When it comes to movie adaptations of popular video games, the success rate is low. Recent adaptations of Xbox properties seem to be faring better than history would lead us to expect.
The most recent adaptation, "A Minecraft Movie," has only been in theaters for a week, but its success has led to double-digit growth in player numbers and sales of the 14-year-old game it is based on.
In a report from The Game Business citing data from Ampere Analysis, Minecraft (the game) saw a boost in daily active players within just one day of the movie adaptation's release on Friday, April 4. By the following Sunday, player numbers were up 17% week-over-week.
Microsoft likes to keep player counts and sales figures fairly close to its chest, but Minecraft was already on the record as having a player base of roughly 170 million active users. Even record highs can use a boost, though, and the movie's launch has ultimately led to a 30% jump in player numbers overall.
Despite having already cemented a legacy as the best-selling game ever, "A Minecraft Movie" has still managed to help Mojang's crafting survival game find its way to new audiences. Sales for Minecraft on Nintendo Switch jumped 25% before the release of the movie and an additional 8% after, according to data from Nielson/GfK.
However, it is difficult to know exactly how much the Minecraft movie adaptation is directly responsible for the boost and how much can be attributed to related marketing materials. Microsoft and Warner Bros. took the marketing campaign for A Minecraft Movie seriously, even going so far as to partner with McDonald's for special Minecraft-themed menu items.
The success of A Minecraft Movie comes on the heels of another successful Microsoft-owned IP adaptation: Prime Video's Fallout TV series. The Fallout adaptation proved to be the second-biggest TV show for Prime Video and resulted in a sales boost of 345% — even though the Fallout game series was available in Xbox Game Pass and other subscription services when the television adaptation was released.
Unlike Fallout, A Minecraft Movie's initial critic reviews were a bit of a shocker and were nothing short of a warning that the movie wouldn't do well upon release. What a surprise when the movie turned out to be wildly successful, leading to rumors of a sequel and hopefully smoothing over the wounds left behind by the failed Halo television series.
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