Earlier this year, Mojang announced that over 100 million copies of Minecraft had been sold. Now part of the Microsoft empire, Minecraft continues to grow in popularity and availability, and in addition to new features like virtual reality support, the game is also being developed as an educational tool, which will launch in a few weeks' time.

The blocky game will become a blockbuster movie in 2019 too, and as if that wasn't enough, the first Minecraft novel is on the way as well.

Mojang's Marsh Davies revealed that the first book will be titled Minecraft: The Island:

I’ve peeked at an early draft and it’s entirely amazing, just as we knew it would be. Think cuboid Robinson Crusoe, but madder: a hero stranded in an unfamiliar land, with unfamiliar rules, learning to survive against tremendous odds.

The novel will be penned by Max Brooks, perhaps best known for his hugely popular book World War Z. A film of the same name was released in 2013, but it differed significantly from Brooks' novel.

It seems that Brooks is a bit of a Minecraft fan. "I'm very excited to be part of this new venture," he said. "Finally I can justify all those hours I've spent playing Minecraft."

It's not yet clear when Minecraft: The Island will be released, or if it will be directly connected to the movie, but it seems that it will be the first in a planned series of books. Keith Clayton, VP and Associate Publisher at Del Rey Books, said:

We are absolutely thrilled to be working with the fantastic team at Mojang on what will be the first ever official Minecraft novels, and we’re so fortunate to have someone of Max’s incredible talent and passion on board for the launch of the series.

Del Rey has also published novelizations based on Microsoft's Halo gaming series.

Source: Mojang via Windows Central