Farshore – the official publisher for Minecraft books – has revealed worldwide sales of over 35 million in 45 languages since it first acquired Minecraft titles from the developer Mojang Studios in 2013.
In the UK alone Farshore has sold over eight million copies and landed over ten top ten titles (Nielsen Bookscan).
January-September 2022 Bookscan figures show Minecraft publishing in the UK is up 20% on 2021 in retail sales value.
Farshore publishes an extensive range of Minecraft books including readers, young fiction, sticker books, joke books, handbooks, annuals, gift boxes, atlases and encyclopedias. The creative team has produced over 80 titles in the past ten years, raising the bar in terms of how video games are represented on the printed page – even publishing the original Blockopedia in a groundbreaking hexagonal format in 2014.
The bestselling annuals range has now sold over 800k copies to date (Nielsen Bookscan). This year’s titles include Epic Inventions, the Survival Handbook and the Redstone Handbook.
Farshore also released Minecraft Master Builds this month, its first official title for adult Minecraft fans. The illustrated book showcases a selection of 20 of the greatest Minecraft creations and provides exclusive interviews with the builders behind them.
Farshore’s Minecraft publishing will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2023, with a wide ranging programme of titles including three new young fiction titles and the third in the Bite-Size Builds series, which has sold over 60k copies to date (TCM). The company will also launch a new drawing book Minecraft: How to Draw, to give kids and gamers step-by-step tips to draw their favourite mobs and create big, blocky scenes.
“We are incredibly proud of our industry leading Minecraft publishing and our enduring partnership with Mojang,” commented Cally Poplak, executive publisher at Farshore. “Minecraft is a wonderfully rich game which stimulates creativity and translates incredibly well in book form. The books appeal to huge numbers of children, including reluctant readers – a quarter of whom say they enjoy books about gaming.
“Our Minecraft books have been a key plank of our Farshore mission to make every child a proud reader.”
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