Minecraft exceeds 90m monthly active users
Despite dominating the headlines, Fortnite still lags behind as Minecraft gains nearly 20 million monthly users in 2018 alone
Minecraft is the second-highest selling game of all-time, and enjoys 91 million monthly active users, Microsoft has revealed.
While Fortnite continues to dominate headlines for its meteoric rise and record-breaking endeavours, with 78 million players monthly users in August, it still lives in the shadow of Minecraft.
The latest figures from Microsoft show that with 154 million copies sold, Minecraft remains among the most dominant forces in the industry, ahead of Grand Theft Auto V, and behind only Tetris.
Including the 100 million registered users from China -- where the game is free -- Minecraft has exceeded over 250 million downloads globally.
Microsoft acquired Minecraft from game creator Markus "Notch" Persson in 2014 for $2.5 billion, and the game's popularity has continued to grow since; in 2018 alone, the monthly player count has increased by nearly 20 million.
Speaking with Business Insider, Minecraft boss Helen Chiang said Microsoft will continue to expand the property with spin-offs, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, and the recently announced Minecraft: Dungeons.
"The way that we've decided to expand -- and I think 'Dungeons' is the first example of that -- is a way that we're trying to keep our community together," she said.
"That's why our updates our free. We don't want to ask [players] to move from Minecraft 1 to Minecraft 2. We want them to just enjoy Minecraft.
"And there's other ways that we can expand that are more meaningful and authentic to what we want to be, rather than just releasing another iteration in the way that most other franchises do."