The global gaming phenomenon Minecraft is coming to the real world for the first time in a global deal to open themed attractions, hotel rooms and retail outlets, starting with the UK and US.
Minecraft has reached an agreement with UK-based Merlin Entertainments, the largest theme park operator in Europe and the second largest globally after Disney, which operates more than 135 attractions in 23 countries, including Alton Towers , Legoland, Sea Life, Madame Tussauds and the London Eye.
Under the terms of the deal, Merlin will invest more than £85 million ($110 million) in the first two attractions. They are due to open in the UK and US in 2026 and 2027, either in an existing theme park or as new city center attractions.
In the longer term, the two companies plan to expand the strategic partnership, called “Adventures Made Real”, to other countries and territories.
Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, with 140 million players every month, in territories as diverse as Antarctica and Vatican City, and there are more than 1.3 billion videos posted by players on YouTube.
“We’re everywhere digitally, Merlin is everywhere physically,” said Kayleen Walters, vice president of game franchise development at Microsoft, which acquired Mojang, the maker of Minecraft, for $2.5 billion in 2014. “It’s about how to expand minecraft”. beyond the game. Mojang and Microsoft are experts in Minecraft and branding, Merlin are experts in location-based experiences; It is a shared vision.”
Minecraft is on a bit of a brand extension boom: a long-delayed movie is out Its launch is scheduled for next April.with Hollywood stars like Jason Momoa and Jack Black, and earlier this year Netflix announced plans to launch an animated series based on the game.
For Merlin, the partnership with Minecraft has the potential to be its biggest deal since it struck a deal with Lego to buy its four Legoland theme parks in 2005.
In recent years, Merlin has been stepping up its strategy of focusing on deals with “crown jewel” intellectual property owners to boost the popularity of its parks and attractions, in the same way that Hollywood studios do with franchises. very successful.
In 2022, Merlin struck a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring the $2 billion Hollywood film franchise Jumanji to its parks, and a range of attractions and rides opened in Chessington, UK last year.
Earlier this year, Merlin announced an expansion of its deal with Peppa Pig to create attractions in Duplo-themed areas at several of its parks.
“When we look for partners, we look for the right people, scale and community,” said Scott O’Neil, CEO of Merlin Entertainments. “We are in 23 countries, what brands can play at that level, you have to be one of the biggest brands in the world. We’ve partnered with the number one toy brand, Lego, the number one children’s brand, Peppa Pig, and now on Minecraft, the biggest video game. Bringing Minecraft to life is going to be one of the greatest pleasures; This is just the beginning; Our aspirations are very big.”
Last year, Minecraft became the first video game to surpass 300 million sales, far ahead of other top-selling titles globally, including Grand Theft Auto V (205 million), Nintendo’s Wii Sports (83 million) and PUBG: Battlegrounds (75 million).
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Tetris and the Super Mario franchise have sold more copies, but Minecraft, which launched in 2011, is the only game to reach that mark.
In 2020, Minecraft decided to make its educational-themed worlds available for free to help students who could no longer attend school due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company, which said it wanted to do its part to “helps keep young minds alert and stimulated”made 12 digital lessons available, including a game on generating energy from renewable energy sources and an interactive lesson on ancient Greece.
In 2015, Minecraft was delivered free of charge to all secondary schools in Northern Ireland as part of a government-funded technology cultural festival, the first time it had been distributed across an entire region.
In 2019, a consortium led by the family that controls the Lego toy manufacturing empire agreed to acquire Merlin for £6bn.
The consortium is 50% owned by Kirkbi, the private investment company of the Kirk Kristiansen family, heir to the Lego fortune. The other 50% is owned by the private equity firm Blackstone and CPPIB, the Canadian pension fund.