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Minecraft notches 2.5 million sales

Release date of final version may be moved.

Indie PC sensation Minecraft has passed 2.5 million sales, game creator Markus Persson has announced.

"2.5 million sales!" he exclaimed on Twitter. "That's as much as Diablo 1 and Far Cry, according to Wikipedia."

Meanwhile on his blog, Persson revealed that the game's release date of 11th November may have to move, because MinecraftCon venues on that day are all booked up. "One week later, perhaps?" he thought out loud.

Although still in beta, Minecraft has made Persson a millionaire - he's been charging for the game since alpha. Minecraft currently sells for a pre-purchase price of €14.95. When the full Minecraft game launches, the price goes up to €20.

Minecraft will come to Xbox Live Arcade "this winter" and supports Kinect. Minecraft 360 - a name hasn't been decided - will be designed specifically for consoles; it won't be the PC game on an Xbox 360.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition is also in development for Xperia Play.

Markus Persson will be the game designer of both titles but won't do the programming, as he's focused on developing Minecraft PC.

Patch 1.7, "the adventure update", is currently in development for Minecraft PC. The general goal is to reward exploration and combat more, and maybe add pistons.

Patch 1.7 will also signal the first external mod support for Minecraft. "A very small group of people" will get the game code, wrote Persson - and they'll help shape the tools that the entire community will eventually get to use. Anyone can apply for access to the code, apparently.

In other news, Persson said he has now been to the Playboy Mansion. "Woo!"

Minecraft on Xbox 360.

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