Minecraft Draws Over $33 Million In Revenue From 1.8M Paying Customers

Indie mega-hit Minecraft continues to grow in popularity, with new sales breakdown data from creator Markus "Notch" Persson suggesting the game has made over $33 million in revenue so far. Responding to a question on a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread, Persson broke down the game's sales so far, separating roughly 800,000 alpha version sales at the introductory €9.95 price point from over 1 million beta version sales at €14.95. The Minecraft stats page currently lists 1,813,527 paying customers for the title, which would put the total revenues for the game at over €23 million, or just over $33 million. In the Reddit answer, Persson notes that this net revenue is reduced by Paypal fees and taxes, as well as unmentioned distribution costs. "But it's still a huge wad of money," he notes. Minecraft reached the one million paid customer milestone in January, less than a month after the beta release and roughly seven months after the alpha release. Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview thread, Persson admits to feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the Minecraft's massive success. "I've always had a tendency to feel like I'm just not quite keeping up with demands, even before starting work on Minecraft," he said. "It's not gotten better by having a runaway hit like this." Persson also offered advice to his fellow indie game designers. "Start with just making games to get used to it," he said. "Focus on the details. What makes a jump animation feel good? What is a good main menu? Try to finish a few projects."