Minecraft Collab Expanding
Bioworld, the brand merchandising company, announced today it’s continuing and expanding its collaboration with Mojang’s Minecraft for the game’s 15th anniversary. According to the Dallas-based company, which has collaborated with the blocky game for over eight years, it’s evolving its product line to accommodate the core audience’s growth and what they want from games merch as young adults. Minecraft celebrates its anniversary (or at least the anniversary of its first public release) on May 17.
Bioworld’s Minecraft merch at present includes clothes — hoodies and shirts in particular — backpacks, lunchboxes, fleece throws, hats and more. Now Bioworld plans to expand that lineup, with one example of such being a new adaptive bag that works for all users, including those with mobility devices. Jennifer Staley, Bioworld’s SVP of licensing, said in a statement, “Minecraft are incredibly supportive partners; they have excellent communication to their vendors and their retailers, and they set a standard in terms of what a licensed partnership should look like.”
GamesBeat spoke with Jason Mayes, Bioworld’s senior director of marketing and intellectual property, about the company’s partnership with Minecraft. According to Mayes, the core audience of Minecraft has grown up, so have their tastes in gaming merch. “There’s a real opportunity to design a product specifically targeted to the person who grew up playing Minecraft and is now a young adult consumer. They’re looking for things that meet their tastes, so the designs we will do for that consumer will be specifically aged up.”
When asked about the future of the Minecraft collaboration, Mayes told GamesBeat, “Rounding out the gender balance in the youth market is an ample opportunity. It’s currently very heavily boys. We know there’s a girls consumer. Ensuring we have the proper distribution and plenty of it for that girl’s consumer is a growth opportunity.” Mayes added the European market is seeing some growth as well. “And remember, there’s a movie coming out. A lot of the consumers play the game, but this will give them a broader reach for the consumer who maybe isn’t as familiar with Minecraft.”