On January 15th, Microsoft announced a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products that will bring characters from The Simpsons to Minecraft. In late February, fans of the esteemed animated comedy will be able to purchase a downloadable pack of 24 Simpsons characters, including all five members of the titular family, all of whom will be playable within Minecraft‘s blocky universe.
On the surface, the Simpsons pack is a treat for Minecraft players who have also spent the past 26 seasons hanging out with the denizens of Springfield. At the same time, it shows off a critical part of Microsoft’s plan to expand the hugely popular sandbox game it purchased from Mojang in September 2014.
The Simpsons pack costs $1.99 and is only available on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One editions of Minecraft. “We have an active community of more than 17 million die-hard Minecrafters on Xbox Live enjoying the wide range of downloadable content on Xbox, and they have been clamoring for us to bring Simpsons characters to the game,” said Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, in a release. “We are thrilled to partner with Twentieth Century Fox and Gracie Films to bring The Simpsons tolife on Minecraft Xbox 360 and Xbox One editions. I can’t wait to see what the community creates.”
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The deal represents a new era in Minecraft‘s relationship with pop culture. Previously, users had to create mods for the game in order to play as their favorite characters. A few of those mods featured The Simpsons, and some of YouTube’s top Minecraft channels, including TheBajanCanadian and TheDiamondMinecart, have scored millions of views by sharing these mods with viewers.
Thanks to Microsoft’s $2.5 billion purchase, the keys to Minecraft now lie in Redmond, where the tech giant can use licensing deals like this one to cater to the Minecraft fanbase while increasing profits at the same time. Minecraft is often referred to as digital LEGOs, and LEGO is well-known for the large number of licensing deals it has signed. In 2014’s Lego Movie, for instance, LEGO versions of Batman, Shaquille O’Neal, and Abraham Lincoln fought side-by-side.
Microsoft seems to be taking Minecraft in a similar direction. We can expect more licensing deals in the near future, and while the Simpsons pack may upset some independently-minded Minecrafters, it has the potential to generate even more YouTube traffic for a game that has amassed more than 47 billion views to date and ended 2014 as the second most-popular search term on the site. Some YouTubers who feature the game can use a test run of the Simpsons pack as a worthwhile video topic, and millions of fans are likely to tune in.
