even in Turkey where a Minecraft book became a children's best-seller.
At the time of writing, 20,008,408 people have bought the PC and Mac versions of Minecraft with 10,488 copies being sold in the last 24 hours alone, further emphasizing the continuing popularity of the game. Keeping in mind that a Telltale version of the game, dubbed Minecraft: Story Mode is in development and with MINECON 2015 only a couple of days away, one can only wonder what the company has next in store for its audience.
Source: Mojang |Images via Doublejump, Deviant Art
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