Mobile gamers have been buying Minecraft Pocket Edition in huge numbers. The indie building game has sold over 10 million copies on iOS and Android devices.
The PC version of Minecraft hit the 10 million sales mark earlier this month. Minecraft has been available on the PC since 2009 so we could see the mobile version overtake it in sales by the end of the year.
The Pocket Edition retains the basic Minecraft experience. Players travel through a randomly generated world, gather materials, and build whatever structures they can dream up. Along the way, they'll also have to fend off an assortment of monsters.
The mobile game lags behind its PC counterpart in terms of features, though. Mojang has been releasing updates over time to bring the Pocket Edition (as well as the Xbox 360 version) up to par with the PC version. They're still updating the PC version all the while, though, so it's a never-ending effort.
To make mobile updates quicker, Mojang is reworking the backend of the game. Players will be able to test new experimental features before they're publicly released. The changes to the backend will also enable players to change options while playing the game, instead of forcing them to go to the main menu.
The next update for the Minecraft Pocket Edition will come in late May, Mojang says. This patch will introduce buckets to the game so that players can carry milk, water, or lava - because really, who doesn't like a bucket full of lava? The usual assortment of bug fixes will be included as well.
