Minecraft (franchise)

Minecraft is a media franchise developed from and centered around the video game of the same name. Primarily developed by Mojang Studios, the franchise consists of five video games, along with various books, merchandise, events, and an upcoming theatrical film. Microsoft acquired Mojang Studios in 2014, alongside the Minecraft franchise and its editions.

Minecraft

Template:Main article Minecraft is a 3D survival sandbox game developed and published by Mojang, spanning multiple platforms. It was originally created by the independent video game designer Markus Persson in 2009, before giving the development to Jens Bergensten in 2011. The game has no specific goals to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game.<ref name="IGN review">Template:Cite web</ref> Gameplay is in the first-person perspective,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with the core gameplay modes being survival, in which players must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health (optionally with a "hardcore" limit, which deletes the world after the player dies); and creative, in which players have unlimited resources, never hunger and are able to fly. The game world is composed of voxels—cubes, commonly called "blocks"—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava, which are arranged in a 3-dimensional grid. Gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects as the player pleases, while being able to move freely around the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Spin-off games

Minicraft

Minicraft is a 2011 2D top-down action game created by Markus Persson, the creator of the Minecraft franchise. It was developed in 48 hours as part of the 22nd Ludum Dare game jam competition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At the time of its release, it was reported to be a "sequel" to Minecraft.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Minecraft: Story Mode

Minecraft: Story Mode, an episodic spin-off game developed by Telltale Games in collaboration with Mojang, was announced in December 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Polygon Story Mode release">Template:Cite web</ref> Consisting of five episodes plus three additional downloadable episodes, the standalone game is a narrative and player choice-driven, and it was released on Windows, OS X, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One via download on 13 October 2015. A physical disc that grants access to all episodes was released for the aforementioned four consoles on 27 October.<ref name="Polygon Story Mode release" /> Wii U<ref name="VergecitesMSMonWiiU">Template:Cite web</ref> and Nintendo Switch versions were available in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From late 2018 to 5 December 2022, it was only available on Netflix, where only the first five episodes were available.<ref name="The Verge">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first trailer for the game was shown at Minecon on 4 July 2015, revealing some of the game's features. In Minecraft: Story Mode, players control Jesse (voiced by Patton Oswalt and Catherine Taber),<ref name="Polygon Story Mode release" /> who sets out on a journey with his or her friends to find The Order of the Stone—four adventurers who slayed an Ender Dragon—in order to save their world. Brian Posehn, Ashley Johnson, Scott Porter, Martha Plimpton, Dave Fennoy, Corey Feldman, Billy West and Paul Reubens portray the rest of the cast.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Timeline of release years

Minecraft: Story Mode: Season 2

The second season was released from July to December 2017. It continued the story from the first season, with the player's choices affecting elements within Season Two. Patton Oswalt, Catherine Taber, Ashley Johnson, and Scott Porter were confirmed to continue voicework for the new season. The game supports the new Crowd Play feature that Telltale introduced in Batman: The Telltale Series, allowing up to 2,000 audience members to vote on decisions for the player using Twitch or other streaming services.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was shut down along with the original Minecraft: Story Mode, on 25 June 2019.<ref name="The Verge" />

Minecraft Earth

Minecraft Earth was an augmented reality sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the video game Minecraft, it was first announced in May 2019, and was available on Android, iOS, and iPadOS. The game allowed players to interact with the world and build Minecraft-style structures and objects that will persist and can be modified by other players. The game implemented the resource-gathering and many of the other features of the original game in an augmented-reality setting. The game had a beta release in July 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The game was free-to-play, and was released in early access in October 2019. The game was shut down on 30 June 2021, and players who made in-game purchases on the app received a free copy of the Bedrock Edition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Minecraft Dungeons

