Minecraft Finally Gets its Own Marketplace for Hand-Picked Creators

Minecraft for both Windows 10 and Mobile is getting a new curated in-app marketplace for handpicked creators to offer their skin packs, retextured overlays and more.

After the Discovery Update which added more components to the game such as spooky woodland mansions, llamas, ill-natured villagers and spectral vexes, the new marketplace for creators’ timing is perfect. The creators are also called “Pioneer Partners” and are limited to 9 for now. They are going to be allowed to sell their own wares alongside with Mojang and Microsoft ones. In order to buy them, players who have Xbox Live Silver and Gold accounts will have to spend “Minecraft coins” – a new in-game currency. 300 coins will cost $1,99, 840 coins will be $4,99, and 1,720 will cost $9,99.

The Executive Producer of Minecraft Realms, John Thornton, says that even if for now they only have 9 creators, this number will definitely be growing pretty soon. The team wants to have hi-quality content and they want to be able to support creators to build whatever they want to build.  The present plan involves adding two to five creators a month, in order to grow the marketplace at a measured pace.

Each creator must furnish enough content every month in order to keep the curation process expedient. The new content can now be folded in the game without the need of a full update. The Minecraft store is going to have its very own approval guidelines. It will also feature a 30% sales cut back to the app platform and the rest will go to the creator.

What does the future hold? Could this store end up catering to mass market brands maybe? Does this have to do with Mojang’s banning of advertising agencies and corporations using Minecraft as a promotional tool during the course of last year and leaving only Microsoft in charge?

We’re not sure, but what we do know is the fact that Mojang’s current plan is focusing on this community-driven marketplace.