Last year was the most profitable year to date for the mobile versions of “Minecraft,” according to a report from Sensor Tower.

“Minecraft” on the App Store and on the Google Play store pulled in $110 million through both purchase price of the app as well as in-app purchases. This is a 7% growth from the year prior, in which “Minecraft” for mobile generated almost $103 million in revenue.

The big spenders for “Minecraft” are US players, who generated 48% of the total revenue. This is not too surprising, considering the popularity of “Minecraft” on all platforms with young US consumers. In the first quarter of 2018 alone, Sensor Tower estimates that the mobile game generated about $30 million worldwide.

The runner up countries in spending in “Minecraft” are Great Britain (6.6% or $7.3 million in revenue) and Japan (5% or $5.5 million in revenue).

Since its release on mobile devices in 2014, “Minecraft” has grossed almost half a billion dollars worldwide, according to Sensor Tower.

The sandbox game is popular on other platforms as well, including PC and Xbox One. Last October, Microsoft pulled support for “Minecraft” for Apple TV, reasoning that it needed to reallocate resources to provide more support for platforms most popular with “Minecraft” players.

Though the game is still, clearly, going strong, it did experience its first decline in game playtime among players ages 6 to 12 in 2018, according to market research firm Interpret.

One Piece’s Thousand Sunny is one of the more iconic bits of imagery from the entire series as the Straw Hats have set sailed on many different seas on their ship. But it definitely would not be out of place sailing through space.

Kingdom Hearts III allows fans to customize special ships in the game to sail to the different Disney worlds, and one fan brought in a little One Piece love by recreating the Thousand Sunny. You can check out a video clip of it below.

Reddit user OharaLibrarianArtur shared their efforts to recreate the Thousand Sunny, and the short clip above shows it flying through space. Not only have they recreated the Jolly Roger complete with the Straw Hat’s specialized skull and crossbones emblem, but they have even recreated the specialized lion face on the front of the ship. With as many wild places the Straw Hats have gone with their ships throughout the series, it’s not hard to imagine how well it would fare in space.

Unfortunately, there’s no tutorial or part list to show how this Thousand Sunny came together in game, so fans are now left to their own devices if they want to recreate the ship themselves. Perhaps they can build the first ship, the Going Merry instead? Either way, this probably was quite a time sink of an effort. Kingdom Hearts III is now currently available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. You can read ComicBook.com’s spoiler-free review here.

Here’s an excerpt, “With its blend of old and new, Kingdom Hearts III feels almost immediately like a classic. While this particular franchise entry has been a long time coming, its updated mechanics and rendering means Kingdom Hearts has never looked better. In truth, this sentimental sequel manages to realize a truth set forth in the very first game: starting a new journey may not be so hard once you realize every path you’ve taken converges underneath the same sky, and all of those roads easily meet at and within Kingdom Hearts III.”

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we talk about the latest Star Wars rumors involving Rian Johnson, the Dragon Ball Super Broly controversy, an Alita conversation & so much more! Make sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode!

Pokemon Go‘s creators have agreed to a proposed comprehensive settlement that could remove or change a number of gyms and Poke Stops.

Back in 2016, annoyed homeowners and businesses sued Niantic after complaining about trespassing and nuisances related to Pokemon Go, which swept the entire world into a frenzy. Complaints ranged from players trespassing onto private property to capture certain Pokemon to players ignoring park hours of operations or causing damage due to high traffic volume.

The lawsuit has lingered for nearly three years, but the Hollywood Reporter has said that Niantic has agreed to a proposed settlement to resolve most of the related issues. As a result of the settlement, Niantic is proposing extensive reforms to handling complaints from property owners who don’t want Pokemon Go players on their property.

Under the proposed settlement, owners of single family homes will now have “right of removal” of any gym or Poke Stop within 40 meters of their property. In addition, Pokemon Go has agreed to respond to complaints or demands to remove a Poke Stop/gym from businesses or commercial property owners within 15 days. The game will also add a mechanism to the game to better honor the hours of operations of parks (which likely means that gyms will shut down overnight and Pokemon spawns will cease when the park is closed) and maintain a database of complaints to better manage where Pokemon spawn.

The lawsuit could potentially change Pokemon Go, which relies on public places to play the game. Although players don’t necessarily have to be adjacent to a gym or Poke Stop location to interact with it, this could lead to major changes as to where Poke Stops and gyms are placed.

The proposed settlement has not been approved by the judge of the case, nor has Niantic agreed to any payments for either the law firm involved or the named plaintiffs of the case.

Hasbro has announced that they are partnering up with Blizzard Entertainment to release a series of action figures and other toys based on the popular hero shooter Overwatch.

