Minecraft, one of the most popular video games of all time, will soon be coming to theme parks in the US and the UK. The move comes at a time when theme parks have been experimenting with new themes to attract more customers and Disney has vowed to invest $60 billion over 10 years to expand its parks.

Here are the key details about Minecraft’s theme park plans and more.

Minecraft Developer Signs Deal with Theme Park

Minecraft developer Mojang announced a $110 million deal with UK theme park company Merlin Entertainments, which is the world’s second-largest theme park company after Disney.

The partnership has been named “Adventures Made Real” and “will bring Minecraft adventures to life in the real world through immersive and interactive entertainment attractions in fixed locations around the globe.”

As part of the initial investment, Merlin will invest $110 million to develop Minecraft-themed guest accommodation, retail, and food & beverage and a Minecraft-themed ride at Merlin locations in the US and UK which are expected to come online between 2026 and 2027.

Merlin plans to scale up the partnerships to other global locations over the long term. It looks like a win-win deal for both companies and is Merlin’s first global partnership in the gaming space.

Minecraft’s parent company, Microsoft, is also upbeat about the partnership. “These new real-life Minecraft experiences will not only grow our community but also offer fans many more opportunities to immerse themselves in the world of Minecraft in ways they’ve never imagined,” said Kayleen Walters, Vice-President Franchise Development for Gaming at Microsoft.

Theme Parks Have Been Experimenting with Gaming

Video game franchises are starting to become quite popular among theme parks. In 2021, Nintendo opened its Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan. Last year, it opened one such park at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Thanks to the growing popularity of video games, LinkedIn and YouTube added games to their platform. Netflix too added games to its platform as the streaming platform strives to make its value proposition even better for subscribers.

Disney is also not far behind and during the three-day D23 Expo in August, it announced some very exciting expansions to the parks. These include a new section of Frontierland inspired by the popular Cars franchise at the park. In its release, Disney said, “Guests will leave Radiator Springs behind and head off into the wilderness with two new Cars attractions — one that will be an off-road thrilling rally race, and a family-friendly attraction that even the youngest racers will love.” Earlier this year, Disney also announced a $1.5 billion investment in Fortnite’s parent company, Epic Games.

A Swedish game programmer, Markus “Notch” Persson, originally created Minecraft. Persson previously worked for King until 2009 before he began full-time development on Minecraft. He got the idea of developing a game like Minecraft from an isometric base-building game titled “RubyDung” that he was developing.

Along with Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh, Persson cofounded Mojang to develop Minecraft. Microsoft eventually acquired Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014. Microsoft incidentally sees a big opportunity in gaming and also acquired gaming giant Activision Blizzard.

monthly active users

Minecraft’s popularity seems to come from its simplicity and its focus on inspiring creativity. The game uses 3D blocks which let gamers create pretty much anything that they want in both single player and multi-player modes. It also has an active gaming community that interacts among themselves to create creative projects.

It is particularly popular among kids and teens – a demographic that theme parks want to target. According to Demand Sage, it had 173.29 million monthly active users as of September and its peak daily active player count is 48.39 million. Videos about Minecraft have been watched for over a trillion times on YouTube, another testimony to its popularity.

Minecraft sold 300 million units last year and its mobile version generated revenues of $43.14 million in the first half of 2024. It is the highest-selling video game of all time and through its partnership with Merlin Entertainments, it is capitalizing on its brand by bringing it to theme parks.

Warner Bros is Producing “A Minecraft Movie”

Mojang isn’t just focusing on theme parks either. Warner Bros is producing “A Minecraft Movie” based on the popular game and recently dropped the second trailer of the movie which is set to release in April 2025. The movie is directed by Jared Hess and features actors like Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Sebastian Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Emma Myers.

Fans have had mixed reactions to the new trailer but generally most believe that while not perfect, it is at least better than the first one.

The new trailer seems to have been quite effective, with droves of social media users sharing memes and excited reactions.

All said, the box office performance of “A Minecraft Movie” will be a major test to see how the Minecraft brand can be monetized beyond the game. The next test would come when the Minecraft theme parks open where fans would get to experience the game in the real world.