The Minecraft Better Together update revealed at E3 2017 is the epitome of multiplayer for the Minecraft community. Microsoft is spanning its reach not only across consoles and Windows 10, but bringing them all back together under one economy and collective Bedrock Engine. Which leads to some relevant questions about what happens to the money we’ve already spent on Minecraft.
If you’ve been enjoying Minecraft across platforms, you might want to hold off on making any further purchases until after the summer. With the implementation of the marketplace replacing dollars with new Minecraft coins, buying DLC and digital content for Minecraft is even easier. All of which will also be available cross-play with the Better Together update. But what will happen to those of us that have spent money on Minecraft via different devices?
We reached out to a Microsoft spokesperson for clarification about how the Minecraft Better Together update will affect current and future purchases.
OnMSFT: As we already understand it, the Better Together Update will be making Coins and DLC purchases reach across platforms to each Minecraft on each platform. This brings into question if purchasing Minecraft will be across platform as well. For example, if a gamer buys Minecraft on the Windows 10 Store, will that Minecraft key be available for other consoles or will that player need to purchase Minecraft core game separately for the other console?”
Players will need to purchase Minecraft separately for each device they play on.
OnMSFT: Furthermore, will previous DLC and Coin purchases on the Marketplace be consolidated into extra coins or will previous purchases be ignored? I.E. if I bought the Fallout 4 Mashup Pack for Windows 10 and for Xbox One console version, will one of those be turned/refunded into coins once the games are merged together? Or will the payment towards one of those packs be lost?”
Players will not receive coin credit for packs purchased on multiple devices in the past.
OnMSFT: Is Xbox Play Anywhere for Windows 10/Xbox One in the future?”
Minecraft is not an Xbox Play Anywhere title. With endless, randomly generated worlds, millions of players and an amazing amount of community content, the value that players get from Minecraft is second to none. We feel that there’s an incredible value our players are getting for the cost to buy Minecraft already.
According to Microsoft, Minecraft is a value for its price, so buying it individually on each platform shouldn’t be too much to ask for. The Better Together update will merge the Bedrock Edition for almost all versions of Minecraft (except PlayStation 4 and Java Edition) letting you play together and merge all of your purchased content under one marketplace.
Is the fact that Microsoft won’t refund any duplicated Minecraft DLC purchases before the fact controversial? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