Nine Overwatch heroes are getting turned into figures, which will be available Spring 2019. Lucio, Sombra, Tracer, Reinhardt, Anna, Soldier 76, Pharah, Mercy and Reaper are the first heroes you’ll be able to buy and add to your toy collection. The action figures will stand 6 inches tall and will feature props and articulation, letting you pose them however you desire.

Mercy and PharahPhoto: HasbroSoldier 76 & AnnaPhoto: HasbroReinhardtPhoto: HasbroReaperPhoto: HasbroADVERTISEMENTYou can go to the next slide after 1 secondContinueLucioPhoto: HasbroSombraPhoto: HasbroTracerPhoto: Hasbro 1 / 7

Some of the figures will be sold individually for $23 each, while Pharah & Mercy and Soldier 76 & Anna will be sold in double packs that will, according to Gamestop, each cost $50.

Reinhardt is a slightly wider and more complex figure and will cost $50 by himself. Though he does come with a pretty awesome and large shield.

Hasbro also revealed they will be releasing an Overwatch themed Monopoly board game and some blasters based on Lucio’s weapons he uses in Overwatch. The blasters will cost $10 and the themed Monopoly set will cost $50.

According to Polygon, Hasbro has said all of the figures and other toys will be available at most major toy retailers nationwide.

Minecraft’s latest snapshot update, 19w07a, changed the way paintings work which has allowed some crafty players to create in-game TVs. The new update, which also added adorable foxes into the game, breaks paintings into multiple textures. Before this update, paintings in Minecraft were created using a single texture. This new change has allowed modders to create working in-game TVs and computer monitors.

Reddit user Hopeabandoner created a monitor allowing him to watch a pixelated Minecraft YouTube video while playing Minecraft. I believe the kids call this “meta”.Outstream Video

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GIF: hopeabandoner (Reddit)

Another Reddit user, ShaneH7646, put the entire Bee Movie into Minecraftusing the new feature.
GIF: ShaneH7646 (Reddit)

The best looking in-game TV in Minecraft I’ve seen so far belongs to user destruc7i0n. Using multiple painting frames they were able to play a high quality copy of the Gravity Falls intro. One user commented “Better picture quality than my TV.”GIF: destruc7i0n (Reddit)

While this new trick is cool, it does take up a lot of resources to pull off. One video made up of 30 frames could take up over 100 MB of space. Too many of these bigger files on servers could cause performance issues.

Maybe in the future, if Minecraft has better optimized this feature, we could see some servers or worlds create short in-game videos explaining rules and guidelines to new players.

Or folks will just set up a bunch of TVs playing Bee Movie.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/64794/xbox-live-subscribers-hit-64-million/index.html

Xbox LIVE active users have jumped past 60 million thanks to strong holiday sales, subscriptions, and engagement strategies, Microsoft confirms in its latest Q2’19 earnings report.     Xbox LIVE adoption has been relatively flat throughout the last few quarters, but subscribers and active users have spiked thanks to a successful holiday season. Microsoft saw 64 million monthly active users on Xbox LIVE in the three-month FYQ3’19 quarter, up about 8.5% year-over-year and nearly 13% quarter-over-quarter. It’s worth noting that Xbox LIVE bridges multiple devices and these numbers reflect platforms like Xbox consoles, Windows 10 PCs, and mobiles. This is all according to plan as Xbox LIVE now serves as the connective tissue between various hardware platforms.   (Continued below)     Xbox Game Pass is a big driver of Xbox LIVE engagement and overall gaming revenue, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirms in the quarterly earnings call.   “Xbox Live monthly active users reached a record 64 million, with the highest number of mobile and PC users to-date. Xbox Game Pass subscribers and Mixer engagement also hit new all-time highs. And Minecraft, which continues to be one of the most popular and durable gaming franchises in the industry, delivered record revenue as we expanded into new platforms, geographies and segments like Education,” Nadella said in the FYQ3’19 call.   Microsoft is poised to pull in more Xbox LIVE users and active paying subscribers. The company has ambitious new service plans including its Project xCloud, which streams games to mobiles, PCs, and consoles, as well as new initiatives like engagement-driven Xbox Rewards.   Mixer continues to do exceptionally well and gleans revenues from advertisements and monetization, and Microsoft will expand Xbox Game Pass’ lineup with new titles over time. There’s even rumblings Game Pass could launch on PC sometime soon.   I’d personally like more visibility into these numbers.   It’d be neat to see how much Microsoft is earning from Xbox LIVE active subscribers as well as more info on how it organically folds into other services like Mixer and Game Pass. I’d also like to know how many Xbox LIVE subscribers Microsoft is able to keep versus those they lose as subscriptions lapse.   Microsoft is typically coy when it comes to exact figures (it stopped reporting Xbox One console sales ages ago) and it’s honestly a shame. The company is doing interesting things and these figures could give us more insight on its complex, multi-faceted ecosystem strategy.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/64794/xbox-live-subscribers-hit-64-million/index.html

Microsoft has a new free games event going on this weekend, and Xbox Live Gold subscribers have a great choice of titles.

