What you need to know
- Minecraft has sold over 176 million copies.
- You can purchase the game for $20 on the Microsoft Store.
- Minecraft appears to have surpassed Tetris in terms of sales.
Minecraft is an incredibly popular survival game which focuses on gathering resources, building shelters, and exploring a procedurally-generated world. The title has become a cultural sensation in recent years along the lines of Fortnite. This is mostly due to the fact that it features open-ended gameplay and has received excellent post-launch support over the past decade.
The same version of Minecraft is available across a number of devices like the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, allowing users to play together. In a recent post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft started that the game has sold over 176 million units as of its tenth birthday. The company said the following.
This is an incredibly exciting time for Minecraft. Ten years ago today, the game launched on PC. Now, Minecraft has sold more than 176 million copies to-date in virtually every country in the world. As a way to celebrate ten years for the franchise, we announced today a brand-new Minecraft game… Minecraft Earth.
Minecraft Earth is a Pokémon Go-like experience which allows you to build together in an augmented reality environment. It takes cooperation and communication to another level because you have to work with other players to build complex structures.
Given the fact that Minecraft has sold 176 million units, it might be the best-selling game of all time. Tetris seems to be its closest rival, but it's not an exact comparison because a lot of different versions of Tetris exist with different visuals and features. If you analyze all Tetris purchases — and remove the copious free-to-play versions — it turns out that past iterations have sold 70 million copies. This figure appears to contain partial phone sales because in 2010, EA announced that the mobile version crossed 100 million copies sold. The 70 million figure was reported in 2009.
Around the same time, EA adopted a free-to-play model for Tetris on smartphones. Instead of purchasing the game outright, you have to buy microtransactions which give you coins and the ability to remove advertisements. Even if we combine the 70 million figure with the 100 million figure — though there might be overlap — Tetris sales are still lower than Minecraft sales.
Minecraft Earth at Windows Central
Minecraft seems to be the best-selling game of all time if you take all of these factors into account. Even though estimates suggest that Tetris has been downloaded over 500 million times, the fact that it's fragmented among so many different spin-offs means that a direct comparison between the two games can never be made. A better comparison would be between Grand Theft Auto V which is at roughly 110 million units sold.
Diamonds are forever

Minecraft
Mind the skeletons
Minecraft is a legendary crafting survival game from Mojang and Microsoft, where players can build literally anything they can imagine.
Awesome Minecraft merch
Love Minecraft? We're fairly certain you'll love these accessories equally.

Minecraft for Nintendo Switch ($30 at Amazon)
Minecraft for Nintendo Switch features full cross-play between Xbox, Windows 10, mobile phones, and even VR!
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

Why I stopped buying Surface
I used to love Surface, but after years of problems, I've thrown in the towel. Here's why.

This Fallout: New Vegas mod is basically a whole new game
After seven years of development, a team of modders has finally finished and released Fallout: The Frontier, a full game-sized project that takes the series to Portland, Oregon. Here's a look at what it has to offer.

Here are all the Xbox and PC games delayed through 2021
Thanks to the good old pandemic, 2021 could be the year known for game delays. Here's every major game delayed to 2021 and beyond so far.

These great PC survival games will have you hooked in no time
Survival games task players with navigating harsh environments by gathering resources, building tools, and crafting shelters. These are the best representatives of the genre you can play on your PC.