While this particular deal was apparently finalised prior to Microsoft acquiring Minecraft and its maker Mojang, it does nonetheless show you that Microsoft may have some big ideas for the ultra popular sandbox building game.

Today Microsoft's Xbox division announced that it has teamed up with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products to launch content packs for Minecraft Xbox 360 and Xbox One editions featuring The Simpsons. Scheduled for release in late February 2015, the downloadable pack will include the entire Simpsons family (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie) and 19 of Springfield Elementary School’s beloved characters from the long-running animated show.

"We have an active community of more than 14 million die-hard Minecraft fans 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," said Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox. "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."

"Like THE SIMPSONS, Minecraft is a true cultural phenomenon embraced by people of all ages, from every corner of the globe," said Roz Nowicki, executive vice president of global sales and retail for Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. "We know fans of the show will have a ton of fun bringing the colorful characters of Springfield into the intricate worlds they’ve been building in Minecraft."

It isn't clear at this time whether this skin pack will come to other platforms but we'd presume that will be the case with some kind of timed delay. You can read more over here.