Minecraft The Simpsons Skins

The record-breaking blockbuster title Minecraft is set to team up with another record-shattering intellectual property in 2015, and it's one pairing we wouldn't have guessed. Today, confirmation came that Minecraft would be getting a skin pack filled to the brim with The Simpsons characters, bringing the yellow-colored cartoon family to Xbox 360 and Xbox One this February.

Homer Simpson and his ageless family, who have graced primetime spots on television for over 26 years, have been longtime favorites across several generations of fans, and the Xbox-only Minecraft skin pack is sure to be popular amongst fans of the show.

It won't just be Homer and his immediate family family joining the Minecraft ensemble, however - 19 more Springfield residents will be included in the pack, though they'll all be attendants of Springfield Elementary School. This all but guarantees the inclusion of Milhouse, Ralph Wiggums and perhaps even Groundskeeper Willie, but we think the inclusion of some non-elementary school characters like Mr. Burns, Chief Wiggums, Fat Tony or even Kang and Kodos would have been better additions for the game. The full character list of the downloadable pack has yet to be revealed.

The Simpsons Characters - Minecraft Skin Pack

The Simpsons skin pack will retail for $1.99 USD, meaning that with 24 skins total, each skin costs around 9 cents. Whilst computer gamers may continue to be baffled that console players are paying for so many licensing tie-ins when the PC version lets players create their own custom skins, it's nice that console gamers are are given such a large library of options for custom skins - even if they have to pay for the privilege.

Phil Sponsor, the head of Xbox, stated in the press release that inclusion of The Simpsons characters came after repeated requests from fans:

"We have an active community of more than 17 million die-hard Minecrafters on Xbox Live enjoying the wide range of downloadable content on Xbox, and they have been clamoring for us to bring Simpsons characters to the game. We are thrilled to partner with Twentieth Century Fox and Gracie Films to bring The Simpsons to life on Minecraft Xbox 360 and Xbox One editions.  I can’t wait to see what the community creates."

For those of you playing from non-Microsoft consoles, there is currently no set release date, but the implication is that a Simpsons skin pack will eventually find its way to PS3 and PS4 as well. Right now, it seems, Microsoft is taking advantage of exclusivity after paying $2.5 billion to purchase Minecraft. The Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of Minecraft previously got exclusive licensed skins for Star WarsDoctor Who and Guardians of the Galaxy.

What do you think about the cast of The Simpsons joining in on the Minecraft craze, Ranters?