First, it’s going to be made into a major motion picture by Warner Bros. The Minecraft movie is expected to become a new Hollywood blockbuster – and a rival of Sony Pictures’ animated adaptation of another game with huge global mass appeal, Angry Birds. Warner has acquired the rights to use Minecraft’s iconic blocks, characters and monsters for the project – which is being headed by Lego Movie producer Roy Lee – although the game’s developer insists it will have creative input.

However, there are more ways Minecraft’s vision of a virtual world of cubes is being put into use. In Stockholm, professional architects, city planners and thousands of citizens are using Minecraft to build a new version of the Swedish capital. The project, named “Blockholm”, is a mirror world of Stockholm, built with one billion Minecraft blocks. All districts, islands, streets, bridges, parks and squares are depicted as in real life with one big exception – all the city buildings are deleted. It’s up to the participants to build their own dream city.

Markus Bohm, project leader at Arkitektur- och designcentrum, explained that Blockholm is a new way of discussing and reshaping the capital. “The response has been fantastic,” he said. “More than 10,000 participants have contributed to the city. City planning bureaus and representatives from real estate companies have been in contact and want to try our tools.”

Mojang’s CEO Carl Manneh said he was happy that Minecraft had become a global phenomenon that engages millions of people. “Minecraft has become more than just a game,” he said. “It’s incredibly exciting that it is now being used for dialogue and visualisation of urban planning. The game is really convenient for this.”

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This article was sponsored by Stockholm Business Region.

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