Minecraft diverges from traditional marketing methods due to the fact that it was set up by the small software company ‘Mojang’. The company did not have the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher that many games have, such as ‘Call of Duty’, and so relied primarily on word of mouth between gaming communities online and in person. The company spent no money on advertising. Mojang did use sites such as Penny Arcade web comic to generate interest. Minecraft had a significant level of cultural impact due to its success after using no traditional marketing techniques, such as television adverts and billboards.
The developers of Minecraft originally relied on the unique versatility of gameplay that Minecraft offers. It offers the ability to play on different game modes such as story mode, spectator modes and online games on PC such as ‘Hunger Games’ survival challenges. It also gives users freedom do develop their slightly own versions and rules by allowing modifications of ‘mods’ as they are known in the community. There are three possible mods: client-based, server-based, and mod packs. They all have slightly different features and benefit different people. This personalisation capability is a very possible unique selling point (USP) for Minecraft and is what many people were extremely excited about when it was first released. Unlike many games where the story line is set and the content is relatively restrictive Minecraft allows its users to adapt the functionality game to suit their needs and what they want to do with it.
A large contributor to the popularity of Minecraft was when people began sharing their gameplay on sites such as YouTube and started a community in which people share, watch and comment on the footage. This enabled the reach of Minecraft to expand rapidly resulting in its current usage at over 60 million players worldwide.
Intertextuality also played a large part in the commercial success of Minecraft. Other developers and studios have made references to the game such as ‘RuneScape’ and ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’. There have also been Lady Ga Ga, The Simpsons and South Park parodies where there is heavy reference to Minecraft which results in the heavy exposure of Minecraft to different audiences and expands its reach.
The development of the Minecraft franchise has also enabled the game to become more mainstream and accessible to people in different forms, not just the game itself. There have been ten lego sets, a collaboration with the online merchandise store Jink to sell clothing, and toys of characters from the game. Mojang also signed a deal with Egmont Group on 2013 to create handbooks, annuals, poster books and magazines. There is also a movie titled ‘Minecraft; the movie’ which will be released in 2019 by Warner Bros. The anticipation for the movie is extremely high due to the highly successful lego sets and other merchandise. Another way that Minecraft originally gained popularity in gaming communities before its franchise venture was to hold conventions for players. The first on 2010 was known as MinecraftCon and it then took the form of an interactive livestream in 2017 called ‘Minecon Earth’ so it would be accessible for so many more people that would not be able to get to the convention. As a marketing technique it works well to be accessible for so many, it does not limit the breadth of the audience.
Minecraft has, what Jenkins termed, a participatory culture where audiences not only consume content but also create and distribute it; because of this it has had no need for traditional marketing techniques. It has been able to rely on its committed fan base to spread the content and awareness for it through many mediums and had not had to spend money that it did not originally have in order to gain popularity.
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