MICROSOFT STATEMENT
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A decade later, Microsoft has finally ceased production on the Xbox 360. The company announced the news in a blog post from Xbox chief Phil Spencer today. "Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft," Spencer explained. "And while we've had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us. Which is why we have made the decision to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles. We will continue to sell existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles, with availability varying by country."
"The realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us."
First released in late 2005, the 360 went on to become a massive success, selling more than 80 million units, far outpacing the original Xbox and cementing Microsoft's spot in the console space. Its successor, the Xbox One, launched in 2013, and Microsoft is reportedly planning to release an updated version of the hardware some time soon. The company also points out that it will continue to support existing Xbox 360s, both in terms of hardware and software. Xbox Live servers for the 360 will remain active, for example, so that you can still play games online.
The writing has been on the wall for the 360 for some time, as Microsoft introduced backwards compatibility — making it possible to play certain 360 games on the Xbox One
Minecraft is a sandbox video game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson and later developed and published by Mojang. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft enable players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and combat. Multiple gameplay modes are available, including survival mode where the player must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health, a creative mode where players have unlimited resources to build with and the ability to fly, an adventure mode where players can play custom maps created by other players, and a spectator mode where players can fly around and clip through blocks, but cannot place or destroy any. The PC version of the game is renowned for its third-party mods, which add various new items, characters, worlds, and quests to the game.
Minecraft received five awards during the 2011 Game Developers Conference. Of the Game Developers Choice Awards, it won the Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game Award, and Best Debut Game Award; from the Independent Games Festival, it won the Audience Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. In 2012, Minecraft was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the category Best Downloadable Game. As of June 2016, over 106 million copies had been sold, with more than 40 million unique Minecraft players each month across all the various platforms the game is available on[12] making it the best-selling PC game to date and the second best-selling video game of all time behind Tetris. In September 2014, Microsoft announced a deal to buy Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property for US$2.5 billion; the acquisition was completed two months later.
On 12 January 2011, Minecraft passed 1 million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase.[117][118] At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth,[119] and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic.[120] By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version.[121] In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases.[122] By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time.[123] As of 10 October 2014, the game has sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time.[124] As of 10 October 2014, the game has sold approximately 60 million copies across all platforms, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.[124][125] On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users.[126]As of June 2016, over 106 million copies had been sold, [12] making it the best-selling PC game to date and the second best-selling video game of all time behind Tetris.
The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first 24 hours of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online.[127] Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold upwards of 1 million copies.[128] GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012.[129] In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day.[130] As of 4 April 2014, the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies.[131] In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales.[132] The PlayStation 3 version sold one million copies in five weeks.[133] The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console.[134] The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia.[135] By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version.[136] Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter.[137]
Critical reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic(PC) 93/100[138]
(PS4) 89/100[139]
(XONE) 88/100[140]
(PS3) 86/100[141]
(PSV) 84/100[142]
(X360) 82/100[143]
(WU) 75/100[144]
(PE) 53/100[145]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Eurogamer10/10 (PC)[25]
9/10 (Xbox 360)[148]
Game Informer9.25/10 (PC)[154]
8.75/10 (Xbox 360)[155]
GameSpot8.5/10 (PC)[149]
7.0/10 (Xbox 360)[82]
IGN9.0/10 (PC)[17]
7.5/10 (mobile)[151]
8.5/10 (Xbox 360)[115]
9.5/10 (PS3)[152]
9.7/10 (PS4)[153]
9.7/10 (Xbox One)[153]
9.5/10 (PSV)[152]
PC Gamer (US)96/100[156]
Minecraft has been praised for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay.[157][158][159] Critics have praised Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay.[149] Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable".[17] Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building.[149] The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favourably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends."[17] Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer commended Minecraft, deeming it "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences".[156] It has been regarding as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands. [160]
Reviewers have criticised the game's lack of in-game tutorials and instructions, making it difficult for new players to learn how to play the game. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle".[17] Critics also noted visual glitches that occur periodically.[149] In 2009, GameSpot maintained that the game has an "unfinished feel", adding that "some game elements seem incomplete or thrown together in haste."[149]
A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it.[161] Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker".[162] On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game.[163]
The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly.[115]
Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability in the game to collect resources and craft items, as well as the game's lack of hostile mobs and limited types of blocks, were especially criticised.[151][164][165] Recently,[when?] though, it has started receiving positive reviews, due to the game's updates adding more content. In addition to the controls, reviewers have complimented the graphics, though still note the lack of content.[151] In update 0.9.0, the Pocket Edition received an update with an unlimited world size, alleviating some of the reviewer's concerns.[166]
Awards
In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work.[167] In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010,[168] Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year,[169][170] and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year".[171] Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie.[172] It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK.[173] The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize along with community-voted Audience Award.[174][175] At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated.[176][177] It has also won GameCity's videogame arts prize.[178] On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012.[179][180] At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category.[181][182] In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Notch received The Special Award.[183] In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category,[184] and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category.[185] In 2013 it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards.[186] Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014.[187] In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list.[188]
Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run.[citation needed] It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014.[citation needed] Minecraft won the prize for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards.