Microsoft still really wants to work with Sony on Minecraft

The new cross-platform version of Minecraft for Xbox One, Windows 10 and Nintendo Switch, which unifies the game experience across all platforms, remains in limbo for the PS4. The new Better Together update is available in limited beta form for Windows 10 and Android devices. However, Microsoft and Mojang want to change that, with Sony’s help.

In an update on the Mojang blog, a new post celebrates the unifying of platforms for its mega-hit Minecraft, but also highlights the lack of progress towards PlayStation joining the party, saying ‘While we are thrilled to be able to confirm the new version of Minecraft is coming to Nintendo Switch, we are still in discussions with Sony about PlayStation and have nothing to confirm’. 

Mojang then extends an olive branch to Sony, writing, ‘We would love to work with Sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into this ecosystem as well’. Sony will need to find common-ground with its rival to appease its player-base, which seems to be a sticking point despite the new version of Minecraft losing any Xbox-specific branding..

All that aside, it’s clear that the current version of Minecraft will become pretty much obsolete after the introduction of the Better Together update. The knock on effect it’ll have on the PS4 version is unclear, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the PS4 no longer received significant updates to the game. Which’d be a damn shame.

Sony previously said it wouldn’t allow cross-play with other formats because of Sony’s concern that it couldn’t protect children outside of its own network. To which Microsoft’s Xbox boss Phil Spencer swiftly responded saying, ‘the fact that somebody would make an assertion that somehow we’re not keeping Minecraft players safe … I found, not only from a Microsoft perspective but an industry perspective, I don’t know why that has to become the dialogue’.

Hopefully a resolution can be found for the gamers, because the experience will surely be Better Together. Right? Whatever happens, Microsoft is cleverly shifting the onus and any negative responses firmly back into Sony’s court.