The Minecraft Marketplace continues to draw in more people than ever with free content. That led to yet another huge spikes in downloads for the month to 2,255,888. That’s up from 1,351,438 in September. While many people are downloading the free promotional worlds and experiences, that should get people used to the idea of using the store. And creators could see even more sales in the future as a result.
As with September, a lot of the free content in October came from The Minecraft Team’s MineCon Earth fan event. That’s where the developer introduced its Grid Runners mode. It’s also where Jigarbov launched the free MineCon Earth version of Abstraction. On top of those, The Minecraft Team also launched the Purple Parrot Party Palace, which is also free.
So the download numbers continue to climb for the Marketplace. We’ll have to see if that increases spending.
The Minecraft Team officially has broken the seal on wide-scale use of its Minecraft Marketplace. Downloads for November were 4,566,013. That’s double the 2,255,888 downloads from October. Once again, free content was a major driver for that growth. But that huge influx of players to the store could spill over into real purchases — especially considering what is launching in Minecraft just in time for the year-end holidays.
Beginning today, December 20, The Minecraft Team is launching the Season of Giving event. Only it is Microsoft, Mojang, and its creator partners doing the giving. As part of this celebration, you will get a bunch of in-game content for free.
Holiday events are turning into a bigger tradition in video games. A big reason for that is that developers that run games as services want to engage with players who are spending Christmas playing on their new consoles, laptops, smartphones, and TVs. For years now, mobile games have capitalized on that by releasing content just in time for December 25. And now Minecraft and Fortnite are doing the same on console and PC.
Did you say free?
The Season of Giving freebies include a new adventure map from the creation team Gamemode One called Catastrophic Pandamonium. While that might sound like a disaster, I encourage you to notice the puns. CATastrophic PANDAmonium is indeed a showcase for the cat and panda animal creatures that got an update (cats) or debuted (pandas) in the latest patch.
But Catastrophic Pandamonium isn’t the only gift The Minecraft Team has in store for you. You can also get special discounts as part of a holiday deals promotion that is running through January 3.
Above: Gifts are only available for a limited time.Image Credit: The Minecraft Team
Finally, on Christmas Day, the Minecraft Marketplace is getting a free Winter Gifts Bundle with plenty of extra goods.
Inspiration Island by Minecraft: “Visit Inspiration Island, a floating theme park world filled with creative challenges. Whether you are new to Creative Mode or just need a little extra inspiration, a visit here sets you on the path to craft your own groundbreaking worlds.”
Purple Parrot Party Place by Minecraft: “A celebration of all things purple parrot party and palace! Master the mechanics of fireworks, armor stands, jukeboxes, and banners. Traverse a jungle island to find a massive parrot temple.”
Legacy Skin Pack by Minecraft: “Get cracking with these starter skins and old favorites brought over from Minecraft editions of yore.”
Grid Runners by Noxcrew: “Take on Noxcrew’s Grid Runners: a minigame map made up of classic Minecraft challenges where you can craft, mine and jump your way to victory. Compete against the clock for the fastest times and team up with all of your friends to find out who is the ultimate Minecraft champion! This is a free map, created exclusively for Minecon Earth 2018.”
ABSTRACTION: Minecon Earth by Jigarbov Productions: “Featuring the logos that were just begging to be played on, MINECON EARTH has floating landmasses with a surprising amount of hidden secrets and challenges.”
Luxury Life by PixelHeads: “Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”
Aquatic Life by Cyclone Designs: “Get ready for a realistic aquarium experience with Aquatic Life! Dive into large tanks and swim with whale sharks! Discover dangerous shark species and hop on a boat and feed the Piranhas!”
Anime Day School by Sil3ntWxlf and TeamVisionary: “Experience going to school in style with Anime Day School.”
City Mash-Up by Everbloom Studios: “With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”
Haunted Swamp Survival by Everbloom Studios: “Gnarly trees, a ghastly maze, and an abandoned mansion; these are just some of the things you’ll find as you explore this mysterious survival spawn.”
City Mash-Up by Everbloom Studios: “With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”
Luxury Life by PixelHeads: “Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”
Aquatic Life by Cyclone Designs: “Get ready for a realistic aquarium experience with Aquatic Life! Dive into large tanks and swim with whale sharks! Discover dangerous shark species and hop on a boat and feed the Piranhas!”
CampCraft by Blockworks: “A vast wilderness awaits you and your friends in CampCraft. Discover forest animals, ride camper vans, toast marshmallows, sit around the campfire and set up your own camp!”
Immersion: Chicago: “Immerse yourself in Chicago, the windy city. Visit the river with your friends, race through the streets and roleplay your daily life.”
Movie Star by Noxcrew: “Direct and star in your very own films with Noxcrew’s Movie Star Creative Toolbox! With dozens of scripts and pre-built scenes, this map is great for roleplay and learning to build.”
City Life by PixelHeads: “Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”
Super Cute Texture Pack by Minecraft: “The Super Cute Texture Pack lets you create a cheerful world full of the cutest and cuddliest mobs! Bouncing bunnies, ultra-adorable unicorns, brilliant bumblebees and, er, burgers? Yes, burgers! This texture pack comes with 15 skins.”
