Tourism New Zealand brings its country into Minecraft

Tourism New Zealand teamed up with Warner Brothers Pictures and Mojang Studios to enable gamers to “play” New Zealand in Minecraft.

The collaboration led to the creation of a world-first destination downloadable content (DLC) celebrating the upcoming release of A Minecraft Movie.

Tourism New Zealand CEO René de Monchy said: “This innovative approach to destination marketing offers millions of Minecraft fans the unique opportunity to virtually explore and create within a range of iconic New Zealand locations.”

Torfi Frans Ólafsson, senior creative director of original content and entertainment at Minecraft and one of the film’s producers, shared his enthusiasm on the collaboration.  

He declared: “Shooting A Minecraft Movie in New Zealand was an amazing experience. The talent and boundless creativity of the highly talented local crews embodies the values we at Minecraft hold so dear: positivity, creativity and curiosity. For those of us not local, whenever we were not holed up on the sound stages at the studio, we used every opportunity we could to explore the magnificent beauty of New Zealand. When principal photography wrapped, we were sad to leave with so much yet unexplored, but me, like many others on the production, were already planning our holidays to return to New Zealand as proper tourists.”  

A unique approach to tourism promotion

With more than 300 million copies sold globally, Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time and offers a unique way of promoting New Zealand as a destination on and offline.

Likewise, the collaboration casts the spotlight on New Zealand’s strong film production, game development, and Indigenous creative industries – areas that offer unique appeal for the business events sector.

According to de Monchy: “The project creatively combines technology, gaming, culture, New Zealand’s otherworldly places, Māori culture, and people to present New Zealand to the vast Minecraft universe in an innovative way.”

Tourism New Zealand worked with Piki Studios, an official Minecraft Partner and award-winning Māori game design studio, to build the DLC. 

Chief business operator Whetu Paitai led the development, working with Tourism New Zealand, the wider tourism industry and mana whenua (local Māori) from the regions depicted to create an authentic and fun experience.

Paitai said: “Working with Mojang on such an iconic game has been an incredible experience, filled with both excitement and responsibility. Developing the first ever Minecraft game for a destination, especially a place as close to my heart as New Zealand, feels immensely rewarding.”

He added that doing this also came with its own set of unique challenges, one of which was ensuring that the rich Whāraki (interconnected tapestry of stories, traditions, and cultural heritage) of the land and its people was accurately and respectfully represented. 

We have been able to work with Mojang in a way that is very collaborative and respectful.  

Paitai said: “Māori game development is growing, but our whanau (people) have to see models of that happening in front of them and this is what projects like this achieve.”