Minecraft is an absurdly popular sandbox indie game where you can fight monsters, mine resources and explore. The graphics are basic, blocky, deliberately pixellated. It occasionally glitches out and is extremely complex. There is little instruction on how to play, so gamers have had to learn how it all works via trial and error. Despite this, in January 2011 Minecraft passed 1 million purchases. The game made a profit 24 hours after being released on Xbox, and within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold upwards of 1 million copies.
The game has never been advertised except via word of mouth, and indirectly via being picked up by popular online publications like Penny Arcade. One third of Minecraft gamers learned about it via Youtube videos produced by other players. These include walkthroughs, creations and parodies. The game has been referenced in high tech, glossy games like Skyrim, as well as by popular rapper deadmau5. The designer and the company Mojang, have interacted well with the community around their game. They have encouraged players to create mods, they run an annual convention and maintain social media channels.
They have kept the game affordable (around £17) and offer a more basic, free version called Minecraft Classic. They have produced affordable merchandise, without being perceived as ‘cheapening’ the brand; they have turned down lucrative Hollywood offers, whilst working with popular brands like Lego, who have produced a set based on Minecraft, (which at time of writing is sold out) and merchandise retailer Jinx, who sell clothing, foam swords and toys in the archetypal, enlarged pixel style.
The graphics and gameplay tap into a nostalgia still felt by early gamers for when the player character could be represented by an @ key; the game allows you to design, build, fight or hide from monsters, gather resources (which is more efficient with certain tools you can also make), farm animals and explore a vast and almost limitless map, which is uniquely generated for each game. This gives the game a broad appeal for a variety of gamers of both sexes. The tools you can build make jobs easier; e.g. an iron axe cuts down a tree far more quickly than a wooden shovel.
Take Aways
- Allow customers to ‘discover’ your product organically.
- Keep your product accessible and affordable.
- Cultivate a broad appeal.
- Avoid ‘Selling Out’.
- Encourage fan interaction.
- Develop a unique and cohesive brand.
- Connect with your community on their terms.
- Avoid alienating grassroots fans.
- Use the right tools for the right job.
- Beat the creepers; keep your community non toxic.
