Minecraft players on the PlayStation 4 can finally breathe a sigh of relief, as a new update--which goes live on the morning of December 10--will deliver one feature they've been dying to get: Minecraft cross-play. Developer Mojang has been steadily uniting Minecraft players of every platform with its bedrock version of the game, and Sony's console is finally getting in on some of the action.
In fact, the PS4 will be the last of the available Minecraft platforms to adopt the bedrock update; "bedrock" being Mojang's name for the current setup that connects Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, and every platform that supports the game. Sony has been slow to include cross-play on most of its games but joined in by incorporating it into Fortnite last year, and more recently on games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
As for Minecraft, December 10's bedrock update will do more than simply allow PS4 owners to play the game with their friends on other consoles (which is already significant). It'll also allow any purchases and progress from other platforms to be carried over onto the PS4 by way of a Microsoft account, and players will gain access to the Minecraft Marketplace, the hub that hosts player-made mods from every platform--and that includes skins, textures, and entire worlds to explore. "One of Minecraft's core missions is to connect players across devices and provide the best experience regardless of platform," said Minecraft studio head Helen Chiang. "We continue to fulfill that mission here today by welcoming PS4 players to Minecraft on Bedrock and growing our cross-platform multiplayer community."
Microsoft acquired the insanely popular Minecraft in 2014 and has been steadily supporting it with new features ever since. That means Microsoft has also been working to expand the franchise; several other Minecraft games are currently in development, including AR game Minecraft Earth, a dungeon crawler game called Minecraft Dungeons, a tabletop board game, and even a Minecraft movie. In the meantime, any and all platforms will need to be running the 1.14 update to join in on the cross-play--all for free, as the Bedrock update will automatically install the next time any player fires up their game.
All in all, there's plenty to be excited about, even just with at the new cross-play opportunity available to players. Given everything going on with Minecraft right now, it's a pretty good time to be a fan.
Minecraft is available now on Android, iOS, Gear VR devices, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Minecraft