Minecraft ends beta, goes gold this Friday

After almost 3 years in development Minecraft has exited beta and gone gold ahead of its official release this Friday.

The news comes after the indie sandbox hit topped four million sales earlier this month, an impressive milestone following its release in an alpha state in May 2009.

Markus “Notch” Persson, studio head at developer Mojang, said on Twitter: “So, yes. Minecraft has gone gold.” Simple and straight to the point.

The finished game is due to for its grand unveiling at the first dedicated Minecraft convention in Las Vegas this weekend. MineCon has been sold out for weeks now and fans will flock to the Nevada Desert’s shining jewel in order to revel in all things Minecraft.

An Xbox 360 Kinect version is currently in the works, although developer Mojang said in October it will launch in spring 2012, not this winter as initially announced by Microsoft.