Minecraft sales top 100M | Hacker News Reader

Minecraft sales top 100M

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98 pointschang230181 comments

If you have young kids, then there's a good chance you know how deeply Minecrafted has penetrated their worlds, replacing or augmenting Legos (or other, lesser, building toys) and video games in general. It's more than that they've sold 100M units, it's that there's an entire generation of kids now whose basis for creativity/entertainment is Minecraft, and who knows what future behavior that will inform.

It's not just a staggering number of units, it's a shift in shared cultural experience for a generation.

So much better than my generation. Where our shared cultural point is sitting in front of the TV Saturday mornings watching cartoons and eating sugar cereal.

Now we binge watch on-demand TV as fat adults.

Some of us were perfectly capable of watching too much TV and eating too much sugary and fatty foods as children and not continuing that lifestyle into adulthood.

Not everything you do as a child informs and solidifies your decisions and lifestyle as an adult.

While I agree, and manage to live comfortably without TV in my life, i find the sugar addiction for me is still very real (despite a conscious effort to avoid it). Having said this, I don't believe it is directly related to childhood as much as it is just a fact of the food that is readily available to us as adults.

Young people and children still watch a lot of "TV" but a big share of it is done via streaming. Also, judging by how many young couples make their kids watch "TV" on a tablet or phone while they are waiting on some appointment (situations where my generation had to actually stay put or find creative ways to pass the time) I think the case can be made that children are actually spending more time in front of the "TV" than our generation did. In any case they are spending more time in front of the now ubiquitous screen and so may very well end up with a bigger waistline too.

It blew my mind when Lego Minecraft appeared a Christmas or two ago.

I saw Minecraft as a digital interpretation of Lego; how meta that you can now get a physical interpretation of Minecraft.

Simply having green and brown pixels[0] is enough to elicit cries of joy, regardless of whether there is any minecraft logo visible.

0: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pixel-Duvet-Cover-Pillow-Single/dp/...

My 7yo is pretty big into minecraft and lego both. We have close to 30k bricks in our inventory, and he did get a minecraft specific lego set for christmas. We have a LOT of fun building things from minecraft into lego sets and vice-versa. I thought that he would prefer to build things in the virtual world (prototyping etc) before building in lego, but he really enjoys the physical process in lego and then trying to make the virtual (and at times more restrictive) blocks in minecraft.

Or even just isometric boxes. "Hey! A Minecraft van!"

http://imgur.com/jeB5GHm

I'm 27 and I find this bedding pretty rad.

It's not just playing Minecraft either - it's watching videos of other people playing Minecraft EG:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/10980512/Stampylon...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Garrett

Steve's Law: No matter where you are on YouTube, you are never more than two clicks away from a Minecraft video.

Not necessarily true. The recommended videos are based on what you watch. I hardly ever get recommended Minecraft videos.

2 clicks away can be the following. If some channel you watch is subscribed to a Minecraft channel, you can get a Minecraft video by just looking at the channels profile. Not necessarily recommended videos.

Yep. It was tongue-in-cheek. More of a comment on th sheer number of Minecraft videos on YouTube.

My 9 year old daughter regularly watches "TheDiamondMinecart" on YouTube, who has 10.9 million subscribers. From the little I've seen, it looks like about 80% of his videos are Mincraft, 20% other games.

Yeah, we (if you are 30ish plus or minus) probably had TV shows and cartoons as shared reference points - this generation will have which Youtubers they watched as those reference points.

I don't know about that, there are so many more YouTube channels and videos, while there were few enough OTA channels and shows that there will be common experiences.

Everyone knows who Bugs Bunny is, and can probably share the memory of a few plot points of some iconic episodes.

A group of people 20 years from now talking about videos they watched on YouTube will have a hard time coming up with a channel that two of them remember watching, much less a particular video. Unless, of course, they play the stupid game of "no, I remember one that was funnier" and spend the time searching on their phones for that one video that will one-up the others while to playing the videos they have queued up...ugh. https://xkcd.com/920/

You're right that there will be a way higher number of reference points with varying degrees of awareness, but I'm pretty sure most kids know Stampycat, Evantube, etc..

The only thing both of my girls (9 and 12) do on their devices (Kindles, iPod touches and laptops) is play Minecraft or watch Minecraft videos.

My wife and I wonder what kind of amazing positive effect playing Minecraft will have on their and their generations 3d spatial accuity. Is it going to create a large cohort of architects when they hit college age?

Yeah, it's amazing seeing my brother's kids talk about Minecraft. My childhood centered around a few cartoons, most of which were made by the same groups of people. I like the idea of a small set of creators having such a huge impact on a generation.

According to Wikipedia this makes it the second best selling video-game of all time [1], only behind Tetris. Pretty impressive.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_gam...

I haven't played in years, but it's incredible how popular this game has become. One day, I'll be able to prove to my kids that I played Minecraft before it even went Beta.

