All right we have a video here by Zuma void about marketing Minecraft and it’s is it a strain on the game is it like negatively impacting the game and I think I’ve heard even like this folks a lot don’t like to update cycle and that Sort of thing so I’m curious to hear his opinion I kind of already have like a preconceived notion what my opinion is but let’s see what he has to say free images have in common the answer question what are these free images have in common the answer will lead us on a Series of thoughts and questions that might be able to I don’t know what do they have in common growing trend of dissatisfaction towards Minecraft’s more recent features and updates or better worded a contributing force that has put negative pressure on the game’s development my last discussion video was Mostly about the trails and tales update we also touched on the history leading up to 1.20 as well as ideas to help me that was a good video better in all of that research and thoughts something else became rather clear which I decided merited its own video that you are currently watching So I’m not going to linger on the proposed mystery and turn it into a big deal it’s not these images are the air quotes promotional art from our previous updates okay 1.5 Redstone update 1.7 the update that changed the world and 1.8 okay it’s full update okay all three of These updates were released before the Microsoft takeover using the internet Wayback machine we can see the original posts from that time on the mohang website interesting and for the most part this was how they communicated these updates a relatively small and Casual blog post outlining new additions With little fluff or hype to be found and of course we can’t forget the classic trailers made by Hat Films on moyang’s now rebranded YouTube channel this is something we will come back to soon okay from the beginning I didn’t follow Minecraft around the game has Always played a huge role in The Game’s success mostly due to how the nature of content made with Minecraft also promotes it today the scales have moved somewhat yes increasing activity on Yang’s half when it comes to promoting the game in the early days YouTubers and Community created content That would inform everyone to what’s what in the latest big release or new snapshot as I already mentioned update trailers for the game were also fan made I believe Hat Films handled most of the trailers from 2011 during the beta updates up to the pretty scary update And the end update on Xbox 360. interesting 2013. so you might seems kind of following with this obviously things have changed since those nostalgic years now passed let me just say like in regards to this already like I really don’t appreciate or like the like intended like corniness That they do and they’re like update videos and like live streams and stuff like that like they always act like they’re talking to five-year-olds which I mean I get the fact that Minecraft is a game that’s targeted uh just as much to young kids as it is to adults right But like kids aren’t gonna they don’t go and watch update videos and News videos like I can’t think of a time my kids at 11 and 10 have ever gone and watched one of those so like that’s not the audience that watches these things so they need To they need to like learn how to cater uh learn how to cater to the audience that watches and certain things they’re gonna do and when they put in these little like like really corny like lines and try to be like cutesy funny like dorky like it just doesn’t it people the Main people that are watching these do not like these at all they just don’t um like just talk to us like we’re people that care about what update you’re gonna do to the game thus it’s in this change that we may find a course for some of the games btq Is off-putting yes it is very closer look at the Timeline between then and now the Minecraft YouTube channel is a really great resource for seeing these changes visually over time it follows a similar trajectory as many other YouTube channels improving thumbnails now I will say Um let me go back a touch here I do like dislike art style do like these little like skits they do um with the animated um yens and um uh what’s her name I don’t know why I I can never think of her name in the Moment but like I like those those are fun like they’re short little promotional videos they kind of showcase a little bit they like give some hints here and there um I’m fine with that what I’m not fine with is like they do this was like the Voo buoy guy all the time we’re like they they really make him act like he’s putting on a bad play for um young kids you know what I mean and it’s just it’s just really annoying like they they need to stop like trying to treat everybody like uh that’s watching Like their children because they they have a non-child player base as well three as many other YouTube channels improving thumbnails and presentation streamlining the content and increasing the production value to the point where most of their animated stuff is great let me I’ll even take it to that most of Their animated stuff is really good so like if you want to put like the cutesy kind of stuff and the animated things where it kind of fits like I’m fine with that let’s just not put it into like the bad acting of when you’re like trying to Tell us things can we can we just do that that’d be great full team of people now produce the videos seen on the channel a path many YouTubers have taken from Humble Origins in 2016 two years after Microsoft brought moyang you can see the shift begin trailers for Bedrock Edition map Packs on the marketplace roll out to the oh here we go we’re already blaming it on Bedrock Edition before it doesn’t necessarily do that but guys so many people blame it on there and little even just like little side comments like that just kind of like lead people down that path of like It’s all bedrock’s fault and I real it actually despise that Channel many of which can be found between the exploration update and the World of Color update a year later the promotion cycle for Minecraft Earth begins with additional content to be fair it’s it’s it does come along with With Microsoft had not seen before and then there is the mob vote notice which one has the least amount of views yeah how curious then in 2018 more Minecon hype followed by the update aquatic trailer and the biome Chooser vote came along too yeah again like I like these Animations like those are fine you may notice increasing thumbnail Clarity and also a tagline text it’s in 2019 and to be fair too to Mojang like everybody kind of has to do this if you want your videos you get seen even if you’re like a huge like thing like Mojang and you’re A big company that’s like got millions of players playing your game you need to put out professional thumbnails that that are like appealing in a YouTube sense start to see interim content between the previous standards interviews with developers and Community figures as well as our first April Fool’s trailer known As Minecraft 3D fast forward another couple of years and we see the ask moyang series and top 10 lists which is very much modeled on the Minecraft videos made by the community these are where facts and knowledge about the game are assembled into lists a very popular Format at the time and have even made some myself a rhythm of content has remained pretty consistent since then there has however been a noticeable uptick in teasers explainers and excitement videos linked directly to the content inside the updates start and I had this conversation the other day Um I can’t remember who with but I think I think I think I did it on Twitter um X whatever the heck you want to call it um they they they let too much information out there now and they tease too much I think and like I’m like you Can’t help it like be all about it all right right like if they put it out there you kind of want to find it all and like learn it all and find it all out and dive in but I do think to some extent the game is worse off for it because Like it takes a it takes out like any kind of hype about an upcoming update when you know and have seen everything about that update before it hits you know what I mean Consulting with the 1.19 Wild update really exploding with 1.20 although I haven’t analyzed Minecraft social media Presence in the same way as the YouTube channel my own organic experience through covering updates and snapshots has led me closely following their Twitter account tweets and minecraft.net posts I’ve noticed the same thing an uptick in posts and media to create engagement Annex nexto said microtransactions are real terrible and Bedrock is filled with them I see I don’t I don’t see that like the market like I’ve never felt compelled to buy something from the the marketplace I’ve only ever purposely like sought something out from there if I if I wanted to take a look like they don’t Like give you advertisements in game they really don’t like they really don’t do anything in game to make you want to visit the marketplace it’s it’s just there on the intro screen and like there may be like a little like extra like animated graphic down there like that’s kind of it so Um I don’t think they do anything there that is worse than any other companies that do it in fact I think they probably do less than most other companies that do like microtransactions and seasons and stuff like that they’re not even really I mean I guess they’re micro transactions in a Way but like they’re just like Community created like skins and maps and stuff like you can you can either go get them or you or you cannot like a lot of people give Bedrock as bad rap if like it has a Marketplace therefore it’s terrible and that’s just not that’s not The case like it’s um it’s it’s it’s easily avoidable um and really the only bad thing you can say about them the marketplace is just the fact that it exists like period could be seen as a negative because it keeps away like free content from the Game and that sort of thing and I think you could make an argument there I think that makes sense but to say that the marketplace like in the way it’s advertised and presented is bad I don’t think I don’t think that’s true at all excitement around the game this became Very apparent recently with a ton of promotional material betrayals and tales coming through the official Twitter account these observations have led me to the question this video is about making all of this well-produced content takes time resources and more importantly coordination it has become somewhat of a trend since the never Update God another update was so good like like if you look at another update like that update was Banger like there’s nobody that has anything bad to say about another update and then you get to caves and cliffs which we thought was going to be all in One update and it ended up being like update part one an update part two which kind of makes sense like it was June 2021 November 2021 so like they were six months apart but still they split them apart and then we got more of it in June of 2022 Um and then we got more of it in June 2023 right we got we were promised we were promised all of this stuff including what we got in 2022 which was the ancient cities and and down here when we got some like archeology type stuff so it kind of feels like these Four were meant to be one but it just didn’t work out that way because they like over promise and then have just been slowly under delivering since then and they keep adding they’ll add in like little extra stuff here and there but it’s just felt underwhelming big Minecraft updates to release in June Just in time for the holidays a good business move no doubt getting the hype for the game revived in time for a large portion of its player base to spend their increased free time on this is a far cry from the casual attitude moyang had over a decade ago updates were Dropped somewhat out of the blue with very little attention given to the marketing machine that has now been built around the game of course not long after 1.20’s release the summer celebration sale arrives to cash in on the trails and tales excitement so what’s the issue all this increased Marketing around the game is highly coordinated with deadlines to meet and promotional content ah and here we’re getting into the key problem to produce in time how does this affect game development deadlines can create pressure and time constraints that could lead to Features being cut if they are not ready in time Marketing needs may also impact the demands put on developers not only to progress the game as they see fit but to hit certain demographics and I know a lot of people that watch this video or that are in the Stream here are going to hate me for saying this fortnite has Handled so much better than Minecraft is like infinitely better like fortnite has like um a place where you go to like play in like special maps and things like that and guess what they’re all free you can all you can play all of them for free Um they have like a cool battle pass where you get like free stuff every month the stuff that you can pay for actually like feels worth it like it kind of looks cool and looks fun right um the skins and such the emotes Etc uh they if you’re paying for it obviously You feel like it’s worth it obviously they don’t do pay to play which Minecraft can’t really be a pay to play type game anyways but like it’s here we go you got a free game that gives you a lot of free stuff outside of the base game that has like a Marketplace that’s Completely optional and audiences with features that suit for example a cuteness Factor something for the kids or an easily marketable Edition that feeds into a growing promotional cycle these are of course questions not accusations moyang have every right to promote their game however they see fit the issue is that Some of these aspects are clearly linked the summer release date a seemingly self-evident one with these links an increased demand in one area surely affects the other to some extent that area of concern being the game’s development this has led me to wonder and of course ask all of you if this Might be a contributing factor to the recent Rocky times within our community setting aside the drama of chat reporting account migration and selective Eula enforcements is the game lacking Direction due to these external factors and thus leading to updates receiving a mixed response um I think the problem comes in and I do Think part of the problem is is this whole like annual cycle slash release date thing like they’ve they’ve artificially produced or created this like expectation from the viewer base where everybody expects for a big update to come out in June of 2020 of in June of like whatever year it is right and That’s just kind of it um and I don’t think Minecraft like there’s obviously different ways to do a game right and Minecraft and Microsoft and Mojang have kind of decided like our way of doing things is going to be we’re going to push one major update that Changes a lot of things with the game or adds a lot of things in the game every year and then that’s kind of gonna be it and the problem with that is is if you’re gonna do things that way the things that you bring into the update have to be Interesting and compelling enough to last you throughout the year on their own if that makes sense so like if we look at like if we write rewind back to the nether update like the nether update added in like a bunch of new biomes a ton of new blocks like a whole new like Dimension basically to explore um and just like a lot of like a lot of stuff right so we kind of felt like oh like that’s really cool like I’m gonna restart my world or whatever and like I’m going to explore and find and do all of these things Um but then you get to something like I don’t know let’s look at 1.20 for example like this is a major annual update and really what did they do they made armor look a little bit different which is cool like it’s fine I I like it As an update but they made armor look a little bit different they gave you this like dinosaur type thing that you can find that walks around and digs up some flowers and they prettied up a biome that already existed and oh well no this was the cherry blossom so basically they like they Added like a different type of tree and some flowers into the mountains that were already there they gave you a couple extra blocks um hanging signs like again like these things on their own are they’re they’re not bad things but are they things that when they get added to the game they can They can hold a person’s attention for a whole year until the next full update the next major update comes out and to that I think the answer is very clearly no they’re like these quick flashes in the pan that like you you like they are cool on their own you can Kind of get excited about but first of all we hear about them like six months before um we get to test them out YouTubers like put the information out there in front of you like non-stop for for six months you get all the information about every Single thing so by the time it releases it’s already not new you know what I mean so like when you play it for the first time in the live game even if you haven’t actually played with it before you kind of feel like you already have played with it uh because you’ve seen And heard about it so much and then once you do play with it for a little bit like how long does it take to like experience a hanging sign to see a camel that doesn’t really do anything to get a sniffer that doesn’t really do anything Um and to be like oh hey pinkwood is cool and like that’s basically it so I think the like the size of the updates they’re doing aren’t conducive to a full one year update they’re more conducive to like a three to six month update if this came out and then three months Later they had something else come out like it’s similar in size and scope then I think we would be like oh man this is so cool like this is awesome like I keep getting these new things added into my world but if they’re going to go with an Annual update the things need to be bigger they need to be an end update they need to be a new dimension they need to be we just updated all of the structures in the game and like refresh like a bunch of the biomes like they Need to feel huge they need to be here’s a brand new system we just redid how you get XP uh we we redid enchantments we redid potions like we redid inventory like we just changed all these major systems in the game to like really change your experience like they need to Be big and something that feels like it could last you a year now what do I think Mojang should do I think they should go away from the the huge once a year update change it to a huge update like once every couple years like a really big one Like like like redo the end as big as you did another not bigger but every like six months every three to six months give us an update the size what you gave us in 1.20 like give us some new blocks give us like a refresh to a biome Um maybe add in a new mob like that sort of thing um and then every so often you surprise us with this like really really really big update that’s like game changing because then the little stuff will kind of carry you along and then the really Big update it’s a reason to like oh man I’m starting like a whole new world now like let’s go like let’s do it you know what I mean and maybe they don’t have to exactly do that but you kind of see like what I’m getting at with the balance Here is we need some stop Gap things to kind of fill in every few months to like trickle like new things to us and make us feel like we’re getting fun new exciting things and then every so often you just like hit that home run out the Park where you’re just like oh man like this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen like I I have to play Minecraft every day for like six months straight now because what they just added into the game is so cool all right that was a long run let’s get Back to Exuma if Mo Yang were to focus an update entirely on stability quality of life changes or tackle fundamental systems like Inventory management would this be allowed and in here he’s going to get on this and I’m sure he’s going to talk about this but I need to talk about this too Um and I’m sure I’m like on the same page with Exuma void here the reason why they don’t do these things is because they’re not marketable you can’t you can’t um sell a product that shows uh change to the combat system there’s no there’s no action figure for inventory Management that you can’t sell party supplies based on modding API like you know what I mean like these things aren’t sellable or marketable at all but at the same time they provide huge huge huge benefits to existing players especially the existing players that played the game a lot Um and it kind of feels like they’ve gotten themselves stuck in the fact that we can’t Market this therefore We’re not gonna do it or you know what honestly it probably is we can’t Market it so we can’t put a lot of Dev time on it but What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna try to be efficient at doing the things that we that we have to commit to for marketing purposes and we’re going to try to squeeze in a little bit of this stuff here and there like we got we got Tim over in in the dev team and like he doesn’t have anything to do for the next three days because he’s waiting on somebody else let’s see if he can like squeeze in one of these little tiny things you know what I mean let’s see if he can make one change to inventory Management to kind of help things out and that’s kind of like the cycle that got themselves stuck in it’s certainly harder to Market small features and increase game performance over new blocks and mobs it is that actually what the majority of Minecraft’s player base want in terms of Numbers the game seems to be doing fine on its current course but for how long and as someone who follows the development closely I do want to point out there are consistently under the hood performance changes as well as tweaks changes and fixes that can make a big difference I’m not suggesting there Is any slack in this department Minecraft is clearly increasing its marketing strategy and it’s probably paying off what’s the best-selling video games Minecraft number one 238 million copies of the game like that’s crazy right like it’s the most popular game in the world it just is so obviously they’re doing Something right and honestly too that kind of works to the detriment of the game because the game is so successful as it’s been run in the past like several years to where why would anybody like higher up look at it and be like hey like let’s let’s do This different to make the game experience better for players because like they don’t see that the bigwigs the guys at the top they don’t see that they just see they see dollar signs and the dollar signs look fine right now so to them like if if Jeb or you know whoever like somebody Asks for like more money to do this or do that to do quality life stuff and it like goes up to chain like Microsoft’s like no like you guys are doing great like you’re doing really good you don’t need the extra five developers to like do this project like just you’re fine Keep