Although Minecraft is not available through Steam. Steam is an example of how
the gaming industry has been revolutionized with a drive towards online gaming.

risk 
SAFE GENRES MAKE MONEY (RPG, FPS & CMS games)
MINECRAFT IS A CONSTRUCTION GAME - OPEN WORLD SETTINGS
 
1. Created and developed by Swedish based Mojang Studios. Minecraft’s Swedish creator, Markus “Notch”
Persson started creating the game in May of 2009
 
2. Minecraft is a sandbox game. A game free of structure and constraint; players are free to roam and make choices about how they use available content. Sandbox games are often described as having open world settings.
 
3. In 2014, Microsoft acquired Minecraft intellectual property for $2.5 billion. In 2015, it reached 30 million
copies sold. To date, over 121 official copies of the game have been sold across a variety of formats and
platforms.
 
4. Versions of the game can be purchased over the internet using such outlets the Playstation Network or
Xbox Live Arcade. Recent additions include the Nintendo platform which was excluded from the initial
Minecraft releases; available to download from December 2015 with physical copies from June 2016 and
most recently for Nintendo Switch (May 2017) and Nintendo 3DS (download only from September 2017).
The Minecraft: Story Mode - A Telltale Games series is also available via Steam.
 
5. Feb 2017 - 55 million registered users
 
6. reception: On its release, the game won five awards at three conferences, including an Innovation Award, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Audience Award and Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

 
By 2011, with Minecraft being developed among the gaming community, Persson and Mojang, had a game with exponential global growth but no commercial backing from a mainstream publisher. The game relied on word of mouth among gamers.
For many media companies this would not typically enable growth.

Minecraft fulfils our human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness. 
 
Social Context: Online fan communities were important for the development and success of the game.
 
BETA Version
Beta was the sixth and the final development phase that succeeded Alpha and preceded Minecraft 1.0, and was the fifth and final Minecraft development stage to have some of its versions released to the public. Beta testing allowed the online gaming
community to provide feedback to Notch and enabled the game to be improved. This makes Minecraft a bottom up product - the audience were actively involved in the production and development of the game.

Oligopoly = A state of limited competition eg USA vs China & Japan

The gaming console market has long been dominated by the top three firms of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

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From BETA to Sony

In November 2011, prior to the game’s official release, Minecraft had over 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. Its popularity enabled Notch (Persson) to strike a deal with Sony who went on to distribute the game. This commercial deal helped secure Minecraft’s place in the video game market.

★ It was released on multiple platforms and increased audience interactivity

★ It was packaged as a game brand for a wider global audience and not just

video gamers.

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Minecraft & Sony - The Impact

Why was distributing Minecraft a good move for Sony?

Consider the ownership of Sony and the video game market - what countries dominate the market and what conglomerates originate from there? Level of risk and revenue streams.

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Commercial Success

Notch knew that with the backing of technology companies they could provide him with the multiple digital platforms to distribute

the game - ultimately to reach all the non-gamers now using mobile digital devices. This was enabled due to media convergence.

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The progress of Minecraft after 2011 as a global success is illustrated below;

● By 2011 Minecraft was available from Xbox 360 and Xbox Live

● In 2013 Minecraft:Pi Edition, which was mean for educational purposes for novice programmers and players, was also released

● In 2014, Microsoft acquired Minecraft intellectual property

● In 2015, Minecraft reached 30 million copies sold. To date over 121 million have been sold across a variety of formats and platforms

● By 2017, Minecraft was the second most successful video game of all time.

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As small independent products become successful, it is usual for larger organisations / owners to want to buy them. Before Minecraft was purchased by Microsoft Mojang had struck deals with Sony and Nintendo. Both two multinational conglomerates that are part of the oligopoly that dominate the gaming industry.

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MINECRAFT QUESTIONS 

What are the different versions / modes of Minecraft available?

Creative Mode is where a player has unlimited usage of all blocks and items available in the game. Players are invulnerable unless they fall into the Void or are targeted by the /kill command. Otherwise, they have infinite health, armor and hunger, and can fly. Players also have access to items not available in Survival Mode, such as Spawn Eggs.

Survival Mode is where players have to gather all their materials to build, craft items and tools and gain experience points. There is a health, hunger, and armor bar, and an inventory. An oxygen bar also appears when underwater, suffocating, or in lava. If a player runs out of hearts, the player dies and returns to the spawn point. Upon death, the player emits smoke, loses all experience and items, and a death message appears in chat.

Hardcore Mode is a mode in which players create and play, it's similar to survival, except the difficulty is always set to hard. Also, if players lose all their hearts and die, the world gets deleted, since players only have one life. However, if players close the game without deleting the world, the world is saved.  But you can only spectate.

Adventure Mode is used for those who want to only explore maps for mini-games or something else. In this mode, blocks cannot be placed and tools cannot break blocsk unless it's allowed by "CanPlaceOn" and "CanDestroy" NBT tags, respectively. Weapons, such as swords or shovels, still can be used against mobs and other players. 

Spectator Mode is a game mode added in update 1.8. It's only accessible through commands, the Debug Mode world, or dying in hardcore mode. This game mode allows players to fly, like creative mode; however, players can't stand on any block, as they will phase through the floor. It also allows players, when left-clicking on entities, to see what they see. However, players can't control the mobs because the mobs are still controlled by their AI. It is exclusive to Java Edition.

What are Realms & how does this enhances gameplay

Minecraft Realms are dedicated servers provided by Mojang and Microsoft. The developer allows players to subscribe to a realm server and play with up to 10 players safely across all Minecraft platforms.

 

What is Twitch TV and cross play

twitch is a streaming service. Cross-play refers to any online multiplayer game that lets you play with anyone, no matter which console or device they're using. xbox players can play with playstation players 

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What is the Minecraft Marketplace

The Minecraft Marketplace is an in-game store for community-made and official creations that include skin packs, texture packs, and worlds. 

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What can you find out about the platforms that Minecraft is available on

Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, mobile phone, playstation, xbox, PI edition (educational)

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What can you find out about the potential future of Minecraft

 Minecraft 1.20 will be the next major Minecraft update coming in 2023. Along with all the features announced—including the mob vote winner, new biome, new blocks, and more—it's got a name of its own, as Minecraft 1.20 will be "Trails and Tales" and it's all about "storytelling and world building"