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Minecraft enters real world with $110M global theme park deal

Exclusive: Block-building game to appear in theme parks, hotels and stores, starting in UK and US

Minecraft has struck a deal with UK-headquartered Merlin Entertainments – Europe’s largest theme park operator and the second biggest globally after Disney – which runs more than 135 attractions in 23 countries including Alton Towers, Legoland, Sea Life, Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. In recent years, Merlin has been upping its strategy of focusing on deals with “crown jewel” intellectual property owners to drive the popularity of its parks and attractions, in the same way Hollywood studios do with blockbuster franchises. Last year, Minecraft became the first single video game to pass 300m sales, well ahead of other top-selling global titles including Grand Theft Auto V (205m), Nintendo’s Wii Sports (83m) and PUBG: Battlegrounds (75m).

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