I have a screenshot receipt just to be able to show them how few people were playing when I was. I can't wait to get the "you're so out of touch" eyerolls from them when they're teenagers.

I played wurm and hit up notch on IRC. Suggested some gamejam ideas before I personally could code. My claim to fame :p

My sons, 8 and 10 years old, have just got bored of Minecraft. Their friends are all on Clash of Clans or their subproducts. Even worse, they are spending a lot of time just watching Netflix. I'd prefer they were doing something that stimulates more their intellect.

I think MC is a really cool and creative game. A lot better than other videogames. How would I get them interested again?

Might not be interesting, but maybe worth trying:

TeachCraft – Learning Python Through Minecraft (learning programming) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11599714

The Minecraft Generation (Roblox and other alternatives/enhancements) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11496228

Try making it more constrained. I play beta 1.7.3 with no mods, which has a much smaller selection of blocks and resources and makes you be more creative to accomplish the same goals.

Have they tried using mods?

Sure. They use the Technich Laucher and install mods themselves. They also played a lot of minigames in online servers.

Try to get them into making their own mods. There's childrens books on just doing that. They would learn programming, and we know that's a rabbit hole that once you're hooked, you may never get out.

How much of this is due to mods and minigames?

No one I know plays stock vanilla Minecraft anymore.

This is even stranger, considering mods and minigames have never been supported by Mojang directly.

Majority of Minecraft comes from console/mobile. Minecraft mobile surpassed Minecraft desktop in 2013, with consoles doing same thing later. Most people don't play the original java version that has mods. Most people don't play with mods.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225643/Understanding_what...

http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/29/5665834/minecraft-sales-15m...

I had the same opinion, but that may be just our perspective, given the people we know (and follow on youtube).

Maybe it's more accurate to say "most old players have moved on from vanilla Minecraft".

Frankly, Minecraft does not need mods. However, Mojang took too long to add content to the game. Heck, even Dwarf Fortress seems to add new features faster.

Today, vanilla feels... "bland". "Oh right, I have no fluid containers nor pipes, have to move stuff one bucket at a time". "Right, let me build this redstone flip-flop for the umpteenth time". "Oh yeah, there's no way I can automate crop replanting, just harvest". Every game start is grindy in the same way, the only thing that keeps it interesting is the random terrain generator.

But that's after playing for a while. New players still get the "discovery" experience, redstone learning curve and so on. That can take months to wear off.

Also, many people are using mods without even knowing, depending on which server they play on.

I play vanilla, and have since a short time pre-beta. I like the simplicity; it's kind of like playing a creative version of Solitaire with a giant Lego set.

Then again, I also don't play on a server, watch people on Youtube, or really have a connection to any kind of community, so I don't really have the chance to get envious of what other players have available.

I try to play Minecraft these days, but it makes me so lonely.

This comes from the fact that I run a server which used to have ~20 on at any given time and now has 0, along with the fact that I learned to play it alongside my ex-girlfriend.

I wish there was some way for me to get past the loneliness.

Minecraft's always been a place to go when I want to be alone for a little while, so playing on a server has always been a little uncomfortable to me.

I've had other places that I'd go for companionship that cleared out over time, so while it wasn't Minecraft, I can imagine some of how you feel about it :-/

Well crap, the pipes mod is a completely obvious mod that really should be in vanilla Minecraft that I never even considered. But then again I haven't really played the game since it got out of Beta.

My son and I are pretty deep into Minecraft, and we have been for a number of years now.

We certainly play Feed The Beast modpacks, but we spend most of our time on client-vanilla but modified servers.

Regarding your last statement, it does strike me as a strange thing as well, but also consider what Linux kernel you're running. For non-HN people, the chances are essentially zero that they're running a Linus kernel. I haven't run a Linus kernel in...I can't even remember.

Granted, the analogy has some weaknesses, starting with how one needs to essentially hack mods into Mojang's official releases, a rather different approach than 'modding' the Linux kernel.

I am not sure that the analogy works at all.

Any child can download a "Feed the Beast Launcher" or somesuch that's able to install a modpack with a single click. For some packs, that amounts to hundreds of mods. Who cares if that requires hacking bytecode, that's all abstracted away. It's even abstracted away from developers, ever since Forge was released.

My kids and I play the stock iOS version all the time. Could be outliers but we just play for the building aspect.

I tried the iOS version a long time ago and moving/mining in that game annoyed me to no end. Is that something that significantly improved over time, or do you just don't mind it?

Clearly, based on the data, you are not outliers.

Do your kids frequently watch YouTube videos of the PC version and ask for Spongebob mod or this or that map?

My nephew is 8 and every time I visit he wants me to install some new minigame mod he has found on YouTube.

I run the TrueCraft project - https://truecraft.io

There are 1,320 users. Which is a very small portion of the Minecraft community, but we do exist.

This is great. How do you feel about Minetest?

This is great. How do you feel about Minetest?

Minetest is great, but ultimately will remain niche. Vanilla Minetest is just too sterile (no mobs, "dead-ish" world--big turn-off for kids), and installation+mods is just too hard for non-technical people.

