This turned out to be one successful Xbox Live Arcade promotion for Microsoft. First, Trials Evolution broke the record for highest grossing day-one sales, and now Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, another “Arcade Next” title, “has broken all previous digital sales records, selling more than any other title in the first 24 hours on Xbox Live Arcade.”
As Major Nelson points out, 400,000+ people have appeared on the game’s leaderboard, so that gives some idea as to just how strong the launch was. I have to wonder how many of those players double dipped with this version versus purchasers who had only vaguely heard of Minecraft prior to yesterday.