Right now, Xbox One gamers can download and play three games, all offering different styles of gameplay.

This includes The Sims 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Fishing Sim World.

It’s quite a strange mix to be sure but something worth checking out if you’re a free games fans.

But here’s where the warning comes in as time is running out to take advantage of them all.

Microsoft has confirmed that these titles will be reverting back to their normal price wall status very soon.

“Express your creativity with your Sims, battle it out in the epic Halo saga, and immerse yourself in an authentic fishing simulator without the sea sickness,” a message from Microsoft explains.

“The event begins on Thursday, February 7 at 12:01 a.m. PT and runs through to Sunday, February 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Start by finding and installing the games here.

“To download on console, click on the Gold member area on the home dashboard.”

The good news is that fans in the UK should technically have until Monday morning, around 8am on February 11, to play it all.

The games will also be available at a discount so fans can continue playing while keeping their Gamerscore and achievements earned in-game.

Xbox: February’s ‘Games with Gold’ lineup released

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Notice of all the different choices can be found for each of the three games, below:

• The Sims 4 ($39.99 SRP): up until 2/11, The Sims’ anniversary sale is on! Get up to 80% off The Sims 4 base game and 50% off select expansion packs.
• North America base game discount – 80% off: $8.00
• ROW base game discount – 60% off: $16.00
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection ($29.99 SRP) at 25% off: $22.49
• Note: only Halo: The Master Chief Collection Digital Bundle is on sale and for purchase.
• Fishing Sim World ($19.99 SRP) at 25% off: $14.99

Other Xbox Live free games worth checking out is Apex Legends, recently released by Respawn Entertainment.

While it can technically be downloaded by anyone on Xbox One and Xbox One X, an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required to play online.

And without that, you can’t do much on Apex Legends.

Apex Legends: THRILLING trailer for new game release

Play Video 

Apex Legends is a new Battle Royale experience set in the world of Titanfall that currently has a lot of people playing it.

Respawn CEO Vince Zampella revealed the scope of the initial success of their latest venture, telling fans:

“In 72 hours, over 10 million players have jumped into Apex Legends, and we’ve breached 1 million concurrent players!

“This has been a truly incredible journey. We tested and tweaked. We argued and agreed. We got to a point where we felt some magic.

“We knew it would be risky to take the franchise in this direction, to go free to play, and do a surprise launch. But we fell in love with Apex Legends and wanted, needed, other people to play it too.

“We hoped you’d love it as much as us, but never in our wildest dreams could we have expected the outpouring of support and positivity we’ve seen.

“From all of us at Respawn, thank you for giving us and Apex Legends a chance. Thank you for joining us on this journey. This is just the beginning! We have so much more in store for you this year.”

More Xbox Live free games will be announced by Microsoft in the coming weeks.

After years of development and multiple delays, Microsoft’s next big exclusive, Crackdown 3, launches this week–and you can play it for only $1 if you meet a few requirements.

As a first-party game, Crackdown 3 is free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. And right now, Microsoft is offering a one-month Xbox Game Pass trial for only $1. The catch is that you need to be a new subscriber to enjoy the savings.

Xbox Game Pass already has “millions” of subscribers, but if you’re not among them, right now seems to be a good time to jump in. You can sign up for Xbox Game Pass on the Xbox website or through your console.

Crackdown 3 is coming to Xbox One and PC, but Xbox Game Pass is only on Xbox One right now. It could come to PC and other platforms down the road, but no announcements have been made as of it. Crackdown 3 launches on February 15.

Crackdown 3 is not the only game coming to Xbox Game Pass in February; you can see a full rundown of February’s additions below.

For $10/month, Xbox Game Pass subscribers get access to a growing library of free games to download and play for as long as their membership stays active. There are more than 100 Xbox One and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 titles in the catalog, including Halo 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Sea of Thieves, PUBG, Mortal Kombat X, and many more.

February Game Pass Games

• Shadow of the Tomb Raider – February 7
• The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season – February 7
• Pumped BMX Pro – February 7
• De Blob – February 14
• Crackdown 3 – February 15
• Batman: Return to Arkham – February 21

Filed under:Crackdown 3Xbox OnePC

Microsoft has revealed a brand-new Xbox One controller that will have lovers of the color red in heaven.

