Microsoft announced its third-quarter results on Tuesday, reporting a net income of $15.5 billion, a figure that is, to say the least, incomprehensible. More interesting are the numbers related to Minecraft. More interesting are the numbers surrounding Minecraft, specifically how much money the modders, not Microsoft itself, have made over the past few years.

"Creators have generated more than $350 million from more than 1 billion downloads of Minecraft mods, add-ons and other experiences," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Microsoft's Q3 earnings call today. We are proud of our success," he said. Microsoft launched the official Minecraft Marketplace in 2017. This figure does not include mod sales through other channels.

Nadella did not specify, but "generated" here is assumed to mean total sales.

According to Nadella's remarks on the earnings call, the Minecraft marketplace seems to be the template for success that Microsoft wants to follow with future games. As gaming evolves into a metaverse economy, we are building new tools so that anyone can sell their creations on our platform.

"Minecraft has nearly 140 million monthly active users, a 30% increase over the previous year, making it one of the leading platforms in the creator economy.

Microsoft's overall gaming revenue increased $1.2 billion (50%) in the third quarter.