Minecraft is now the first video game to sell over 300 million copies

The popular and everlasting Minecraft has achieved something that no other video game has done: Mojang's sandbox exploration and building game is now the first video game in history to sell over 300 million copies.

Ahead of its 15th anniversary next year, developer Mojang announced in a blog post that Minecraft, which has steadily grown in massive popularity for over a decade, has sold over 300 million copies (digital and physical editions combined). The developers also shared new data about player activity, such as stats showing that an average of 15 million skeletons are slayed daily, and an average 6.7 million diamonds are found each day.

"Just recently we also crossed 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all building our first dirt houses," Mojang developer Sophie Austin says. "I hope there'll be cake to celebrate our wonderful community, and our soon-to-be 15 years mining, crafting, and respawning together."

This achievement is extra significant because Minecraft is the first solo video game release - not including expanded editions or other iterations - to have sold this amount. The only other game that has come close to Minecraft is Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5, currently sitting at over 185 million copies, which has also grown in popularity in the decade since its release.

For further comparison, the best-selling Mario game of all time is the original NES Super Mario Bros., which is sitting at just under 60 million copies sold. The best-selling Switch game is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at 55.46 million.

From its debut in 2009, as an early access release before early access became more widely used by devs, Minecraft has grown into a major cross-media franchise. Following Microsoft's purchase of developer Mojang and Minecraft in 2014, the Minecraft franchise has expanded in larger ways. Along with the video game, there's now a Minecraft movie starring Jason Mamoa on the way. The 2025 movie will be directed by Napoleon Dynamite creator Jared Hess, and written by Rob McElhenney of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame.

Minecraft continues to receive regular updates and content drops, with a new Star Wars-themed update on the way and finally coming soon. The game's success is largely due to its wide appeal across age groups, with children and adults alike able to dive into Minecraft's procedurally generated worlds in solo or co-op play. It also became a popular hangout among streamers over the last decade, which helped propel Minecraft to larger popularity.

The Minecraft mob vote candidates for 2023 are in, and it seemed like an actual fight until somebody said "dog armor."

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Alessandro is a freelance writer and editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area who has covered the games, tech, and entertainment industries for more than 13 years. Having previously worked at GameSpot, CNET, and various other outlets writing features and coordinating event coverage, Alessandro enjoys playing games on PC, but also gives plenty of time to his Nintendo Switch. You can find him on various socials at @afillari.