The world's biggest game, 'Minecraft,' just surpassed 121 million copies sold

More than just popular, "Minecraft" is ubiquitous. I've said it before, I'll say it again: "Minecraft" is this generation's "Super Mario." 

To say it's a "big deal" is selling it short. It's on phones, game consoles, and computers. It's a game; it's an education tool; it's even an annual convention. "Minecraft" is a cultural phenomenon.

And that phenomenon just hit a new sales milestone: 121 million copies sold.

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For context, that's nearly 30 million more copies sold of a single game than Nintendo sold of all games on its last console, the Wii U. Heck, it's three times the number of copies that the original "Super Mario Bros." sold.

It's this continued dominance that helps explain why Microsoft shelled out $2.5 billion for the game back in September 2014 - the game is a sales juggernaut, having moved over 20 million units in the last six months. 

Microsoft put together some cute stats to contextualize just how large 121 million people really is:

Of note, those 121 million copies aren't sitting dormant - 55 million people play the game every month, on average. Though it's hard to know for certain, it's very likely that those 55 million monthly players make "Minecraft" the largest active gaming community on Earth. It's no wonder why we get beautiful works of art like this one-to-one re-creation of Vienna - with so many people playing, some folks are bound to create something magical.

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