The World of Minecraft Unveiled
Expanse, Farshore’s imprint creating high-quality, immersive books on video gaming for adults, has today unveiled The World of Minecraft, a definitive account of the game’s history to celebrate Minecraft’s 15th anniversary. Farshore is also publishing a wider programme of Minecraft books for children and young adults throughout the anniversary year, including activity books, novels and early readers, handbooks and guides, annuals, and advent calendars. Sister imprint Collins will in addition be publishing new educational STEM workbooks.
On 10th October 2024, Expanse will be publishing The World of Minecraft, which explores how the critically acclaimed game evolved from a one-person project to a global gaming phenomenon. This lavish, fully illustrated coffee table book will explore the history, community, innovation, and impact of the game. It will include in-depth interviews with key figures in the Minecraft story, as well as featuring never-before-seen artwork. As well as a standard trade edition, Expanse will also be publishing a deluxe numbered edition with original bespoke art prints.
Farshore has additional Minecraft highlights publishing throughout the anniversary year to champion the brand. The completely revised Minecraft Beginner’s Guide, is an essential companion for new fans starting out on their Minecraft journey. An intricately designed pop-up book, Minecraft: The Official Pop-Up by Matthew Reinhart and Paperpaul, includes never-before-seen, original illustrations.
Ahead of the holiday season, the established and best-selling Minecraft Annual publishes on 1st August, and the Minecraft Advent Calendar publishes on 29th August. Also publishing on 29th August is Minecraft Where’s the Zombie, a new search and find activity book that follows on the success of Minecraft Catch the Creeper, an international bestseller, which has now sold half a million copies.
On 7th November Farshore will be publishing Minecraft Mega Bite-Size Builds, the fourth instalment of the Bite-Size Builds series which has sold over 900k copies globally. An epic new standalone novel by Danny Lore, Minecraft Journey to the Ancient City, publishes 5th December.
In addition, Collins will be expanding their successful range of Minecraft educational workbooks with four new STEM titles publishing on 20th June: Minecraft Science and Environment: Official Workbook, Minecraft Engineering and Mechanics: Official
Workbook, Minecraft Design and Technology: Official Workbook, and Minecraft Computing and Coding: Official Workbook.
Farshore (formerly Egmont) has been publishing Minecraft books since 2013, and its total number of Minecraft books in print now stands at over 60 titles. Since 2013, over 8 million books have been sold in the UK through TCM, almost 40 million internationally, and the Minecraft Annual continues to be a top ten title each Christmas in the UK. In 2022, Farshore launched its new Expanse imprint with the publication of Minecraft Master Builds, the definitive book on Minecraft’s greatest creations.
Minecraft is the number one game of all time, with over 300 million copies now sold. Last year, views of Minecraft content on YouTube surpassed 1 trillion.
John Packard, Publishing Director at Farshore and Expanse, said: “‘We are incredibly proud to partner with Mojang on making books for Minecraft fans of all ages. Our Minecraft books set the gold standard for gaming titles and have engaged a generation of children in the joy of reading for pleasure.”
Alex Wiltshire, Senior Narrative Editor at Mojang Studios, said: “We’re intensely proud of the beautiful, inspirational and entertaining books we produce with our friends at Farshore. They expand the game for our players and help them celebrate their love for it, but even more than that, by promoting literacy and learning, our books are an important part of Minecraft’s overall goal of helping to build a better world.”
