Mojang confirms that Minecraft is going to face a price hike in a number of regions around the world, making other countries aligned to the US Dollar price of the game.
Whether it be recreating the entirety of Los Santos from Grand Theft Auto 5 or building working 3D printers and graphing calculators, creativity-focused indie smash Minecraft has given millions of gamers a platform on which to build whatever they could put their minds to. For new adopters of the title, however, the initial cost of the game may get higher quite soon. Mojang has revealed that the title is going to cost more in a number of regions around the world.
Announcing this price increase on the official Mojang website, Director of Creative Communications Owen Hill explained that the cost was going to be increased in several places around the world. The reason for this hike is so that Mojang can bring the price of Minecraft around the world to parity with that of the US Dollar cost of the game. "In the spirit of currency exchange, we’re changing the prices of Minecraft in different regions so they align with the United States Dollar," said Hill.
Because of this, the US version of the game is going to constant at $26.95. However, some other countries are not quite as lucky, with gamers in Canada braced to expect a price jump from 28 to 35 CAD. In terms of other English-speaking nations, Australia’s version will go up from 25 to 35 AUD, with New Zealand’s rising from 32 to 40 NZD – although UK Minecraft will again remain the same at £17.95. A full rundown of the price increase can be seen below.
These new prices will not come into play just yet, however, so gamers interested in checking out this year's 1.9 update still have a little time to save some cash on their purchase. Mojang has actually given those who have not purchased the game a week at the old prices, before the new ones come into effect. "If you haven’t bought Minecraft yet, it might be worth purchasing in the next week if your pocket money allowance isn’t aligned with the United States Dollar," said Hill in the post. "You could end up saving yourself a pretty penny."
As well as announcing the price increase, the post also included a number of regions where Minecraft is now available. Joining the fray for the first time are Japan, Korea, and Brazil. Mojang will no doubt hope these regions will enjoy the game more than Turkey, where a proposed ban of Minecraft was discussed.
Minecraft has faced a number of changes over recent months. To begin with, an official educational edition of the game was confirmed earlier this year, while Wii U players enjoying the title after the game's port to the console were recently rewarded with a Super Mario Minecraft pack. Hopefully, fans of the game will continue to see this level of support in future.
Source: Mojang