Minecraft has earned over $33 million, Notch reveals

by David Hinkle on Apr 6th 2011 5:20PM

Let that soak in: $33 million. All those dollars, slightly eroded by Paypal fees and taxes, come from around 800,000 alpha version adopters, who picked up the game at €9.95 ($14.26), and over one million beta version sales at €14.95 ($21.43). Currently, the Minecraft stats page lists 1,813,527 customers, pegging revenue at slightly above €23 million ($33 million).

The figures come from a Reddit thread, where Minecraft creator Markus Persson (AKA Notch) shared the figures -- a level of success he admitted he's somewhat uncomfortable with. "I've always had a tendency to feel like I'm just not quite keeping up with demands, even before starting work on Minecraft. It's not gotten better by having a runaway hit like this."

The latest update for the game, version 1.4, launched last week, adding a host of new features to the game. A documentary is also in the works.

Via: Gamasutra
Source: Reddit

Tags: markus-persson, Minecraft, mmorpg, mojang-specifications, pc, sales

Reader Comments (57)

wow, congrats! that's a lot of money. did one person make this?

I still don't know what minecraft is. it looks like 3d dot heroes in the screens. is that what it is like

@eat it

No it's not. I don't normally say stuff like this but you should buy it, just buy it. then you will know.

@eat it
The best way I can describe it is first-person Legos with green assholes who want to blow you crap up.

@eat it

It's legos meets zombies meets doodle god.

@eat it
its a hard game to explain, you really need to play it to understand it.

if you realy want to see what its like without buying it first, look at some lets play minecraft videos on youtube.

The real fun is in the multiplayer servers though.

@zack11190 And wolves that look like puppies that would be adorable if your eyes were square. $33 million for puppies.

That's a pretty staggering figure for what Minecraft is.

Fun?

@Entegy

Tell me, enlightened one... just what IS Minecraft?

@Entegy

An indie game by one man developed completely in Java?

Yeah, $33 million is a lot when you put it that way.

@Mike DPad

A miserable pile of read-to-blow green shrub creatures?

@Mike DPad You bestow me with such titles, but I even I cannot tell.

Seriously though, I meant that fact that people are happily paying for a game that was in alpha, and now in beta. There is no advertising, this was all word-of-mouth. It's insane!.

@Entegy - I'm more surprised given that it doesn't sound _that_ appealing when trying to explain it to people. Even videos of it can just come off as confusing. Yet, people came in droves, so good job

inb4Heshouldfinishthedamngame

@HybridPara
That being said, I really feel Minecraft is worth way more than 20 bucks (not that I'd just pay that off the bat without thinking first) and I'm happy for Mojang and Notch.

Here's hoping for more content and success, and maybe the addition of minions or something, or Nether in SMP

Description Unit price Qty Amount
Minecraft premium account
14.95 EUR 1 14.95 EUR
Subtotal 14.95 EUR
Total €14.95 EUR
Payment €14.95 EUR
Payment sent to support@mojang.com
From amount $21.59 USD

That's how much I've added to that pile.

In other news I made Isengard yesterday.

@Marco le Polo

Tower of Orthanc and everything?

@dudes113

Well actually it was mainly just the tower and it's on an island. So it looks like it's been flooded. Just needs some Ents.

@Marco le Polo

Were hobbits taken there?

I hope he drowns in his money along with all his fanboys.

@(Unverified) That's a tad rude

@(Unverified)

Yeah, cause the xbox, playstation, nintendo, and apple fanboys are MUCH better.

@(Unverified)
u jelly?

@(Unverified)

Thats how I wanna go out, drowning in cash. Not like Elvis, who died on the crapper.

@PointlessPuppies He so jelly.

@OrangeGamer
Green jelly?

Found deep inside caves?

@(Unverified)
Was that a...insult?

I feel like I am in some kind of crazy parallel world. Somewhere in the multiverse there's another me thinking: "Why does nobody play minecraft? It's so awesome! I bet that there's an alternate universe where it gets the recognition it deserves!"

It's like living in some kind of reverse Twilight Zone story.

