Microsoft Corp. is adding a new marketplace -- and a brand new currency -- within the video-game Minecraft, opening up the opportunity for businesses to sell their original content and creations to tens of millions of the game’s players for the first time.
Set to go live in the spring, nine businesses will be selling feature packs within Minecraft -- such as new storylines, in-game activities or landscapes to explore -- with prices ranging between about $1 and $10 per creation. Other companies can apply to be allowed into the marketplace over subsequent months. Users wishing to purchase content will need to buy a form of new currency -- Minecraft Coins. The new coins can be bought via any supported device that features an app store, such as iOS, Android or Windows. These coins will live in a user’s Microsoft Xbox Live virtual wallet and be accessible for marketplace purchases on any platform.
“For the first time we are going to enable creators to come in and put content into our store alongside the same content that Minecraft makes,” said John Thornton, the game’s executive producer at Microsoft. “The real impetus is to let creators connect to players and help them make a living on top of Minecraft.”
The Minecraft Marketplace will not be available on all platforms -- a notable exclusion being Microsoft's own Xbox and Sony's PlayStation games consoles -- but will be available on Windows, iOS, Android, as well as the Apple TV, the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR virtual reality platforms, and even Amazon Inc.’s Kindle Fire.
“We have a model that allows us to give more than 50 percent of revenue to the creators,” he said. “They’re all happy with that revenue split and we’re happy with that as well.”
There are restrictions, however, to protect Minecraft’s large numbers of young players. “Every piece of content in the store is reviewed by Minecraft,” said Thornton, so much like Apple’s app store nothing is likely to hit virtual store shelves without it being vetted first.
Developers are free to set prices for their creations. “We don’t have a strong price cap,” said Thornton. “If we have content that shows up that everybody agrees is of significant value that a consumer might want to pay more than that, we’ll have that conversation. Ultimately it’s up to the creator to decide.”
By adopting an in-app payment model, Microsoft is moving into a territory well-trodden by so-called freemium mobile apps. Pokemon Go, which is free to download, generated almost a billion dollars of revenue in 2016 through in-app payments, according to data compiled by research group App Annie.
