The hugely popular sandbox building game, Minecraft may still be in its beta phase, but it has already netted its creator US$33 million in gross revenue.

Created by Markus Persson, who revealed the sales figures via Reddit, it’s quite amazing that Minecraft’s marketing campaign initially revolved around nothing more than Persson posting in forums. Word spread quickly of the customisable 3D world and such was the response that he’s now confirmed that a total of 1,813,527 copies of Minecraft have been sold worldwide.

Offering some advice to other independent developers, Persson says "Start with just making games to get used to it. Focus on the details. What makes a jump animation feel good? What is a good main menu? Try to finish a few projects." Simple as that, then. What are you waiting for?

You can order Minecraft here