keep doing what you’re doing bye off however this game succeeded on its merits in the past without such coordinated campaigns and the question should be asked is it necessary for example Team Fortress 2 is another long-standing game and I mean older than Minecraft as it was released in 2007. I Grew up playing this also been continuously updated over the years yeah completely for free much like moyang back in the day the latest update was announced via you guessed it a blog post loss of text outlining the changes and not even a single image this update Brought 14 new maps to the game and an entirely new game mode the first in seven years valve is not the only company lacking big promotion and marketing efforts if one were to look around we could probably find a but like here’s the difference Team Fortress 2 isn’t selling products and stores people People aren’t buying Team Fortress 2 T-shirts and backpacks for their kids you know what they are buying they’re buying Minecraft pajamas and underwear and Legos and backpacks and lunch boxes and water bottles and pencils and party supplies and like all of these different things people are buying that kind of Stuff my I don’t know who knows how much money Mojang you know makes for marketing or from uh from merchandise but and Merchant I guess merchandise and um um I don’t know the word I’m looking for like like selling like their IP to people to like make stuff right like Lego for example but like I guarantee you it’s a lot it’s a whole lot so that’s why I don’t know if xum was about to say this or not this video is getting close to over but that licensing there you go thanks terrible um that’s why these big updates annually are a thing They have a clear strategy for it the clear strategy obviously comes from the top Microsoft likes this because they can do the licensing and the products as long as Mojang keeps putting out something that they can Market that they can advertise that they can make products out of look at Minecraft Legends their freaking toys are all over the stores and the game sucks and we’ll talk about that later the game launched in the worst condition I’ve seen a game launching in a long time like it was just lacking so much it’s like they only spent a year developing it if that but The products are all over the place it’s everywhere that was already pre-planned before they even saw if people even liked the game which they didn’t so that’s just unfortunately the state that ran you know what we’ll probably get another half baked Microsoft or Minecraft game sometime in the future I don’t know what it’s going to be but I guarantee you when they do it it’s not gonna be good because they’re not going to get any Community feedback about it at all a whole range of approaches with varying success my conclusion is a simple one Minecraft’s visibility and Successes always come from its Community if the recent wobble of mixed reception has anything to do with the obvious increased coordination of content and marketing it might just be wise to ditch the strategy the long-term goal should be sustainability keeping all players interested and attracting new ones to Achieve that the updates need to reach a certain level of quality that the developers should be given the time to fully explore and and that’s the problem by the way too um and that’s why like I always fight for the developers and I never Target them out specifically because dude They’re just they’re just guys and girls and people that are working for a big company that says you need to do X Y and Z by this time and date I mean that’s all they can do right so you know every once in a while they reach out for feedback and they probably Try to push a lot of that up to chain and I’m sure most of it gets ignored um but that’s not their fault the updates and direct out features to reach deadlines may have compromised what could have been so that’s the video please do share your thoughts with a Comment if you want to answer this conversation and if you like this format of video and want to see more please consider supporting me on patreon your contribution there will enable me to put more time and money into these videos so thanks for considering and I’ll see you Soon with another alright guys that was Exuma void um I just popped his uh video that we just watched into chat so if you want to go through watch it uninterrupted without me blabbing my mouth um in the meantime then go check it out for those of you watching this is A video on YouTube later I’ll make sure I put a link down to the video and of course Exuma void Channel down in the description below if you’re not subscribed to Exuma void highly recommend it he comes out with great update videos I love his opinion videos Um he’s also a member of hermitcraft if you like smps and survival play and that kind of thing Video Information
This video, titled ‘Microsoft Is RUINING Minecraft Updates! | Prowl Reacts’, was uploaded by Prowl8413 on 2023-08-28 15:00:07. It has garnered 4923 views and 222 likes. The duration of the video is 00:28:11 or 1691 seconds.
@xisumavoid Talks about the Evolution of Minecraft updates, and how things have seemingly changed since Microsoft purchased Minecraft.
Xisuma’s Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65pNThTy3tA&t=329s
Looking for a great quality Minecraft server, at a great price? I recommend using Sparkedhost! All Prowl servers are hosted on Sparkedhost! Link: https://ad.sparkedhost.marketing/campaign/prowl Code: Prowl
All the links! Visit my website at https://prowl8413.live Become a member to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/@prowllive/join Follow me on twitter @prowl8413 Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/prowl8413 Watch Me Live At https://www.youtube.com/@prowllive TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@prowl8413