Minecraft Dungeons is a dungeon crawler video game developed by Mojang Studios and Double Eleven. It was published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a spin-off of Minecraft and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 26 May 2020. The game received mixed reviews; many deemed the game fun and charming, with praise for its visuals and music. However, its simple gameplay and use of procedural generation received a more mixed reception, with its short story and lack of depth criticized. It is a hack and slash-styled<ref name="gr">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="pcgn">Template:Cite web</ref> dungeon crawler, rendered from an isometric perspective.<ref name="bi">Template:Cite news</ref> Players explore procedurally generated and hand crafted dungeons filled with new variants of existing Minecraft monsters and also deal with traps, puzzles, bosses and finding treasure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Minecraft Dungeons Arcade

In early 2021, Mojang announced an arcade adaptation version of Minecraft Dungeons associated with collectible cards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Minecraft Legends

Template:Main articles Minecraft Legends is an action-strategy game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive, announced on 12 June 2022 and released on 18 April 2023.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Film

In 2012, Mojang received offers from Hollywood producers who wanted to produce Minecraft-related TV shows; however, Mojang stated they would only engage in such projects when "the right idea comes along".<ref name="Merchandise sales" />

Two years later, in February 2014, an attempt to crowdfund a fan film through Kickstarter was shut down after Markus 'Notch' Persson declined to let the filmmakers use the license, the given reason being that the Kickstarter was set up before any agreement with Mojang had been made.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same month, Persson revealed that Mojang was in talks with Warner Bros. Pictures to develop an official Minecraft film to be produced by Roy Lee and Jill Messick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2014, Mojang COO Vu Bui stated that the movie was "in its early days of development", saying that it was a "large-budget" production, and also said that it might not be released until 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same month, Warner Bros. hired Shawn Levy to direct the film,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while in December, it was confirmed that Levy and writers Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney, who were developing the film together had left the project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2015, it was announced that Warner Bros. had hired Rob McElhenney to direct the film. According to McElhenney, he had been drawn to the film based on the open-world nature of the game, an idea Warner Bros. had initially agreed with and provided him with a preliminary US$150 million budget for.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2016, early production started on the film, including having had given a release date of 24 May 2019 in June,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jason Fuchs set to write the script in October,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Steve Carell contracted to star as the voice of an unknown character in November.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> McElhenney's Minecraft film "slowly died on the vine", and due to scheduling conflicts, he left the film in August 2018,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Aaron and Adam Nee were tapped to rewrite the script and the film was delayed as a result. No new director was announced at that time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In January 2019, Peter Sollett was announced to write and direct the film, featuring an entirely different story from McElhenney's version. Messick, who died in 2018, will be posthumously credited as producer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2019, Warner Bros. scheduled the new film to be released in theaters on 4 March 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2019, Allison Schroeder was hired to write the script and co-write the film with Sollett.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In October 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Warner Bros. to adjust its release schedule, including removing the Minecraft film from its planned release date.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sollett instead directed Metal Lords, which was released exclusively on Netflix in April 2022. That same month, production on the Minecraft film was announced to be moving forward without Sollett and Schroeder, now with Jared Hess set to direct and Jason Momoa in early talks to star. The film was also confirmed to be live action.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some sources also said that Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer would rewrite the script.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In early April 2023, it was reported that the film would release on 4 April 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In May, Matt Berry entered negotiations to join the cast.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 19 June 2023, it was reported that principal photography on the film would start on 7 August in New Zealand,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> before filming was delayed in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.<ref name="variety prods affected">Template:Cite web</ref>

Books

Official novels

The game has inspired several officially licensed novels set in the Minecraft universe:

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Other books

• Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus "Notch" Persson and the Game That Changed Everything is a book written by Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson (and translated by Jennifer Hawkins) about the story of Minecraft and its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson. The book was released on 17 October 2013.
• A graphic novel set in the Minecraft franchise, Trayaurus and the Enchanted Crystal, was published by YouTuber DanTDM in October 2016, reaching the first spot on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover graphic books and remaining there for eleven consecutive weeks.<ref>Listings on The New York Times Best Seller list per week: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, when it fell to the second spot.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Gameknight999 is a series of six trilogies about a protagonist who is transported into the digital Minecraft world and experiences harrowing adventures involving the antagonist Herobrine. The first trilogy was listed in the New York Times top 10 bestsellers in February 2015.

