Minecraft was designed to be creative and allow building freely in an endless block world. It was inspired by other games and initially self-published before being acquired by Microsoft. Written in Java, it allows user modifications and cross-platform play. It has been hugely successful commercially, with over 70 million monthly players and 144 million copies sold across all platforms.

2. PRODUCTION
■ DESIGN:
■ Minecraft was designed with
creative freedom at mind.The game
is designed around an endless block
by block world.With each block
offering different designs and
textures. Each block face is split into
small pixels so any style of block can
be created however, this feature is
only available to the development
team.
■ DEVELOPMENT:
■ Minecraft was inspired by several other
games such as Dwarf Fortress, Dungeon
Keeper, and Infiniminer. Minecraft was first
released to the public on 17 May 2009.The
first major update, the alpha version, was
released on 28 June 2010.To back the
development of Minecraft, Persson set up a
video game company called Mojang. On 11
December 2010, Persson announced that
Minecraft was entering its beta testing
phase on 20 December 2010. Mojang
moved the game out of beta and released
the full version on 18 November 2011.On 1
December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten
took full creative control over Minecraft,
replacing Persson as lead developer. On 15
September 2014, Microsoft announced a
$2.5 billion deal to buy Mojang.

3. TECHNOLOGY
1. The spread of computer technology has allowed for a more “bottom up” approach-audiences can shape production, and can directly
feedback to producers Companies often find that audiences are more personally engaged when the “bottom up” approach is used. As
technology is spreading it creates stronger incentives to move to bottom-up project management, to ensure the maximum benefit from
creativity and expertise is reached.
2. The programming language Minecraft was originally created in, Java, makes this approach easier as it allows players to easily create
modifications “mods”. Mods allow you to customize the game by adding new mechanics to it and making it look nice. Mods keep the game
alive and extends the game adding areas to explore and stuff to build. Most mods add content to the game and give the player more
options to explore the virtual world.
3. Java also allowed the game to be easily shared across platforms-it could run on Mac OS X,Windows and Linux Minecraft has been available
on lots different devices in the past. Now, Microsoft is finally bringing all those platforms together with the “BetterTogether” update, which
is rolling out for Xbox One, mobile devices, andWindows 10 PCs. Up to five people will be able to play across platforms on a local network,
meaning that multiple kids in a household will be able to inhabit the same world without needing five of the same device. Five will also be
able to play together in Minecraft's Windows 10 version, playing over Xbox Live.The newest edition of the game launched alongside
Microsoft's new OS on July 29th, but remains in beta form, lagging behind its full-fledged cousins on other platforms.
4. Java is “open source” software- meaning the code is freely shared (rather than sold) and programmers are encouraged to modify it and
share their results, thus collectively evolving the language. In Minecraft Java software is used which makes it “open source”, this means the
code is shared rather than sold and programmers are able to modify and change the code and share their results, making the game even
more creative and sandbox than it already is as players can modify the entire game rather than just build on the landscape provided in the
worlds given to them within the games. However, the java feature making the game customisable makes it harder for Mojang to produce
the game as they have to ensure that the game isn’t likely to break and crash as programmers modify the java, which is the fundamentals of
the game.The java code which is shared freely among players also helps build the social community and encourages open world gaming as
players can interact on modified landscapes as well as adapt that themselves and build what they want on it.

4. Marcus Persson originally developed Minecraft as a PC game however on 9th May 2012, Minecraft was released on Xbox 360, its first
console port.This opened up new markets for distribution as the player count on console is significantly higher than pc.
Originally, a player would just log into Minecraft and play straight away.This means that the game was run on private servers that
would be specific for your machine, meaning people would only be able to join private games as there was no official servers
Players on computers and mobiles are now encouraged to download the game in via cloud servers which keeps costs down for the
company. Doing this also has advantages for the players. For example, they are able to have access to the game immediately, via their
Internet connection so they don’t have to wait for any physical media. It also comes as an example of a cost saving measure for the
publishers.They don’t have to spend money on creating game discs and printed art to go with it. Minecraft on PC or on a phone/tablet is
a relatively small file.
Physical copies of the game came into circulation with its uptake on consoles. Doing this will provide more people with access to play it,
as well as encouraging store-bought sales (for example, customers may buy a Minecraft disc with their new Xbox). Some console
downloads can be very large (6-10GB) which may take a long time on some slow Internet connections, and consoles often don’t have
large hard drives. All of this provides a nice level of convenience to the player, as they can play it right away and not wait for a download
Many early players hacked the game and created their own servers to play it on which were perpetually online. This allowed them to
invite people onto their server and run it constantly, not losing progress and ignoring time zone difference. This also increased the
game’s popularity, as many people wanted to play with their friends whenever they wanted, without constantly making new ‘seeds’.
Mojang’s response to this has been the creation of “Realms” – private servers for the exclusive use of groups of players. Mojang didn’t
want to block players from playing together, but didn’t want them exploiting the code. Realms is a paid server hosting service, allowing
up to 20 people to play online with a dedicated server. Players can rent servers directly from Mojang relatively cheap, without the need
of coding skills.
DISTRIBUTION

5. Circulation covers the sales of the game and how it’s ‘circulated’ amongst audiences.
In December, 2017, Minecraft reached a record-breaking seventy-four million monthly players. Helen Chiang,
the new head of Minecraft, said “That’s really our goal, to keep building the community that we have.” They
have also sold 144 million copies across all platforms.
In 2014 Microsoft acquired Minecraft for $2.5 billion dollars and due to this the sales for Minecraft have only
gone up. This is because as they did this Microsoft who have all of money, spent a lot of this to advertise
Minecraft more than it already has been.
Men and Women, Boys and Girls are the target audience for Minecraft, its not gender restricted allowing a
wider demographic to be achieved. 10-15 year olds are mainly targeted, however it is not again restricted as
any age can really play. For example, Dan TDM has created a you the Minecraft series with a huge following.
Men and Women, Boys and Girls are the target audience for Minecraft, its not gender restricted allowing a
wider demographic to be achieved. 10-15 year olds are mainly targeted, however it is not again restricted as
any age can really play. For example, Dan TDM has created a you the Minecraft series with a huge following.
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Minecraft sales 2009-2015
PC Pocket edition Xbox 360 PS3