With 176 million copies sold across platforms, Minecraft arguably became the most popular game of all time. Can Minecraft, however, be regarded as Microsoft’s most fruitful acquisition?
When Microsoft purchased Mojang in 2014 for a staggering $2 5 billion, it caused a lot of skepticism due to Microsoft’s track record of underutilizing its acquisitions.
We’ve witnessed the demise of Nokia’s mobile phone division, which Microsoft purchased for $7 2 billion. Even buying Skype for $8. 5 billion did not go as former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had hoped.
Therefore, seven years later, it’s appropriate to evaluate whether Microsoft made the right choice in purchasing Minecraft or if they made yet another error.
Markus “Notch” Persson founded Minecraft in 2009 with the intention of creating a 3D sandbox game where only the player’s abilities, such as creativity, speed, and problem-solving abilities, would matter.
It was a fairly straightforward game with no additional plot or goal, and the players chose what they wanted to do within the game. Later, some Minecraft servers, like Kohi, released add-on tools for players to practice their skills, like click test, but the game itself remained unchanged.
Early in 2011, the game emerged from beta, and the independent gaming community immediately embraced it. Within just two months of the beta’s release, Minecraft sold 1 million copies. With the beta release alone, the game brought in $33 million in revenue.
Markus founded a video game studio called Mojang with the money to work on new versions of Minecraft.
Mojang completed the game’s full release in November 2011. The popularity of Minecraft grew quickly, and by February 2014, it had 100 million registered users.
Microsoft declared that they would purchase Minecraft for $2 in the same year. 5 billion, nearly 20 times the profits ($126 million) that Mojang reported for 2013
No other game has even come close to the sales milestones that were reached by Minecraft.
The official sales are astonishing between 2016 – 2019. GTA V, which has sold more than 110 million copies across all platforms, is the game that has sold the most copies and is the closest rival to Minecraft.
Since Microsoft purchased Minecraft, approximately 100 million copies have been sold. And that accounts for almost $1. 5B in revenue alone.
In addition to these sales, official Lego sets, merchandise, and even books for the Minecraft World made a lot of noise.
In order to gain a stronger foothold in the large Chinese market, Mojang released Minecraft China in 2016. The game was released across all platforms within a year. Minecraft China reached 300 million users by November 2019!
Microsoft was able to gain an advantage by entering new markets, like ed-tech, with Minecraft. 2016 saw the release of Minecraft: Education Edition, which was created specifically for use in classrooms.
The cost of the education edition is $5 for a one-time license. 2 million licensed users of Minecraft Education Edition were reached in November 2017. e $10 million additional revenue.
Although Microsoft has had a great run in the gaming industry, purchasing Minecraft allowed Microsoft to make money off of its own rivals, including Sony PlayStation, Nintendo, and others. Microsoft was unable to do that with Halo because it is an Xbox exclusive.
It appeared that Minecraft would soon become just a name in video game history after the launch of Fortnite in July 2019. Additionally, it made Microsoft’s plans for Minecraft more realistic.
It’s interesting to note that as more gamers joined YouTube, the number of views on Minecraft videos quickly increased. In fact, the game’s early years of popularity were largely due to Minecraft videos (and it happened again!).
Because of its popularity, developers have produced more modpacks, color code generators, cps tests, and other tools that help players adapt to the game.
“Growth in Minecraft views on YouTube has been accelerating over the past 2 months – in May views of MC content were up 8% vs. the prior year,” Mojang’s Aubrey Norris tweeted. Expecting a big summer!”.
According to the Google Trends graph above, which contrasts Fortnite (blue) and Minecraft (red), Minecraft is once again the most popular search term.
Gaming and Augmented Reality is a killer combination. And major players in the industry have asserted that the most significant AR game ever is Minecraft.
In this open-source augmented reality game, players can explore their local communities and gather mobs. These mobs allow you to construct on top of actual objects, and players can even work together to construct together.
Sensetower reports that in its first week of availability, Minecraft Earth received more than 1 2 million downloads alone in the United States.
Microsoft did a lot to turn Minecraft into the most well-known cross-platform game of all time after saving it from Notch.
