Minecraft Xbox 360 sales reach 4.48 million

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition sold between 40,000 and 60,000 copies per week during the period of October 29 to November 19, according to data from Mojang Studios provided to Gamasutra. Sales of that caliber mean the game generated between $800,000 and $1.2 million every week during the time.

Total sales for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition as of November 19 reached 4,476,904. This is up from the 4 million copies that series creator Markus "Notch" Persson revealed had been sold as of October 1.

Though 40,000 to 60,000 copies sold per week may sound like an impressive figure, sales of Minecraft: Xbox Edition are actually slowing down. During one period in August, the game was selling at a rate of 17,000 copies per day, driving revenue of $340,000 every 24 hours.

By comparison, the PC and Mac versions of Minecraft have sold 8.2 million units.

Upon launch on May 9, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition became profitable in just one hour, selling more than 400,000 copies during its first 24 hours on sale, and breaking all previous Xbox Live arcade digital sales records. The game reached 1 million in sales in just five days, and dethroned Call of Duty from the top of the Xbox Live activity chart for one week in October.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was developed by 4J Studios, the Scotland-based shop that built the Xbox Live Arcade titles Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, and Banjo-Tooie. It retails for $20. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's review.