You know you’ve hit the big-time when the only descriptions left to express your success are galaxy-sized (just ask the winners of the annual Mr. Universe competition). Yet that’s exactly how big Minecraft has become; and it isn’t showing signs of slowing.

Officially launched back in 2011, the pop cultural phenomenon that is Minecraft celebrated two major milestones this week, achieving a combined 18 million sales for the Xbox, PC, Linux & Mac platforms and announcing just how successful the port of the series to Microsoft’s home console has become.

Addressing his 1.2 million Twitter followers on Tuesday, Minecraft creator and Mojang studios founder Markus Persson, aka ‘Notch’ made his excitement known, with a once-budding game now enjoying levels of success that few entertainment properties have ever enjoyed:

This was followed up on Friday by 4J Studios (the Scottish developer responsible for porting Minecraft to Microsoft’s home console in 2012) adding:

With an Xbox One entry already in the pipeline, and a budget rate, disc-based alternative now available for 360 owners as well, sales of Minecraft look set to surge on unabated in the months ahead. In other Minecraft-related news, equine adventurers can now get their hands on a noble steed or three with the release of the Minecraft 1.6.1 Pre-release Horse Update. Requiring a new ‘launcher’ to work, the update brings plenty of welcome changes.

Read on for details, directly from Mojang:

  • New horse, donkey & mule types New horse armor New leash/lead types New carpet types New clay types — ‘hardened’ & ‘stained’ New block of coal New item name tags New hay bales ‘Texture packs’ become ‘resource packs’ able to hold more element types, including sound Full food meter healing perk now drains the food meter

Mojang’s decision to include ‘horse armor’ in the official listing is clearly a friendly jab at Skyrim’s predecessor Oblivion, and the uproar caused by that game’s inclusion of expensive horse armor DLC.

The update also promises to remove non-existent meme-like villain ‘Herobrine’ from proceedings. A creation of the internet’s twisted imagination, ‘Herobrine’ is yet to appear in any of Minecraft’s official releases, though the character does crop up often enough in a modded capacity.

Set to debut on July 1, the 1.6.1 update also fixes a number of glitches and otherwise niggling issues:

  • Minecart seat height adjustments Single leash ‘mob’ tie-ups now possible ‘Sneak’ command no long crashes game when used in conjunction with a ‘mount’ order (when sneak is mapped to the mouse) Horse-mounted attacks on ‘mobs’ are now possible ‘Mob’/portal interaction no longer duplicates leash  Attribute modifiers no longer disappear when exchanged as items Crowdin.net ‘resource packs’ translation error rectified Extra health boost no longer vanishes on login Tamed wolf health loss glitch no longer caused by login Health boost & absorption potions names now show up correctly Server spamming through anvils no longer possible Doubled water sound effect glitch fixed Single frame compass crash fixed Strength potion weakening glitch fixed Team names with speech marks search error fixed Scoreboard health no longer rounds down Language selection screen crash fixed /kill command no longer boosts health No death message error fixed

So are you excited for Minecraft’s latest update? Is the future bright for this block building franchise? Have your say in the comments below.

Follow Sam on Twitter @GamingGoo.

Source: Mojang, Markus Persson, 4J Studios