Minecraft

Question 1

How is minecraft platform agnostic?

Answer 1

Because it can be accessed on multiple platforms

Question 2

How did minecraft grow in popularity before Microsoft

Answer 2

word of mouth

Question 3

How many copies of minecraft have been sold in the last 10 years on platforms and PC ?

Answer 3

180 million and 25 million on PC

Question 4

How did the audience interact with the creators in the early days ?

Answer 4

Audience influenced updates every Friday with requested items

Question 5

What was one feature of minecraft that make it popular and successful over other games

Answer 5

Customizability

Question 6

What’s the background of the creation of minecraft ?

Answer 6

Independent game created by Notch
No commercial backers
Vertical integration - developed distribution
No advertising /word of mouth

Question 7

How many purchases of the 2011 BETA

Answer 7

1 million purchases in 1 month

Question 8

What were the 2011 financial figures?

Answer 8

April 2011- estimated 33 million revenue

Nov 2011 - official Release -
16 million users , 4 million purchases

Question 9

How did minecraft progress in 2012 and 2013?

Answer 9

2012- Xbox 360 + Xbox live editions

2013 - minecraft pocket edition - educational + novice editions

Question 10

How many copies sold in 2015 ?

Answer 10

30 million

Question 11

How many copies have been sold to this date ?

Answer 11

121 million copies sold

Available to purchase through PlayStation network + Xbox live

Question 12

Whilst originally being funded by purchase revenue , how to most games in recent times fund games ?

Answer 12

Subscription

• micro transactions ( selling virtual items to help in the gameplay or add cosplay )
• this is clever considering the biggest audience of gaming is kids , they don’t have money to spend on big games so expect internet games for free by don’t mind spending micro transactions as they feel it’s their choice

Question 13

What are some key features of independent games ?

Answer 13

• rarely multi Platform
• often created without publisher
• relies on digital distribution
• emphasis on creativity + innovation
• low production sales

Question 14

Key features of mainstream games ?

Answer 14

• huge budget
• mass advertisement
• mass target audience

Question 15

What are blockbuster games ?

Answer 15

AAA games such as COD which cost and make lots of money

Question 16

What is digitally convergent media?

Answer 16

Ect Video game consoles - can play games , access the internet , watch videos , message friends - CROSS MEDIA CONTENT- helps a wider audience and maximise profits

Question 17

What is distribution?

Answer 17

The process of delivering the media product to audiences through either tangable media ( disc) and digital (cloud based)

Question 18

What is consumption ?

Answer 18

Refers to the way media text is used by the audience for their own pleasure

• also explores the rise of user generated content across several platforms

Question 19

What is production ?

Answer 19

Refers to all the phases of designing , developing and making the media product , this process is addressed in the fact sheet

Question 20

Other than minecraft , what did Marcus Pearson (NOTCH) create

Answer 20

MOJANG ( Swedish game developer) in 2009

Question 21

When and how much did Microsoft buy mojang and therefore minecraft for ?

Answer 21

25th September 2014 for 2.5 billion

Question 22

How many monthly players does minecraft have ?

Answer 22

112 million