Microsoft is “in discussions” with Sony to bring Minecraft cross-platform play to PlayStation

This past weekend at Microsoft’s Xbox E3 event, Mojang and Microsoft made a lot of noise in the Minecraft community when they announced that they would be bringing cross-platform play to Minecraft. While the announcement originally mentioned that “anyone playing the game on Windows 10, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and VR devices will be able to play online together,” PlayStation devices were noticeably absent from the list. Well, reports are now showing that Microsoft is “in discussions” with Sony to bring Minecraft cross platform play to PlayStation consoles (via Polygon.)

According to the report (which cites a Microsoft spokesperson), the Java, PlayStation, and WiiU versions of Minecraft will indeed be left out of cross-platform play. As Mojang’s blog post clarified, these versions of the game will be a “separate entity” and will have Edition names such as “‘Minecraft: Java Edition,” “Minecraft: Wii U Edition,” whereas the cross-platform compatible versions of the game will simply be known as “Minecraft.” In regards to cross-platform on PlayStation, the spokesperson tells Polygon:

“The original Java PC version and all other isolated versions will have ‘Edition’ names…Further, we are still in discussions with Sony about PlayStation and have nothing to confirm at this point. We would love to work with Sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into our united ecosystem as well.”

Sony has been known to put up issues with cross-platform games in the past, including about a year ago, when it was reported that cross-platform Xbox One and PS4 play on Rocket League was ready but was just awaiting Sony’s approval. It remains unclear when things will be sorted out soon, but, as always, we will be keeping an eye on things and will report back with any updates.

Further reading: Microsoft, Minecraft, Sony