Minecraft Sells 4 Million Copies while Still in Beta

Indie darling, Minecraft, has reached the four million copies sold mark. That's pretty good for a game that isn't even out of beta yet.

Minecraft is a sandbox game that lets players harvest blocks and then rearrange them in any configuration they see fit. Some creations include giant rollercoasters and M.C. Escher art, but words don't do some of them justice. Good thing there's the Mincraft Gallery and the Minecraft Museum to show off some of the most amazing work.

Creator Markus Persson, a.k.a. Notch, has been working on the game since May of 2009 and has let gamers in on the process since the game's inception. Since then, Persson and his team have been steadily adding feature into the game, such as more enemies and block types.

The game hit the four million milestone on Nov. 7 and the game only seems to be selling faster as time goes on. The game has doubled in sales over the past few months. Not only has the game sold millions of copies, but around 16 million players have registered on the game's site and have played the free, but outdated, Minecraft Classic.

No doubt excitement about the game's player convention, MineCon, has helped fueled these sales. MineCon will be held Nov. 18-19 in Las Vegas. The convention will offer classes, parties and previews of the Xbox version of the game as well as the completed version for the PC. If you haven't gotten a ticket to the event, you're out of luck-- tickets sold out a few weeks ago. However, IGN will be streaming the convention for those who aren't able to attend.

The final version of Minecraft is due out sometime in November. Though the game will bear the 1.0 version number, Persson and his team will keep adding to the game after its release. If you are interested in the game you can check out Minecraft Classic for free. You can also buy the game while it's still in beta at 25 percent discount off the price of the final version.