Something to look forward to: If you've ever played Minecraft and wished you could enter the blocky world (some people might have?), then your prayers will soon be answered. Within two years, Minecraft-themed attractions, including rides, retail outlets, and hotel rooms, will open in the UK and US.
Microsoft, owner of the Minecraft (download safely here) franchise since it paid $2.5 billion for Mojang in 2014, has signed a deal with Merlin Entertainments to open the attractions, writes The Guardian.
Merlin will invest more than $110 million in the first two attractions, which are due to open in the UK and the US in 2026 and 2027 in either an existing theme park or as new city center attractions.
Minecraft has long topped the list of best-selling games of all time. It passed 300 million unit sales last year, almost 100 million more than second-place Grand Theft Auto V. Its popularity isn't waning, either: the 2011 sandbox still boasts 140 million players each month, and there are more than 1.3 billion videos featuring the game on YouTube.
Merlin is the second-largest theme park operator in the world behind Disney, running over 135 attractions, including Legoland, in 23 countries.
"We are everywhere digitally, Merlin is everywhere physically," Kayleen Walters, the vice-president of franchise development for gaming at Microsoft, told The Guardian. "It is about how do we expand Minecraft beyond the game. Mojang and Microsoft are experts on Minecraft and the brand, Merlin are the experts on location-based experiences; it is a shared vision."
Theme park rides and areas based on video games aren't something new. One of the most popular examples is the Super Nintendo World area within Universal Studio parks in Japan and Los Angeles, with others under construction in Orlando and Singapore.
Minecraft will no doubt experience another boost in its popularity next year when the movie version, titled A Minecraft Movie, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa is released. The first trailer received a lot of backlash, especially as most believe it should have been CGI animated rather than live-action with special effects.
A second Minecraft trailer has just dropped. It is, admittedly, better than the first, but then it couldn't possibly have been any worse. Nevertheless, given how popular the game is with younger players, don't be surprised if the movie makes a lot of money when it's released on April 4, 2025.