It seems there is no stopping the sandbox, open-world, block-based juggernaut that is Minecraft. As well as being the third best selling PC game of all time, recent reports indicate that the pocket edition has exceeded more than 21 million sales. This is according to a Tweet posted yesterday by Jens “Jeb” Bergensten, one of the developers.
MC:PE has sold over 20 million copies (actually, over 21M), so we’re going to have a live broadcast on Monday: https://t.co/5p38eaIaqm
— Jens Bergensten (@jeb_) April 9, 2014
The news comes just one week after Game Informer reported that the Xbox 360 edition had sold more than 12 million copies. Despite not having the complete features that come with the PC and console versions of Minecraft, the pocket edition is still a successful cross-platform alternative for mobile users.
The pocket edition was released on August 16th, 2011 as an alpha version for the Xperia Play on the Android Market. An iOS port was later released in November 2011 and a Playstation Vita version was announced in 2013, which is set for release in May 2015 (according to the Minecraft Wiki).
By now, millions of gamers are familiar with the creative/survival phenomenon that began its humble life in 2009, developed by a singular Swedish programmer who has since become a video game celebrity. Recently, Minecraft was given the ultimate recognition when a new episode of The Simpsons reworked their famous couch gag to pay homage to the block-y sensation.
Posting to his Twitter account, Minecraft creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, seemed pleasantly surprised by the reference in the popular TV show’s intro sequence, “I STILL [sic] feel a bit like it’s just this small game I made at home.” He said, before adding, “It’s so weird to have all these things happen. <3”
We’ll continue to bring you more news on this beloved game as it arises, but for now, tell us, have you picked up the pocket edition yet?