Despite its ups and downs, Minecraft still has 112 million active monthly users and regularly releases updates. One of the most anticipated Nether updates was the most recent one.
Microsoft is a market leader in augmented reality gaming thanks to Minecraft Earth. It is anticipated that it will help HoloLens gain traction in the near future as well. Another successful example of Microsoft’s enterprise strategy is Minecraft Education Edition.
Microsoft generates a lot of money from the Minecraft franchise through events like MineCon Live and the Minecraft Festival.
If we look at the past seven years of Minecraft, it is obvious that Microsoft made a great purchase. And, it is not even slowing down!.
While the competition is growing, Microsoft is taking good care of your favorite game, Minecraft.
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Minecraft cumulative sales 2011 to 2021 (mm)
Note: This is total cumulative sales. Sources: EuroGamer, Forbes, IGN, Polygon, Statista, VentureBeat
Minecraft Sales In Last 10 Years
Over 924 million copies of Minecraft games have been sold in the past ten years.
| Year | Sales |
| 2012 | 9 million |
| 2013 | 33 million |
| 2014 | 54 million |
| 2015 | 72 million |
| 2016 | 100 million |
| 2017 | 122 million |
| 2018 | 154 million |
It follows that almost 1 billion copies of the video game Minecraft have been sold. a significant number for a game that was only released 11 years ago.
These figures demonstrate Mojang’s clever game design and attention to the core interests and needs of its users.
Players have criticized Mojang in the past numerous times, but those complaints have always been for improper or inefficient game features.
For instance, a change to the game’s food for birds was later removed at the community’s request because it was bad for birds in real life and kids could imitate that behavior with the birds.
Because of the trust and connection Mojang has established with its user base, they are willing to consider any reasonable changes made by them.
This has made Minecraft a popular game among its users.
Only 200 million copies of Minecraft were sold last year, up from 176 million the year before.
Since selling 4 million copies in 2011, the yearly sales have never decreased. According to the company’s revenue, there has been an increase in the number of sales of Minecraft each year.
It has been bought more than 600 million times in the past five years alone. For a game that debuted with 4 million users in its first year, that is a significant number.
The business of the company is anticipated to grow significantly over the next few years as a result of the widespread availability of mobile and PC devices in homes and among children.
How Much Did Minecraft Sell For?
Minecraft sold for 2. 5 billion USD in 2014. Minecraft was purchased by Microsoft in a record deal that turned out to be a successful investment over time.
Since then, Mojang has been managed by Microsoft, and since then, it has also acquired additional gaming companies. But the game’s main source of income has remained Minecraft, which has helped it establish a solid reputation in the gaming world.
Marcus Persson, the CEO at the time of the transaction, is currently retired and even admitted in an interview that he feels his life is sad after the deal is made because he had little to do as a result.
However, the money he made from that deal enabled him to purchase a $70 million mansion in Beverly Hills, which was more expensive than Jay Z and Beyonce’s opulent home.
How Much is a Minecraft World Worth?
FAQ
How much is the net worth of Minecraft?
Markus “Notch” Persson made a fortune by selling Microsoft the rights to his video game Minecraft. After selling 15 million copies of Minecraft across gaming consoles, Persson sold out to Microsoft in a $2 billion deal in September 2014. 5 billion cash deal.
How much is Minecraft 2022 worth?
All-time international in-app purchase (IAP) revenue for Minecraft from 2015 to 2022 In the first eight months of 2022, the mobile version of the well-known sandbox game Minecraft brought in 71 32 million U. S. dollars in global IAP revenues.
How much is the owner of Minecraft worth?
Before September, Perrson sold 15 million copies of the game on various consoles, according to Forbes. In 2014, he agreed to sell Microsoft the game rights for a staggering $2. 5 billion dollars. The Minecraft billionaire is still worth $1. 9 billion as of November of 2020 (per Forbes).
How much money did Minecraft make total?
Microsoft purchased Mojang, the creator of Minecraft, in 2014 for $2 5 million. The estimated 2020 Minecraft revenue was $415 million. Minecraft Revenue Statistics. YearMinecraft Annual Revenue2019$375 million2018500 million2017370 million2016420 million.
