Sandbox video game, Minecraft marked its 10th year anniversary earlier this year and has now hit more than 112 million players per month.
The latest figure shows an increase of over 20 million players since Mircosoft updated in October 2018.
What makes this feat more interesting and remarkable is the fact that Minecraft is not a free-to-play game. The players who were added over the span of less than a year bought the game in one of the many consoles, computers, and mobile devices where it is available, whether as a physical purchase or as a digital download.
It is worth noting that Microsoft acquired Minecraft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, a surprising move at the time, but one that now looks like a steal five years after. On its 10th birthday, Microsoft said that Minecraft has sold more than 176 million copies, which may make it the best-selling video game of all time.
Minecraft studio head Helen Chiang in an interview said, “What we find is that it’s a game that players keep coming back to, it may not always be the one that’s in the forefront, because there are a lot of great games that continue to come out, but it’s one that they love to return to,” she added.
The evergreen nature of Minecraft, which players can just pick up and play no matter the time that has passed since the last session, has largely contributed to the game’s popularity, in addition to its wide availability. Its blocky graphics and simple mechanics make its accessible for players on budget devices, while the game’s capabilities are only limited by the player’s imagination.