【Tahong】

[cue Dr. Evil finger-to-lip pose] One. Million. Dollars.

That's how much money Minecraft's fan creators have Tahongearned, collectively, since the in-game Minecraft Marketplace launched in June. The news was announced with an appropriately blocky flourish on the game's Twitter feed.

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Minecrafthas been a friendly place for amateur programmers for almost as long as it's been around. What Marketplace did was set up a curated storefront where approved creators could sell their creations for a price of their choosing, earning a share of the money spent in the process.

Mods have traditionally been off-limits as a source of income, but the fact that Minecraft Marketplace exists entirely within the game means it's also watched over by the copyright holders. Microsoft and Mojang get a cut of the money as well, and every item offered for sale has to be approved first.

Today's announcement doesn't offer any specific stats on what's been selling or who's made what. Fan creators as a group have earned more than $1 million from marketplace sales, but there's no definitive ranking. You can find July's top sellers right here.

Minecraft Marketplace seems to be a success. It launched in June with nine creator partners, and now there are 12 -- with more coming, according to Microsoft.

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