FortressCraft sells 750,000 on Xbox Live Indie Games

Adam Sawkins, creator of the oft-maligned Minecraft-clone FortressCraft, announcedon Twitterthat Fortresscraft has reached a mammoth 750,000 sales since its release just over a year ago in April 2011.

The announcement comes - perhaps not coincidentally - one week before the launch of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Many people have speculated that the official release of Minecraft on Xbox Live Arcade will put several similar games out of business, including FortressCraft.

Sawkins isn't the only developer who has seen success imitating the formula of Minecraft. Most of the top 5 games on XBLIG riff off Minecraft in some way. The lack of a proper Xbox 360 version of Minecraft has allowed these imitators to thrive.

However, Minecraft will be launching at one of the highest rates Xbox Live Arcade has ever seen, $20. With Fortresscraft and its ilk being so well received by fans, it's hard to imagine Minecraft putting them out to pasture. Especially considering Fortresscraft sells for just $3.

Andrew Groen

Andrew is a freelance video game journalist, writing for sites like Wired and GamesRadar. Andrew has also written a book called EMPIRES OF EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online.