A game developed in Dundee is on track to become the best-selling computer game of all time.
Minecraft, which is developed by Mojang and 4J Studios, has sold 54,000,000 copies, making it the third highest selling title ever.
Its chief rivals are Wii Sports, which has sold 82 million copies, and the classic Tetris, which has sold 134 million.
The iconic game, which allows players to manipulate and build their own 3D world, was created by Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson and later developed and published for PC by his company Mojang.
Chris van der Kuyl, chairman of 4J, which later teamed up with Mojang to develop the game for computer consoles, said there is only one word to sum up Minecraft, “phenomenal.”
He said: “The guys in Sweden invented the game and it got bigger and bigger.”
“We became involved about three and a half years ago but no one realised it could be one of the best-selling games of all time.
“We had a lot of options at the time but we wanted to commit to this game because we believed in it and knew it would be successful. Like Lego it engages players’ creativity and imagination.”
The record growth of Minecraft comes as the console version of the game has outsold the PC and Mac version for the first time.
Experts believe though that the development of the game for an increased number of platforms could see sales rise further.
The game is only available on PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation three but is to be brought out on Xbox One, PlayStation four and Playstation Vita.
Mr van der Kuyl said the potential for the game was “limitless” with people finding new ways to play, share and interact within the game.
He said: “The amount of sharing on sites like YouTube is one of the massive reasons it has been as successful as it is. You imagine this game could be here for ever. That has never happened with a computer game yet.”
Additional reporting by Andrew Liddle