5. MINECRAFT PROMOTION
• Research as many different forms of
promotion, marketing, franchising used
across a variety of media formats. (Images in
a ppt)
• How are they effective in raising awareness,
popularity and revenue?
• Why do developers and publishers use so
many varied media formats?
7. Without the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher, and no money spent on advertising revenue, due to
the independent nature of Mojang, the game relied on word of mouth between gamers and featured on sites such
as the Penny Arcade web comic to generate interest amongst gamers.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic
8. The cultural impact of Minecraft is
significant. We know that much of
Minecraft’s success was due to word of
mouth but also audiences sharing
their own mods and game footage
across web forums and video sharing
sites such as YouTube.
Find out what a Minecraft Mod is
https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Mods
www.youtube.com
9. Different versions of Minecraft were
released, moving away from
creation only narratives to include
story modes, spectator modes,
educational mode and multi-player
functionality across Minecraft
Realms. Also, now that Persson no
longer has a stake in the company
plans to work on a virtual reality
version of Minecraft have been
renewed.
Why do this?
10. Intertextuality
Culturally, other
developers and games
studios have made
intertextual references to
Minecraft across games
such as Runescape and
The Elder Scrolls V:
Skyrim to name but a
few; there are also Lady
Gaga, South Park and The
Simpsons parodies. All of
this benefits the game by
heightening its exposure
to audiences.
11. The Minecraft Franchise
A Lego set based on Minecraft
called Lego Minecraft was
released on 6 June 2012
Two more sets based on the
Nether and village areas of the
game were released on 1
September 2013. A fourth Micro
World set, the End, was released
in June 2014. Six more sets
became available November
2014.
14. The
Minecraft
Franchise
In March 2013 Mojang
signed a deal with the
Egmont Group, a
children's book
publisher, to create
Minecraft handbooks,
annuals, poster books,
and magazines
19. Minecraft the Movie
In 2019 there will be a joint
venture with Warner Brothers to
release Minecraft the movie, this
will be anticipated as having as
much commercial success as The
Lego Movie, also a Warner
Brothers Movie. No doubt, there
will be several spin-offs as a result
of this.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3566
834/
22. Minecon
MINECON is a convention for the video
game Minecraft, hosted by Mojang.
The first gathering in 2010 was known
as MinecraftCon
Mojang announced that MINECON was
taking the form of an interactive 90-
minute livestream on 18 November
2017. It was titled MINECON Earth.
https://minecraft.net/en-us/minecon/
23. Block by Block
UN and Mojang
September 2012
A charity project to create and design
real-world environments
in Minecraft.
The reconstruct of areas of concern
by young citizens who are invited to
enter the Minecraft servers and
modify their own neighbourhood.
By 2016, 300 of the areas UN-Habitat
plans to remodel will be recreated
in Minecraft
24. Henry Jenkins - Fandom &
Participatory culture
Video games offer social experiences
(online multi-player options) as well as
communities outside of the core game
experience.
Jenkins’ key quote ‘if it doesn’t spread, it’s
dead’
There has “been a blurring between the
grassroots practices I call participatory culture
and the commercial practices being called Web
2.0.” - Fandom being used as marketing.
Minecraft has a strong, well developed
fanbase how could we relate this to
Jenkins’ ideas about participatory
culture?
Participatory culture. Term developed by Henry
Jenkins to describe contemporary cultures
where members of a society do not only
consume media content but also create and
distribute it.
Fandom. An intense emotional investment in a
media text whereby you engage with other ‘fans’.
Regarded collectively as a community or
subculture.
Stretch and challenge
