In Minecraft, tech giants see more than fun

Photo: EPA

Parents like Minecraft because it can be a creative outlet for their children. Teachers like the game because it can bring lessons to life. And Microsoft likes the game so much that the tech giant wants to buy Minecraft's parent company for more than US$2 billion.

It is not flashy graphics or an intricate story line luring these groups to the game, however. Minecraft has become a global phenomenon by breaking with those conventions.

The point of the game is building things - and tens of millions of people spend hours constructing elaborate structures with digital pickaxes and other tools - and helping others make their own creations.

The game's popularity has been clear for a couple of years. But the possible deal with Microsoft is the clearest sign yet how important tech giants view games like Minecraft and their growing fan bases. Already, Facebook bought a virtual reality headset maker for US$2 billion, and SoftBank of Japan spent US$1.5 billion for a stake in a mobile game developer. Last month, Amazon agreed to buy Twitch, a streaming video site, for more than US$1 billion.

More than any of those other deals, though, buying Minecraft for billions would be an acknowledgment that gaming is central to many people's lives. The rise of mobile devices has put games at the fingertips of practically everyone, an engaging mode of entertainment or merely a time killer.

'It's as if all these old people who don't play games woke up and suddenly said, 'Oh my god, gaming is the thing,'' said James L. McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Changing Industry

Microsoft, of course, recognized the significance of games more than a decade ago, when it released the original Xbox gaming console. Since then, though, tectonic shifts in the industry, brought about by the rise of mobile devices and the Internet, have turned consoles into just one of many outlets for playing games.

Minecraft, created in Sweden, stands out because it has been a hit on nearly every digital device. It ranks as the top paid app for the iPhone and second for the iPad. Mojang, Minecraft's parent company, said in June that sales of the console version of Minecraft had collectively passed those for computers. In all, the company said then, a total of nearly 54 million copies had been sold.

Games have become the most lucrative category of content in the mobile world, and that growth has driven many of the investments in video games by giant tech companies.

In part, companies like Microsoft want to make sure that the top games are available on their devices. Minecraft is not available on Windows Phones, Microsoft's struggling mobile device. In an e-mail to Microsoft employees this year, Satya Nadella, the company's chief executive, said that games were 'the single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent.'

Minecraft soaks up lots of time, as players can spend months building estates and entire countries, working away with pixelated ladders and building blocks.

No Boundaries

The game has succeeded partly by demolishing generational and gender boundaries that usually carve the games business into separate categories. Girls are among the most avid players of Minecraft, and it is one of the few games that parents play with young children. While players can attack the avatars of others in the game, it is a decidedly ungory experience.