As expected, the release of the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is already a big sales success. The game was launched on Wednesday for 1600 Microsoft points (about $20) and is the latest version of of the popular sandbox game that was first released for the PC. Over 5 million units for that platform have been sold.
In a Twitter message today, Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Perrson states, "Well then. Saw the official sales numbers for the first 24 hours of Minecraft Xbox 360, and it"s very, very good. Profitable in an hour." 4J Studios developed the Xbox 360 port, in collaboration with Perrson"s team at Mojang.
The game"s major new feature for the Xbox 360 version is the ability to play in four player split-screen mode. However, since the launch of the Xbox 360 port, people have discovered that the split-screen support will only work with high definition TVs. This limitation was not revealed beforehand and still isn"t mentioned on the game"s official web page.
This has made a number of Minecraft Xbox 360 buyers unhappy. Kotaku received a statement from Microsoft which says, "In order to deliver the best consumer experience, and to support the text needs of the inventory and crafting system, split-screen multiplayer in Minecraft does require an HD screen. Currently, in game prompts alert players of the HD requirements for split-screen multiplayer."
Image via Mojang