Minecraft Has Now Outsold The Sims 2: Pets

I had a choice of headlines for this - perhaps that Minecraft has become the ninth best-selling PC game of all time, that it has now shifted over 8 million paid copies in total or that Notch heralded that last with the cryptic phrase 69I960EHE0A4A0IVG0EHE02500R4R0G1T30PLJ00V6V0EHE0V1U01V10U5U0VGV0V4R. But I think you'll agree, Minecraft outselling The Sims 2: Pets is the news we're really here for.

8 million would be an enormous milestone for a game released by a major publisher, let alone a behatted indie from Sweden, and it speaks to the fact that Minecraft has gone way beyond ubiquitous game status and into genuine cultural phenomenon.

I'm fascinated by its placing in Wikipedia's list of best-selling PC games (as linked to by devs Mojang) - I had no idea Guild Wars was so huge, while I'm confused by how World of Warcraft could have sold 4.7 million copies but has 10 million subscribers. Also, Christ, I forget just how big Half-Life 2 was. 12 million copies! Valve taking their sweet time over the follow-up kinda makes more sense in light of that - that must feel like an enormous weight of expectation.

Anyway! Well done to team Mojang. You made a very nice videogame, yes you did.