Minecraft is turning 15 next year and we've been given insight into how popular it still is in the lead up: the game has now sold more than 300 million copies. To put that in perspective, Grand Theft Auto V is not even a close second, with over 185 million copies sold. Even its slightly later release (2013) doesn't do much to make up for the gap -- especially considering Minecraft surpassed the 200 million mark in 2020. Mojang Studios announced the achievement during a Minecraft Live event that shared new features coming to the game, like a trial chamber that has traps and mobs coming at you along a series of rooms and corridors. A new Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC and Planet Earth DLC are also in development and will be available on November 7 and early next year, respectively.

A movie version of Mojang Studio's Minecraft is starting to come together. Action hero veteran Jason Momoa is in talks to star in an upcoming film adaptation of the popular worldbuilding game, reported The Hollywood Reporter. While no contract has been signed yet, the possible addition of Momoa is an encouraging sign of life for a film that has been on Warner Bros' backburner. Warner Bros originally planned to release the film in March 2022, but it was shelved due to production delays related to the pandemic, according to THR. The film's troubles pre-date Covid-19; its original director and screenwriters quit the movie in 2014 due to creative differences with Mojang.

Fads come and go, but the Minecraft craze has yet to abate. Mojang Studios -- the game's creator -- and Microsoft announced today that 200 million copies of the sandbox game have been sold since its launch in 2011. To put that into perspective, Grand Theft Auto V is in a distant second place, with 120 million copies sold. Also impressive is the fact that the majority of users are still active -- Microsoft says that 126 million people play Minecraft on a monthly basis. It's likely that part of such long term success is the results of Mojang Studios and Microsoft continuing to support the game with updated content and functionality. In the past few months alone, the companies have offered free access to Minecraft: Education Edition to teachers, and integrated Minecraft Education Collection into the core version of the game, which means everyone has access to educational content for free until the end of June.