It's very cool, but has different goals than TrueCraft.

Do you find that it splinters the community?

No.

"Minigames have never been supported by Mojang directly" is not entirely true - Realms, which is Mojang's own Minecraft server service, has a minigame mode for the hosted worlds.

This is very true.

I suppose my attitude is from the jaded viewpoint of Mojang not delivering on a modding API after years and years of promises. Even after they bought Bukkit and sat on it.

And yet somehow installing mods is a way to kill the parent in your family. :(

I know there are some tools around this but it is a painful exercise in version numbers to get anything working in minecraft with mods.

>Microsoft's video games revenue has been climbing steadily since the Minecraft acquisition, and it increased by $367 million in the 2015 financial year "mainly due to sales of Minecraft."

Is that really a lot? How much more do they need to sell to get their money back from what they spent to buy Minecraft in the first place?

They paid 2bn for Minecraft, not sure if 367m is just software sales or merchandising as well but the merchandise is everywhere here in the UK and it seems to sell well.

The merchandising is awesome too. I see kids with creeper backpacks and I wish I had things like that when I was that age.

Not sure when or where you grew up, but at least in US in the 80s and 90s there were tons of television and video-game branded merchandise...

In the 80s and 90s, it tended to be the opposite, though: tons of merchandise for which "advertising" television shows were created (things that come to mind are GI Joe, M.A.S.K. ...).

It's a tax dodge, is what it is. Mojang is based in Sweden, so Microsoft could buy it with the big hoard of foreign cash they're avoiding repatriating to avoid paying tax on it a second time. Then, all the domestic sales of Minecraft are money that's on American shores already.

And they'll pay tax on the profit of those US sales... It's not a dodge.

The alternative is using that same money in the US to generate sales, meaning there is sales tax eventually on it anyway. It is still saving hundreds of millions in tax by not repatriating it.

The Minecraft EDU version has still not officially launched. It has the potential to simply take the ed tech market by storm. Those sales numbers should be interesting.

MinecraftEdu has existed for years. That new one is just crippled and much more expensive...

>Microsoft says four copies have even been sold to people in Antarctica

Does anybody know who these people might be?

I'd wager it's scientists and/or laborers at McMurdo.

Also, how do they know the sales are in Antartica?

Billing address?

96598 is the zip code of the south pole.

Presumably based on netblocks and email addresses, I doubt anyone's billing info is going to match their location though.

I am surprised Minecraft doesn't have licensed content you can buy, like how I can buy Spiderman or Harry Potter Legos. Seems likes a logical next move, considering their target audience is very similar.

Minecraft licensed to Lego a few years ago. Lego even just revealed another big set from Minecraft just this month.[0]

[0] http://shop.lego.com/en-US/The-Village-21128?icmp=SHM_21128

I think they meant the flip side of that -- having Spider-Man and Harry Potter themed downloadable content for the Minecraft game.

Correct. I know Minecraft has a large modding community. But last I checked, I had to download third party software to do this.

The Wii U edition has Mario themed stuff.

Well, guess I know what I'm buying tonight. It'll be the 4th time I've bought Minecraft, but whatever. The Wii U controller is undoubtably better for input than the iPad version anyway.

Ahh, gotcha. That makes more sense. The Lego comparison was confusing because of the existing marketplace.

They are experimenting with this a bit. For instance, the Wii U version of Minecraft has official Nintendo-licensed DLC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8EhPT6ixTA

I've paid a few bucks for theme packs on the XBox based on other games like Halo and Skyrim. They include skins, textures and maps for about $5. I'm glad there's nothing like it on the desktop, I'd hate to be getting in-game DLC ads. But with Microsoft in control, I'm afraid it will eventually happen.

what? of course they have it, they have legos, tshirts, plushies, tons of stuff

This is impressive but I imagine at this point the profit in minecraft is in the brand, merch is everywhere, there is minecraft lego, etc.

It's pretty impressive how much of a cultural icon steve and the creeper have become, in the long run I think this will be a good purchase for MS.

100 million sales. So? MS bought Minecraft for $2,500,000,000. At this point, for all it's popularity, Minecraft is still being subsidized by the other MS products. It has yet to reach profitability and might never do so ... at least for Microsoft. Notch certainly made his numbers.

It's not about what it is today, it's about what it can become. Minecraft is firmly in the trajectory of becoming absolutely massive, and if nothing stops its pace in the next few years, it's not crazy for Microsoft to bet that it will become profitable at the price they paid in the next 5 years or so.

The cold hard numbers suggest that Minecraft is well past its peak. MS sold 50M copies for 2 years, which is ~ 70K/day. 2016 they have sold 50K/day. Also:

https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=minecraft

And really, 100M is already "absolutely massive" in my book. How much bigger can it grow? Will everyone on Earth be playng Minecraft?

I believe that's 100 million COPIES sold, not $100 million in revenue. At $27/copy, you do the math.

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