Minecraft Print

Minecraft Essay

In this essay I will cover why and how Minecraft has been a commercial and critical success and include an outline of the game's history and notes from class and handouts. Minecraft is the second most successful video game of all time behind Tetris. Minecraft was created and developed by Swedish based Mojang Studios, having been bought by Microsoft from Mojang in 2014 for US $2.5 Billion (GB 1.9 Billion.) The game has been described as a virtual world of Lego. Explore, mine and build, are the simple instructions you have to follow leaving the majority of the game over to player’s imaginations. It is the biggest selling PC game of all time. To this date well over 121 million copies have been sold across all platforms, including over 27 million PC copies. An estimated 55 million people play the game every month. 

Minecraft’s initial reception wasn’t commercially viable, seen more as a niche product for players with expert knowledge of computers and programming. However, Minecraft has the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher therefor it has been able to be a global success. In November 2011 Minecraft had over 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases., Minecraft was released across multiple platforms becoming a commercially viable franchise with increased interactivity, due to its popularity. On its release, the game won five awards at three conferences, including an Innovation Award, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Audience Award and Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Minecraft is a Sandbox game meaning it is a game free of structure and constraint; players are free to roam and make choices about how they use available content. Sandbox games are often described as having open world settings. This makes it a success as the game is limited to people’s imaginations and encourages creativity amongst all ages. Minecraft later created a hybrid genre with the story versions and is sometimes categorised as sandbox, survival.

Minecraft is also a success due to the broad demographic it reaches. The game cleverly manages to target a genderless and ageless demographic appealing just as much to children as it does elders. much of Minecraft’s success was due to word of mouth and audiences sharing their own mods and game footage across web forums and video sharing sites such as YouTube. Different versions of Minecraft were released to entice different audiences, moving away from creation only narratives to include story modes, spectator modes and multi-player functionality across Minecraft Realms. Things such as a physical Lego set were introduced to encourage younger audiences as well as merchandise opportunities.

The game is a global and commercial success and also praised by several high profile critics and gaming institutions. The game has amassed such a following that MineCon conventions can be found all around the world and further support popularising the game. There are other conventions of the game that have proven popular, including the release of albums featuring the music of the game, produced by German sound designer Daniel “C418” Rosenfeld.

Minecraft

Video game - A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a monitor or other display.

Types of Video games: 
- RPG
-Sports
-Strategy
-Action/adventure
-Puzzle solving
-Construction
-FPS
-Simulation
-Horror
-Children's

Examples:

- Fortnite                                        -Cooking Mama                      -Sims

-Nintendogs                                   -Dinner Dash                           -Far Cry
-Fifa                                               -Big Brain academy                 -Rainbow 6 Siege
-GTA                                             -Sky Rim                                  -Fable
-NBA                                             -Mario Sonic                            -WWE
-UFC                                              -F1                                           -Assassin's Creed
-Wii Fit                                          -Just Dance                              -Wii Sports resort
-Crash Bandicoot                           -Rachet and Clank                   -We Sing
-Moshi Monsters                            -Guitar Hero                            -Monkey Ball
-Call of Duty                                  -Watch Dogs                            -Battlefield

-Games Consoles - A unit accommodating a set of controls for electronic or mechanical equipment.
-Sandbox Game - Construction; building from scratch. Changing roles of the 'look down generation.' Collaboration through gaming; multi-player
-Microsoft - Institution which owns videogames; Xbox and Minecraft
-Platforms - Different levels of gaming. Online Vs Moving images Vs Audio. Ways you can play (App, physically etc.). Multi-Platform - More than one way of playing; more platforms = wider variety.
-Servers - How the games run, where info is kept, enables games to be played.

Minecraft
- Minecraft development - from 'online Lego'
- Multi - platform =  more available
- Open Sandbox - no limit
- Started as an 'indie'
- Critically and commercially successful
- From independent to mainstream - 125 million copies sold.

-Minecraft was created by Marcus 'Notch' Persson and developed by Mojang.

-These were independent, separate to and not financed by a big commercial company.
-But, as small independent products become successful, it is usual for larger organisations/owners to want to buy them.

why Minecraft is successful...
- Infinite replayability - Sandbox (No limits)
-Strong community - creations are the marketing campaign
-Platform agnostic - Released on everything
-Co-opted by children - Household name
-Not limited by genre
-Fulfils human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness

Minecraft timeline

·         May 10^th – Birth of Minecraft, development on Caveman started.

·         May 17^th – First release of the game

·         October 20^th – Beginning of SURVIVAL TEST

·         December 23^rd – Minecraft for Java passes to Indev development stage (Indev 0.31) (which requires a 5.00 € Premium Account to be accessed), introduction of Torches and dynamic lighting.

·         February 27^th – Minecraft for Java passes to Infdev development stage, introduction of infinite maps.

·         August 4^th – First release of Survival Multiplayer (Java Edition Alpha 1.0.15).

·         December 20^th – Minecraft for Java passes to Beta development stage (Beta 1.0), price raised from 10.00 € to 15.00 €.

·         August 16th – Minecraft: Pocket Edition Alpha 0.1.0 officially released (Xperia PLAY only).

·         November 18^th -  Minecraft 1.0.0 for Java edition is officially released, price is now 20.00 €.

·         May 9^th – Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition TU1 officially released.

·         February 11^th – PI: Minecraft: Pi Edition Alpha 0.1.1 officially released.

·         December 17^th – Console: Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition 1.0 officially released.

·         December 19^th – Minecraft Realms Beta was launched.

·         September 4^th – Console: Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition officially released.

·         September 5^th – Console: Minecraft: Xbox One Edition officially released.

·         September 15^th – Mojang and Minecraft are acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion.

·         October 14^th – Console: Minecraft released for PlayStation Vita.

·         July 29^th – W10: An adaptation of Minecraft: Pocket Edition is released for the universal Windows 10 platform.

·         December 17^th – Console: Minecraft: Wii U Edition officially released.

·         April 27^th – Gear VR : An adaptation of Minecraft: Pocket Edition is released for the Samsung Gear VR.

·         November 1^st – Minecraft: Education Edition officially launched.

·         December 19^th – Apple TV : An adaptation of Minecraft: Pocket Edition is released for the Apple TV.

·         December 19^th – Fire TV : An adaptation of Minecraft: Pocket Edition is released for the Amazon Fire TV.

·         May 11 – Console: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition officially released.

·         September 13^th - Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition officially released.

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Distribution, Production, Technology and Circulation

Group research from Great Baddow High School Media

Marketing, promotion & franchising

Marketing minecraft. from Great Baddow High School Media