First, the good news. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has set a new single-day sales record for XBLA. Not only that, but according to Markus Persson, the game was profitable just one hour after going up for sale on Xbox Live Arcade. According to the Minecraft creator, the XBLA version of the hugely popular title sold more than 400,000 copies in its first day at $20 apiece. The previous record holder? Last month's Trials Evolution.
As great as it is to see a title like Minecraft finding success on the 360, the news sparked a bit of a debate between Persson and Polytron, who questioned the treatment given to Persson in regards to updates for Minecraft. The XBLA version of Minecraft will be getting a handful of free updates, “which is something every other developer on the platform is told is simply not an option” according to Polytron.
Polytron also questioned how Persson found out about his sale statistics so early, stating “standard procedure” was “you find out how much you sold when you get your first check 3-4 months later.” Persson even admitted there might be something “special” in his contract with Microsoft, though he states he was intentionally absent from contract negotiations.
Whether Microsoft is giving special treatment to Mojang is unclear, but even that wouldn’t have stopped the game from selling so well in its first day. Even though it might be bit controversial and unfair to other developers that Minecraft will be receiving free updates, at least the people playing the game will be happy to know Minecraft will be continue to get support on XBLA.
SOURCE: Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition breaks sales records [Press Release]
Minecraft XBLA was profitable in an hour, broke digital sale records [Joystiq]
L3377MA573R
May 17, 2012 at 7:01pm
Of course Microsoft would give him special treatment. It's literally the most successful indie game of all time; a guy in sweden, in under a year, made millions upon millions of dollars.Why would anybody be surprised that Microsoft would bend their rules to accomodate such an obviously massive money-maker? Who doesn't want minecraft on their system? Microsoft earned exclusive console access, and I say all the more power to them. If Polytron wants special treatment, maybe he should make better games.