Tabletop games

Three tabletop games have been produced as official tie-in games for Minecraft. The first two are both card games, namely Minecraft Card Game?, produced by Mattel in 2015,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Uno Minecraft, produced by Mattel in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Towards the end of 2019, Minecraft: Builders & Biomes, a board game version of Minecraft, was announced.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The game was geared towards the family market, catered for 2–4 players, and was published by Ravensburger. Players explore the Overworld, build structures, and mine resources in a quest to score the most points.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the end of 2020, an expansion for the tabletop game was released, titled Minecraft: Farmer's Market Expansion, which introduced a new farm biome that enabled players to produce vegetables.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Merchandise

The graph shows information from 2013 to 2018, with a general upward curve ending at 800 million sales.

Minecraft merchandise sales in millions U.S dollars

Lego Minecraft

Template:MainThe first Lego set based on Minecraft was released on 6 June 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The set, called "Micro World", centres around a microscale representation of a forest from the game and includes Lego versions of the game's default player character and a creeper.<ref name="LegoMinecraft">Template:Cite web</ref> Mojang submitted the concept of Minecraft merchandise to Lego in December 2011 for the Lego Cuusoo program, from which it quickly received 10,000 votes by users, prompting Lego to review the concept.<ref name="LEGO">Template:Cite web</ref> Lego Cuusoo approved the concept in January 2012 and began developing sets based on Minecraft.<ref name="LEGO" /> 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, larger Lego minifigure scale, sets became available November 2014,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with more released every year since.

Other merchandise

Mojang often collaborates with Jinx, an online game merchandise store, to sell Minecraft merchandise, such as clothing, foam pickaxes, and toys of creatures in the game.<ref name="Cult and merchandise">Template:Cite web</ref> By May 2012, over 1 million dollars were made from Minecraft merchandise sales. T-shirts and socks were the most popular products.<ref name="Merchandise sales">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Amiibo figurines of the characters Steve and Alex were released in September 2022, and are compatible with the video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021 the Australia Post created a Minecraft postage stamp pack.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Events

Minecon

Template:Main Minecon (stylized as "MineCon" or "MINECON") is an official convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first one was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. All 4,500 tickets for MineCon 2011 were sold out by 31 October.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After MineCon, there was an Into The Nether after-party with deadmau5.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Free codes were given to every attendee of MineCon that unlocked alpha versions of Mojang's Scrolls, as well as an additional non-Mojang game, Cobalt, developed by Oxeye Game Studios.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Similar events occurred in MineCon 2012, which took place in Disneyland Paris in November.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The tickets for the 2012 event sold out in less than two hours.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MineCon 2013 was held in Orlando in November.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MineCon 2015 was held in London in July.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MineCon 2016 was held in Anaheim in September.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MineCon 2017 was held as a livestream instead of being held at a show floor. Titled "MINECON Earth", it was streamed live in November.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

MineCon Earth 2018 followed the same format as the 2017 event, but was renamed in 2019 to "MINECON Live" to avoid confusion with Mojang's augmented-reality game, Minecraft Earth.

Minecraft Festival

Template:Main In MineCon Live 2019, Mojang announced Minecraft Festival, an in-person event to be held 25–27 September 2020, in Orlando, Florida. The event has since been delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

Minecraft Live

On 3 September 2020, it was announced by Mojang that a new livestreamed event would be taking place to replace the postponed Minecraft Festival.<ref name=":0" /> It took place on 3 October 2020,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> showing the features of MinecraftTemplate:'s "Caves and Cliffs" update.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The second Minecraft Live took place on 16 October 2021 and showcased more of the Caves and Cliffs part 2 update, along with announcing and showing of features for the Wild Update.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The third Minecraft Live took place on 15 October 2022 and announced more of the features in the Wild Update and the (at the time) unnamed next update.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable achievements

The Minecraft franchise covers a wide range of content. In late 2021, videos of Minecraft hit 1 trillion views on YouTube.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The video game Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, surpassing Tetris and Grand Theft Auto V with over 238,000,000 copies sold.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>