Love Minecraft? Love Frozen Planet II? The latest collaboration will be one of huge interest.
There’s absolutely no debate that Minecraft is great for many things, but one of those is the education of its player base. Today, thanks to a partnership between the Minecraft team and those at BBC Studios’ Natural History arm, those players will begin to find access to some new free Frozen Planet II themed worlds.
Helping to engage younger audiences globally through immersive gameplay with Minecraft Education, the BBC Earth and Minecraft team have created five free Frozen Planet II worlds, featuring immersive landscapes, animals and game-based learning resources, all inspired by stories found in the new landmark series from BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit.
You don’t need us to tell you that Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time, one that is particularly popular with younger players. Minecraft: Education Edition provides educational content for schools globally where students can learn about a wide variety of subjects via creative gameplay. The team at Mojang Studios believes it has a responsibility to use Minecraft to build a better world and inspire generations of game changers, especially around themes of global citizenship and sustainability.
The educational Frozen Planet II content becomes available for free to Minecraft: Education Edition users globally, set across some twenty-nine different languages accompanied by lesson plans for teachers to educate and inspire students about the importance of our frozen worlds and allow them to explore the effects of climate change as part of classroom curriculum.
These five Frozen Planet II worlds will also be provided free to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition players everywhere via the Minecraft Marketplace.
This means that for the first time ever, Minecraft players will be given the chance to play from the perspective of an animal – the penguin, bumblebee, polar bear and more, letting players experience the frozen worlds from their view such as a killer whale using a wave washing technique to brush the seals off an ice floe and into the sea.
Players can even try their hand at being a natural history film-making researcher on location where they are tasked to document key animal behaviour and information to inform environmental research.
Elizabeth White, Series Producer, Frozen Planet II said: “One of the great things about the natural world is its power to engage and enthral viewers young and old. We are delighted to partner with Minecraft on this range of educational computer games which will enable children to interact with stories inspired by the series through gameplay and learn more about the challenges of these habitats through the additional lesson content”.
We’re excited to partner with BBC Studios in this unique venture – we’re bringing a whole new perspective to Minecraft and, collaborating with the great minds behind Frozen Planet II, a truly authentic experience of some of the most fascinating and important areas of our world,” said Allison Matthews, Head of Minecraft Education, “It’s never been more crucial to educate players everywhere about the effects of climate change and inspire a new generation of young people around sustainability. We believe it’s our responsibility to do so, and this partnership is the next big step in that direction.”
You’ll find that the first Frozen Planet II Minecraft Education world will be available from today, with further games launching weekly.
Will you be checking it out? And if you want to know more about Frozen Planet II, then you’ll find it available now on BBC One and iPlayer. And if you don’t yet have a copy of Minecraft, grab it from the Xbox Store.