@Onomah
I saw a guy in a creeper shirt, today...

@(Unverified)
Oh, and sorry to get off topic, but how the hell do I "verify" myself? Nothing I do works.......

@(Unverified)

Log out, log in.

Great for Notch and the rest of the team but I do wish the performance of the server would improve. All in due time... still a fantastic game!

That's incredible for game that's not officially finished yet! Hm, maybe I should buy this game now...

I really hope he ends up adding pistons to the vanilla game, that and a storyline or something and this game is complete for me. oh and maybe a bunch of new mineable materials.

@AntiVillian

You should try some of the user created adventure maps, some of them are truly incredible.

...and it's still in beta.

With that said, it's still a fantastic game/toy/lego simulator whatever you want to call it. I just hope there is more of a reward for simply walking and exploring the landscape in the final version. Needs more dungeons.

Anywho, back to playing this at work.

@SmashZilla

Try adventure maps. Those sound like what you want.

I wish I could make $33 million :(

@Ospov - but you can... WITH THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

First step: turn that emoticon upside down

@Crayola Q Pants ESQ

):

It's not working...

He also expressed how awesome it would be to have it on the 3DS...

3DS (handheld i love) + Minecraft (game i love) = Something so awesome i cannot express it via the medium of text on joystiq.

@Red Deer It would be like animal crossing, but fun!

Let's hope these stories inspire more and more creative indie games.

Also, inb4Notchisn'tworking arguments

@Hivetyrant As an indie-game developer who recently went bankrupt and will spend the next few years digging myself out of debt, I actually find these stories to be depressing. It feels more like my industry is like a casino or lottery. Lots of losers and a handful of big winners. It sucks.

I wonder how much more he'd have if all 'dem cheapos didn't pirate it.

@MrPistachio
Probably about the same, because if they didn't pirate it they'd probably just not play it at all.

I pirated it, then bought it when I saved up enough money from my job being a tool. Absolutely worth it.

Only issue I have is, the useless updates.

1.4.. with useless cookies, and wolves? Should of been delayed abit for achievements and stats :/

@Faenix Cookies are worth more than achievements or stats, even if you're are the biggest self esteem whore on the planet.

@BigD145 PS: cookies aren't worth much

@BigD145

Umm were you dissing me?

cookies heal 1/2 a heart, and cocoa beans are from dungeons. Thus NOT WORTH IT.

Wolves, there cool.. but dont find em usefull

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Minecraft

Minecraft has earned over $33 million, Notch reveals

Reader Comments (57)

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:24PM eat it said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:33PM AntiVillian said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:35PM zack11190 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:35PM Babakinush said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:08PM lyons said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:16PM BigD145 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:26PM Entegy said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:39PM Unreal Armos said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:14PM Mike DPad said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:47PM Alexisonfire said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 8:33PM Nytemare said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 9:33PM Entegy said

Posted: Apr 7th 2011 1:05AM Crayola Q Pants ESQ said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:27PM HybridPara said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:29PM HybridPara said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:29PM Marco le Polo said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:36PM dudes113 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:59PM Marco le Polo said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:48PM Alexisonfire said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:32PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:35PM HybridPara said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:37PM dudes113 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:40PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:34PM jph89 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:04PM OrangeGamer said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:25PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 11:00PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:32PM Onomah said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:19PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:24PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:50PM Colin said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:35PM Mike DPad said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:35PM Trogdorwhore said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:36PM AntiVillian said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:03PM iHavePants said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:37PM SmashZilla said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:50PM Colin said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:39PM Ospov said

Posted: Apr 7th 2011 1:10AM Crayola Q Pants ESQ said

Posted: Apr 7th 2011 2:50AM Ospov said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:42PM Red Deer said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 9:39PM gonintendo said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:46PM Hivetyrant said

Posted: Apr 7th 2011 1:40PM BritC said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 5:57PM MrPistachio said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 11:16PM twocows said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:12PM Faenix said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:17PM BigD145 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 6:17PM BigD145 said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 7:01PM Faenix said

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