On the second day of the new year,
the sales numbers for Minecraft were out.
Thanks to its early marketing—especially the special videos showing Riverside Along the River, the Forbidden City, a piano, even a calculator—
Minecraft had gained massive popularity before launch. On top of that, the game wasn't expensive, and pre-orders had been open for a whole month.
All these factors led to explosive sales.
Minecraft's 24-hour sales: 3,212,231 copies.
3.2 million on day one.
Calling it "unprecedented" might be a bit much,
but it was easily the best launch in recent years.
Even though the price was low and the game had its own advantages, 3.2 million copies on day one was undeniable.
What shocked industry designers even more was the incredible gameplay and glowing reviews from players.
During the early access pre-order trial, Minecraft's player rating was 9.0—good, but not outstanding.
Now, it had climbed to an unbelievable 9.8.
An almost impossible score.
Sure, the huge marketing push and the fact that it spread far beyond gaming circles helped,
to the point that even people who weren't gamers had heard about Minecraft.
With pre-orders open so early, many in the industry had expected big first-day numbers.
But 3 million copies in one day still left everyone stunned.
"Oh my god, Lucas is insane! A pixel block game selling this much!?"
"Pixel blocks? Does your block game look like this!?"
"The real thing is Minecraft's marketing—it was unbeatable!"
"Yeah! I've never seen a game marketed this creatively before."
"It's basically a textbook example of how to do it!"
"Impressive for sure, but it feels like only Minecraft could pull it off. No one else could really copy this."
"Exactly. Minecraft can market this way because its gameplay allows it. Regular games could never pull this off."
Industry designers who had been following Minecraft couldn't stop sighing in amazement.
Meanwhile, inside the SkyNova "Voyage" project office, after getting some data about Minecraft, Julian let out a long breath of relief. He even felt a bit lucky.
At first, he had really thought about going head-to-head with Minecraft, especially after its demo ended.
But the later wave of Minecraft promotions made him hold back. He chose to wait it out, even if it meant wasting all the warm-up promo resources they had already put in.
Looking at it now, that was a brilliant move.
After all, the game industry is a strange business.
No one can say for sure what will happen. A highly anticipated blockbuster might flop, while a small indie game could suddenly go viral worldwide.
Cases like that happen every year.
And Lucas himself already had an unbelievable track record, pulling off miracle after miracle.
With Minecraft's crazy hype and jaw-dropping showcases,
Julian had every reason to be cautious. Looking back, he really did play his cards right.
In another month, Minecraft's hype should cool off a bit. By then, when Voyage goes live, it should be a much safer bet.
............
The industry's focus on Minecraft obviously had nothing to do with the players themselves.
For players, diving back into Minecraft meant discovering more and more new things.
From knowing nothing at the start, to learning how to build furnaces with stone, cooking food inside them, smelting iron ingots, making armor and weapons…
From digging a hole in the ground to hide in, to carving out a cave and living like a caveman in the mountain.
Some even discovered that animals in the game could be tamed with food.
As time went by, players uncovered more and more of the game's fun.
Of course, there were also some tragic moments.
Like dying out in the wild while carrying loads of materials, only to lose everything because they couldn't find their death spot.
Or after finally building a warm, cozy home, going exploring, then getting completely lost on the way back—alive but basically dead inside.
Because of that, many players built tall towers as beacons near their houses so they could find their way home. Others placed markers along the path to avoid getting lost.
But the most despair-inducing thing was when someone spent ages building a house, slept through the night, and the next morning opened the door only to see a creeper squatting outside. Before they could react, the hiss and flash had already started.
At the same time, Minecraft posts and videos flooded communities and video sites everywhere.
"Minecraft First Experience: A Basic Guide to Show You How to Play!"
"Digging Three, Filling One, Caveman Life, Gathering on the Spot—Which of These Have You Done?"
"A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Duplex House!"
"MC Construction Team: Rebuilding the Great Wall!"
On video platforms and forums, the posts and videos ranged from shallow to deep.
At first, most were beginner tutorials,
mainly from players who had just figured out the basics of the game, sharing with newcomers.
But soon, as people got more familiar, videos started to explode in variety.
There were funny parody videos, technical house-building showcases, and guides for surviving better in survival mode.
On live streaming sites, Minecraft also became a hot pick. Many streamers played it casually in their spare time.
But even more than that, countless players were just enjoying the game in their own ways.
Some treated it as a pixel-style building toy, turning on creative mode or joining peaceful servers to build with like-minded friends.
Some treated it as a survival adventure game, gathering resources and carefully exploring the unknown.
Some treated it as a unique multiplayer game, forming groups and building up power together.
Others simply used it as a travel game, admiring Lucas' massive creations and exploring other players' open builds.
Of course, the internet wasn't without drama. Some players kindly opened servers but didn't enable block protection, only to have their work griefed.
There are always bad apples in the crowd.
But compared to other games, Minecraft had the least toxic atmosphere by far.
Even in multiplayer, which is usually the easiest way to start fights, the game was far more peaceful than most others.
And Lucas? He didn't pay much attention to that.
As long as there are people, there will be conflict. Player issues should be left for players to handle.
.........
As time went on, some third-party groups soon released sales data for Minecraft.
First week sales hit 10.12 million copies, with 8.62 million weekly active players.
Even though everyone could clearly feel how hot Minecraft was at the time, these numbers still shocked people.
What was going on? First week sales of over 10 million, and more importantly, 8.62 million active players in the same week?
What kind of monster was this?
For most big-budget games, the first day usually makes up the bulk of sales — sometimes even half of the total.
But that rule didn't seem to apply to Minecraft at all.
Its momentum was just too steady.
Inside NetDragon and SkyNova studios, Marcus and Julian weren't working together, but both stared at Minecraft's numbers in disbelief.
Julian had originally planned to launch Voyage a month after Minecraft's release.
He had even thought through how to promote it with very little budget.
But Minecraft's growing heat completely scared him.
He already expected big numbers, but seeing over 10 million in the first week still left him stunned.
Even though Minecraft's price wasn't high, this was only the first week!
And the hype didn't look like it was cooling down at all — it was even crazier than Fall Guys back in the day.
If it kept growing like this, wouldn't Minecraft end up being the best-selling game of all time?
And this so-called sandbox gameplay was nothing like what the industry had been debating as the "core" of games.
For a moment, Julian felt a bit lost.
(End of The Chapter)
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