Hello, here's your semi-frequent reminder that Minecraft is a huge game. Minecraft Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive officer, revealed that Mojang's build'em-up had nearly 140 million monthly active users between January 1 through March 31, as part of the company’s most recent financial update. Even so, the number of engaged players Minecraft has right now is 30% higher than that of the same time last year.
Nadella also explains that Minecraft creators have earned more than $350 million from "more than one billion downloads of mods, add-ons, and other experiences within Minecraft". This isn't even including activities outside of Microsoft's marketplace either.
The pandemic is likely to lead to an increase in gamers to Minecraft, but there are many other factors driving interest as well. In the past year, we received Mojang's blocky spin on Diablo, Minecraft Dungeons, and this year we're getting the Caves and Cliffs update in two parts. Mojang has previously explained why it chose to split the update into two parts to ensure the quality, manage technical complexity and keep the development team healthy. You can expect to see new blocks and mobs this summer, and even more complex parts connected to world generation in the coming holiday season.
Microsoft reports that it generated $41.7 billion in revenues last year, an increase of 19% over the previous year.
"Over a year after the pandemic began the curves of digital adoption aren't slowing down. They're increasing, and it's just the beginning," Nadella says.