Cruise Ship Roleplay by Everbloom Studios: “Welcome aboard! You’re the Assistant General Manager on this voyage across the sea. And it’s your job to lend a helping all around the ship, so our guests have the ultimate vacation!”
Zombie Apocalypse by PixelHeads: “Explore a run-down, overgrown city taken over by cyborg zombies. To survive, you must scavenge for food and weapons, and fight off the zombies!”
On the Marketplace, third-party Minecraft partners can sell their content. And thanks to Microsoft’s crossplatform Xbox Live support, these worlds and skins go live for players on Windows 10, mobile, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. This has enabled several small studios to turn their support for the Minecraft ecosystem into full-time work. It has also empowered The Minecraft team with a new way to engage and excite its audience.
Microsoft has begun using its partner support and events as effective marketing tools. And that came together in a big way at the end of 2018.
Catastrophic Pandamonium
One of the best examples of The Minecraft Team’s strategy is Catastrophic Pandomonium from GameMode One. This is a map that introduces players to the new cat and panda creatures from Minecraft’s latest content patch. It gives fans a way to quickly see their new behaviors in what GameMode One managing director Sean Davidson calls a “Minecraft preserve.”
Above: A panda bear in Minecraft.
Microsoft worked with developer Gamemode One to create this world and offer it as a free download. Its release drove players into the Marketplace during one of its biggest sales of the year. And that’s something that Davidson is happy to participate in.
“We’ve worked hard to contribute Catastrophic Pandamonium to the winter sale,” Davidson explained to GamesBeat. “This product was thoroughly enjoyable to develop. It proved to be an interesting challenge and change of pace for my team. Releases weaved into a promotion are an exciting prospect for any partner.”
Building a strong Minecraft Marketplace together
Davidson sees Catastrophic Pandamonium as part of a larger effort to expose more players to the Marketplace. And that’s important to him (and The Minecraft Team) because it means more developers can succeed.
“The seasonal promos are a great opportunity to resurface older products, especially for some AAA pieces of content that may have been overlooked at launch,” Davidson wrote. “The winter promotion is no exception, with this sale focusing on bundles and free content. For the majority of Marketplace creators, the promo means creating festive new marketing assets for existing content.”
And while other devs updated their maps with holly and wreaths, GameMode One put most of its efforts into creating Catastrophic Pandamonium. But Davidson sees a synergy in this strategy that is paying off.
“The events and promos have provided players with great low-price — and occasionally free — content and have consistently driven steady traffic to the Marketplace,” Davidson told GamesBeat. “The Marketplace has opened up to an increasingly larger audience. And with that increase came more Marketplace partners. The Marketplace has been growing at a healthy rate and the future is promising.”
Peter Sollett has been brought on to write and direct Warner Bros.’ long-anticipated film adaptation of the popular video game “Minecraft.”
The pic will be produced by Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Jon Berg. Jill Messick, who died last February, is also still credited as a producer. The video game developer that released the game, Mojang, is also on board as a producer. Jon Spaihts will executive produce.
Based on the globally popular video game, the story follows a teenage girl and her unlikely group of adventurers who, after the malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, must save their beautiful, blocky Overworld.
The studio has worked hard over the years to launch this franchise ever since it landed the highly coveted rights in 2014. Various talent has circled the project, including Shawn Levy and Rob McElhenney, who were both previously on board to direct, as well as Steve Carell, who circled a role in the film, but scheduling forced both parties to depart talks and the film was put back in the development cycle. Still, the studio sees “Minecraft” as a brand that sells at the global level and recognizes the potential it has as another potential franchise to add to its library.
For Sollett, the film marks his biggest studio movie to date, having previously worked on mid-range budget movies like “Freeheld” and “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Sollett is best known for his critically acclaimed film “Raising Victor Vargas.”
He is repped by CAA.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Riccardo De Luca/AP/REX/Shutterstock (6703807d)
Peter Sollett Director Peter Sollett poses for photographers during the photo call of his movie Freeheld, at Rome’s Film Festival, in Rome
Italy Rome FF Freeheld, Rome, Italy
Warner Bros. has tapped Peter Sollett to direct the big-screen adaptation of Minecraft, Variety reports. Sollett is known for films like the critical hit Raising Victor Vargas, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Freeheld.
The adaptation has been in the works since WB acquired the movie rights to the popular game in 2014. Various directors have been in talks at different points, including Shawn Levy and Rob McElhenney. Each had a different idea for the film, from a Goonies-style adventure to something more off-the-wall. Steve Carell was also said to be in talks to star as well.
Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft, is listed as one of several producers on the film, and has been heavily involved in the story direction. Mojang COO Vu Bui said in 2015 that the company didn’t want this to be seen as the definitive Minecraft story, because the building game is all about making your own. “We don’t want any story that we make, whether it’s a movie or a book, to create some sort of ‘this is the official Minecraft, this is how you play the game’ thing,” Bui said. “That would discourage all the players who don’t play in that way. When coming up with a story [for the movie], we want to make sure it is just a story within Minecraft, as opposed to the story within Minecraft.”
This adaptation will follow a teenage girl and her friends as they attempt to save the blocky Overworld from the Ender Dragon.
