'Minecraft' Update To Add In-Game Currency, Store For Content From Third-Party Developers

The popular multiplayer online title Minecraft will launch its own in-game currency and a marketplace that’ll be open to third-party developers, according to Bloomberg.

The updates, which debut this spring, will include nine content packs at launch. As Bloomberg notes, the packs feature content like new levels and activities and will be priced at around $1 to $10. Notably, the marketplace will also prominently feature content from outside developers.

At launch, the marketplace will host content from several existing Minecraft partners and later, other third-party developers and independent creators can apply to join the marketplace. The Minecraft Marketplace is slated to be available on Windows, mobile devices, the Apple TV, Amazon Kindle Fire, Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.

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Minecraft players will also be able to buy this content with Minecraft Coins. As with other games with purchasable currency, users can purchase coins to buy in-game content and currency will be tied to their Minecraft account.

For Minecraft and parent company Microsoft, the updates are a major move to bolster the already sizable fortunes of the game. Originally released in 2011 by Swedish developer Markus Persson, the accessible sandbox construction title ballooned in popularity and revenues as it got picked up by young and older gamers. In 2014, the game was acquired by Microsoft in a massive $2.5 billion agreement.

Along with being a way to further monetize Minecraft, as micro-transactions are a strong bid for parents and kids who can’t make purchases on their own, the move also doubles as a way to draw from Minecraft’s booming creative community.

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With the openness of the game’s sandbox, users have built a variety of content for Minecraft, ranging from a phone call system to a fully working recreation of a Game Boy that can play Pokémon Red. By working with this pool of creators more formally — interested users can sign up here for the Minecraft Creators Program — Microsoft wants to further bolster how engaged Minecraft ’s significant user base.