Minecraft is now the first video game to sell over 300 million copies
The popular and everlasting Minecraft has achieved something that no other video game has done: Mojang's sandbox exploration and building game is now the first video game in history to sell over 300 million copies.
Ahead of its 15th anniversary next year, developer Mojang announced in a blog post that Minecraft, which has steadily grown in massive popularity for over a decade, has sold over 300 million copies (digital and physical editions combined). The developers also shared new data about player activity, such as stats showing that an average of 15 million skeletons are slayed daily, and an average 6.7 million diamonds are found each day.
"Just recently we also crossed 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all building our first dirt houses," Mojang developer Sophie Austin says. "I hope there'll be cake to celebrate our wonderful community, and our soon-to-be 15 years mining, crafting, and respawning together."
This achievement is extra significant because Minecraft is the first solo video game release - not including expanded editions or other iterations - to have sold this amount. The only other game that has come close to Minecraft is Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5, currently sitting at over 185 million copies, which has also grown in popularity in the decade since its release.
For further comparison, the best-selling Mario game of all time is the original NES Super Mario Bros., which is sitting at just under 60 million copies sold. The best-selling Switch game is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at 55.46 million.
From its debut in 2009, as an early access release before early access became more widely used by devs, Minecraft has grown into a major cross-media franchise.
