Microsoft has announced at the E3 2017 presentation that Minecraft is getting a major makeover. According to the publisher, Minecraft will be rebuilt through the Bedrock Engine to make it playable across all platforms.
Cross-platform play
In what it called the Better Together update, the developers unify the sandbox game on consoles, mobile, and PC versions of the game. This allows gamers to play with it on Windows 10 and mobile devices together. Minecraft is the only game to support a cross-console play.
"The amount of different ways to play is going to exponentially expand", says Emily Orsson, Microsoft's marketing chief. Speaking of this move, executive producer was ecstatic to reveal how this would change the gaming sphere. "Our goal is to connect everyone together and, spiritually, that's what we're moving toward. We don't have anything to announce on Sony today, but we start off trying to connect all Minecraft players together. And that's our principle moving forward", says Merriam.
Minecraft will stand in itself, removing the special branding for Xbox One, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Oculus Rift, Gear VR, and PlayStation 4. This is the publishers and developers' way of marketing it as one game. However, the unified version will not be rolled out on older platforms, such as PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360.
New servers, 4K support
Additionally, Minecraft also gets four new servers—Cubercraft, Mineplex, Lifeboat, and InPVP—so players could join it to neutralise existing ones that have millions of users. This is way different from Minecraft Realms, a private cloud-based server for smaller clusters.
Mojang and 4J Studios will also deliver a new graphics support for 4K viewing. This will improve the lighting, effects, and overall visual performance of the game.
The Better Together update will be available in the summer for mobile and VR platforms. Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One users will get the update free of charge.