This week Xbox’s official Twitter page unveiled a brand-new Xbox One controller, dubbed “Sport Red,” that will be releasing soon. More specifically, the special red-everything controller will release on March 5.

Microsoft provides the following product description for the controller:

“Equip yourself with the Xbox Wireless Controller – Sport Red Special Edition, featuring a vibrant red design with metallic accents and rubberized diamond grip for enhanced comfort. Enjoy custom button mapping and plug in any compatible headset with the 3.5mm stereo headset jack. And with Bluetooth technology, play your favorite games on Windows 10 PCs and tablets.”

Like all Xbox One controllers, all three current Xbox console platforms will be supported as well as PCs.

The controller is currently available to pre-order via the Microsoft store. It will cost you $69.99USD, and comes with free shipping.

Personally, I think the PS4 currently has a monopoly on the best controller color designs, though this one is sure right up there with some of the best PS4 controllers. I don’t even like the color red that much, which is how I know the designers over at Xbox really nailed this one.

And it seems the general consensus agrees with me:

Pokémon Let’s GO! Buneary@TerryTheBunearyReplying to @Xbox

This Xbox One controller looks bloodie cool.78:04 AM – Feb 6, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacySee Pokémon Let’s GO! Buneary’s other Tweets

ValravnBassCanyon/PAXWest@Valravn0Replying to @ScrubZeroLive and 2 others

Okay so my birthday is in like 5 months who wants to buy me one28:59 AM – Feb 6, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacySee ValravnBassCanyon/PAXWest’s other Tweets

Baby Diapers 65@65DiapersReplying to @Xbox

This is awsome gonna be my main controller9:42 PM – Feb 8, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacySee Baby Diapers 65’s other Tweets

Soqqle Gaming@soqqlegamingReplying to @Xbox @austynjroney

Beautiful, can’t wait to have it on a Xbox night #Xbox11:42 PM – Feb 6, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacySee Soqqle Gaming’s other Tweets0COMMENTS

That said, $70 is a bit pricey for a controller, even a cool one like this. Controllers never go on sale with deep discounts, but they do go on sale, typically around Black Friday and Christmas. In other words, it may be best to hold off on pulling the trigger on this for now. After all, $70 buys you a brand-new AAA game and a $10 indie.

Anyway, as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think. Hot or not?

No matter how heartbreaking the win over Thanos will be in Avengers: Endgame, one thing is certain: Doctor Strange is the architect of this win. I’m not just talking about the events in Infinity War that needed to happen in a certain way in order for the Avengers to actually beat the Titan in the next movie, but of other events from all the other Marvel movies, which may have been set up in a certain way by Strange. In a somewhat apologetic tone, Strange told Iron Man at the end of Infinity War that this was the only way to beat Thanos. Strange has seen so many different outcomes that he knew the only way to win would require some sacrifice. But beating Thanos is possible.

We’ve often talked about the importance of time travel for Endgame, and about Doctor Strange’s master plan, as several fan theories tried to guess how the Avengers would win. But we now have an incredibly interesting theory that doesn’t look at what Strange did while peering through time. Instead, it gives us an approximation of the time he actually spent looking at all those potential futures.

Reddit user CleverD3vil estimated that Strange needed more than 5,000 years to look at what’s required to win. That seems like a huge amount of time, but let’s not forget that Strange looked at 14,000,605 alternate futures.

On Titan Strange sits down and actually looks at 14,000,605 alternate futures, and that looks like he just spent only a minute or two doing it, now we don’t know much about Time Stone and how it works but we know that he would have to look through time as if he is watching a movie or he couldn’t have actually experienced it with loops and stuff to save him… either way he would have spent a lot of time.

14,000,605 x 3 hours (He would definitely spend more per timeline… maybe months in some.. but like in the movie lets take the 3 hours) = 42,001,815 hours which is 4,795 years round off to 5,000 years

The theory says that Doctor Strange could have further honed his skills while analyzing events from various periods — I also think he went back in time not just forward, to ensure this timeline progresses in a certain way. A few days ago, I argued that it’s wrong to think Star-Lord is guilty of letting Thanos prevail on Titan, and that’s because it all happened under Strange’s watchful eye. Strange allowed Star-Lord to interfere with the plan because he knew that giving Thanos the Infinity Stones, and making him think he would win was the only way to beat him.

When you think about it, this is nothing new for Doctor Strange, as he did the same thing while fighting Dormammu. He created a time loop that must have ran millions of times until the Dormammu realized he couldn’t win. The Doctor Strange battle in the movie only featured some of the loops, but the director of the movie did say that Strange spent plenty of time stuck in that time loop. Meanwhile, the full theory about Strange’s role in defeating Thanos follows below:

Image Source: DISNEY/Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock