Minecraft Handbooks to be Released by UK Publisher
Egmont, a children’s book publisher based in the UK, has announced that it will be releasing four books based on the extremely popular video game Minecraft.
Edmont’s Minecraft handbooks are designed for fans and newcomers alike
The four official Minecraft books will help children and newcomers tackle some of the world-building game’s basic aspects, reports Develop. These instructional guides, titled The Beginner’s Handbook, The Redstone Handbook, The Combat Handbook and The Construction Handbook, are not the only Minecraft product Egmont plans to release. The UK publisher has also announced the upcoming release of a Minecraft Annual, a Minecraft Poster Book and a magazine named “All About Minecraft”.
Egmont originally signed the deal with Minecraft development studio Mojang in October of last year. The deal allows for Edmont to publish official books and magazines based off the game in all territories excluding the U.S., as reported by TechCrunch.
Minecraft – The international gaming sensation
Since its full release at the end of 2011, Minecraft has become an intentional phenomenon, pushing its creator Markus “Notch” Persson and his team to the forefront of the video game industry. Although initially developed for Windows, the game is now available for Android, iOS, Xbox 360 and even the Raspberry Pi.
Minecraft offers a unique, open ended gameplay experience where players are able to build practically anything they can imagine. This has resulted in the formation of online communities who constantly share ideas on structures, machinery, agriculture and much more. It’s these fans that Sarah Bates of Egmont’s licensing division hopes to include in the creation of the Minecraft books and magazines,
The fans are extremely important to us and we want our publishing to both feed their thirst for gaming knowledge through an engaging reading experience, whilst also offer exclusive content from the developers which they can’t get online.
As well as working closely with Mojang developers on the publishing we are also in discussion with a number of superfans about them contributing to our titles and next month we will be launching a competition for fans to win the chance for their design to feature as a page in our Minecraft Poster Book. Interest from retailers has been extremely strong and we can’t wait to bring these books to market.
Minecraft – Bigger than Pokémon?
Books aren’t the only official Minecraft merchandise Mojang have endorsed. T-shirts, fridge magnets, wallets and even official Minecraft Lego are all available to buy now.
Minecraft is not only the ultimate indie game success story, but is on the fast track to be the biggest must-have children’s brand since Pokémon.