Case Studies
How We Turned the Sky Tower into a Minecraft World
25 July 2026 · Ping Zero
How We Turned the Sky Tower into a Minecraft World
Most gaming activations happen in a marquee, a stand, or a van on a driveway. This one happened inside one of Auckland's most iconic buildings — floor by floor, from the Tower Theatre all the way up to the Sky Deck. Over the April 2025 school holidays, Ping Zero worked with SkyCity Entertainment Group to bring "Pixel Overworld" to life at the Sky Tower: a two-week Minecraft activation built to tie in with the Minecraft Movie release.
Here's how a video game became a physical journey through one of the country's most recognisable venues.
The Brief
SkyCity wanted a school holiday programme that would give families a reason to make the Sky Tower the destination for the day — not just a stop on the way to somewhere else. With the Minecraft Movie landing in cinemas, the timing was right for a themed activation that could run for the full two weeks of the April holidays and hold up to repeat visits.
The scope covered two things: the technology needed to run interactive challenges through the building, and the physical transformation of a function room into something that actually felt like stepping into the game.
Building the World
Themed environment design. We designed and built out the Sky Tower's VIP function room as a fully immersive Minecraft space — custom Minecraft-themed wallpaper and a build that turned a standard function room into a recognisable in-game environment. For families walking in, it needed to feel like more than a room with a projector; it needed to feel like the block-built world itself.
Hardware, networking, and technical support. Underneath the theming, we handled the full technical build: gaming hardware, networking, and on-site technical support running for the full two-week duration. A two-week public activation in a high-traffic venue doesn't get a second chance if something goes down mid-holiday — the systems had to hold up to daily use from open to close.
Interactive challenges across the building. Rather than confining the experience to one room, challenges were designed to run from the Tower Theatre all the way up to the Sky Deck — turning a visit into a journey through the building rather than a single stop. Families moved through multiple levels of the Sky Tower to complete the Pixel Overworld experience, which is exactly the kind of engagement that keeps people on-site longer.
Why the Format Worked
Family audience, all ages. School holiday programmes live or die on whether they hold a mixed-age group's attention — a game a 6-year-old and a 12-year-old can both enjoy, in an environment parents are happy to spend an afternoon in.
Tied to a cultural moment. Timing the activation to the Minecraft Movie release meant Pixel Overworld wasn't competing for attention against unrelated content — it was riding a wave of relevance families were already primed for.
Premium venue, premium execution. The Sky Tower isn't a blank-slate venue — it comes with its own presence and expectations. Building an activation that felt purpose-designed for the space, rather than dropped into it, was central to making Pixel Overworld feel like a Sky Tower event rather than an activation that happened to be at the Sky Tower.
Behind the Scenes
Activations like this run on more than gear — they run on crew. Our Gateway Work Experience programme, run in partnership with Rangitoto College, had a student hands-on at live activations during this period, including work on the Sky Tower Minecraft event. Supporting the next generation of Kiwi tech and gaming talent through real, hands-on delivery — not just observation — is part of how we run every event, including the big ones.
What This Shows About Our Capability
Pixel Overworld is a good example of what "turnkey" actually means at Ping Zero: we didn't just supply hardware into someone else's design. We designed the environment, handled the theming, built and ran the technical infrastructure, and supported it daily for two weeks straight — inside a venue with its own operational complexity and brand standards to work within.
If you're planning a themed activation, a school holiday programme, or anything that needs a physical space transformed to match a game or brand world, this is the kind of project we build from the ground up.
Plan Your Next Themed Activation
Ping Zero designs and delivers fully themed gaming activations — from concept and environment design through to technical delivery — for venues, brands, and events nationwide.
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