Video Games (Minecraft)

Question 1

Marketing information for Minecraft

Answer 1

-relied on word of mouth (to begin with)

Question 2

Video games industry and audience information

Answer 2

Majority of games are seen as more masculine and for (more likely) 16-25ish years old

Question 3

Audience information on Minecraft

Answer 3

-Appealed to both kids, due to its sandbox nature, and adults

Question 4

Production of Minecraft

Answer 4

-Produced my Mojang (independent at time)
-Acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014

Question 5

Distribution of Minecraft

Answer 5

-January 2011, Beta-version was released (and had 1 million purchases by April)
-Users encouraged to download from cloud servers to limit impact of piracy etc

Question 6

Consumption of Minecraft (playing)

Answer 6

-Available on Xbox & Playstation, PC and PE

Question 7

Consumption of Minecraft (digitally convergent media)

Answer 7

-Watching other play on YT or Twitch
-Reading Minecraft fandoms
-Minecraft Story-Mode
-Minecraft Dudgeons

Question 8

Critical response

Answer 8

Following release it won:
-Innovation Award
-Best debut game
-Best downloadable game
-Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Question 9

How can audiences interact with producers?

Answer 9

-Minecon
-Mob vote (vote for in-game additions)
-Reviews
-Minecraft wiki

Question 10

Demographic 1

Answer 10

63% of US households surveyed (2020) include at least 1 gamer `

Question 11

Demographic 2

Answer 11

65% of homes own a video game playing device with 48% owning a dedicated games console

Question 12

Age demographic

Answer 12

47% of gamers are aged between 18-47 years old

Question 13

Gender demographic

Answer 13

59% of those who play games are men

Question 14

Platform agnostic

Answer 14

Can be accessed on multiple platforms

Question 15

How many copies (last 10 from 2021)

Answer 15

180 million (most sold game)

Question 16

Why was Minecraft successful?

Answer 16

Customisability
Playerbase
Open world
Game modes (multiple ways to play)