Minecraft is unifying nearly all of its versions across all platforms, except Sony

Microsoft says ‘majority’ of players are now supported

Mojang and 4J have announced that they are now one step closer to unifying all Minecraft players across the globe.

Known as the “Bedrock Engine,” this reconfigured infrastructure will power the VR, Windows 10, Pocket Edition, Android, iOS, Xbox One, and Switch editions. Speaking off there’s not going to be any more “Editions” tacked onto the ends of Minecraft ports, as they’re all going away in an attempt to bring everything together outside of the “Java Edition” of the PC (which Microsoft notes that they’re still continuing to develop for), and legacy editions from past generations (like Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360). When asked, a Microsoft rep re-iterated that there are “no plans” to integrate last generation consoles at any point. A 4K update is also coming to Minecraft.

So what does this all mean? The huge takeaway is that there’s cross-platform play. Xbox One and Nintendo cross-play is big, and although there are no announcements yet for voice chat there will be text chat. When pressed by Destructoid, Microsoft declined to comment on whether or not Sony would be joining the party, but did say, “we’d love to have PlayStation 4 players using the Bedrock Engine.” Other upgrades include the raise of the five player limit to eight, bigger servers, and massive realms are making their way into the Bedrock Engine if they weren’t already available in a specific version. Console versions will also support the infinite worlds mechanic, can generate past the limits of existing worlds, and DLC carries across all Bedrock games.

If you aren’t excited you can pass all of this news onto your kid, who is probably playing Minecraft or watching a Minecraft stream right now. As for me, I’m stoked as one of the many adults who still play it to give this giant unified world a go.