Video Games - Minecraft: Essay

Minecraft Essay

Write an introductory essay to Minecraft: Explain what it is, give an outline of the game's history and explain why it has been a commercial and critical success (Approx. 700 words or 2 sides)

Minecraft is a sandbox computer game created and designed in 2009 Marcus “Notch” Persson and fully and published by Mojang. A sandbox game is one with an open structure, players are free to explore the game’s environment and are able to express themselves creatively within the game. Minecraft players build structures creating a 3D world that some players get lost playing for hours.

When Notch started Minecraft, in summer 2009, he was on his own. Notch had to fund the game as well as get it out to gamers. He had created a basic game, which had elements from other games like Dwarf Fortness and Infinimer. A month later, he charged people €10 (£8) to download the game, Minecraft sold 40 copies that first weekend. Every Friday, Persson updated the game by adding features. In summer 2010, Persson set up Mojang who had worked at Flash-games developer King.com and Manneh.

Since Minecraft was released back in 2009, it has been a commercial success. It is currently the second best-selling game ever made as is estimated that 55 million people play Minecraft every month. The company is worth around £1.09 billion, due to it being brought out by Mojang in 2014. There are many reasons as to why it has become such a commercial success since 2009, one of the most important reasons is its growing popularity. Minecraft is a worldwide game being played in countries like the US, Norway and Australia. This worldwide success means that there is an increase in sales therefore generating a larger profit as well as having a bigger availability. Popular forms of social media such as Facebook and YouTube have also played a significant role in helping to popularize it and advertising to others to play. Fan account can be set up to trade ideas and skills or to simple discus the game therefore creating more of a conversation and social aspect to Minecraft. Youtube has been another way Minecraft has become popular. Many gamer channels film themselves exploring the world they have created. This appeals to not only beginner who can learn the basics and how the game works, but it also appeals to people who want to start creating more complexed structures and games. These videos have becoming extremely popular and get over a million views.

In addition to this, another reason for commercial success, is the spin off games and merchandise created since the release of Minecraft as well as developments made to the game. Spin off games like “Minecraft, Education Edition”. This game appeals to a specific demographic, which benefits the business as they are targeting a wider audience therefore creating more sales. This brings a fun way of learning to children and influences them to want to expand their knowledge. It also creates conversation in the playground and then at home meaning parents are more likely to purchase the game as it has an educating factor as well as being really enjoyable to play. The merchandise that is created and sold across the world and promotes and advertises the game. This is really important for Minecraft’s success as when it was released in 2009 they didn’t have a huge marketing platform so relied on gamers talking about Minecraft, meaning the buzz was created by conversation rather than the typical TV advert or bus poster. The game has received millions of dollars in merchandise revenue from T-shirts to toys. Minecraft has also got its own convention, Minecon, which began just 2 years after the game was created. The convention has taken place in places like Las Vegas, Disneyland Paris, California, London and Orlando which expands their global marketing and attracts even more customers.

Furthermore, another reason to why Minecraft is commercially successful is due to its different platforms. Xbox, Windows 10, Windows phones, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation and Android phone can all be platforms to play Minecraft. This creates accessible for a wider audience meaning more people are able to play. By having such a wide platform to play the game, it creates more sales therefore making a larger profit. As Minecraft generates more money, new concepts and ideas can start to be developed. This not only brings in new players but ensures keeping the current players.