While the Xbox One X reveal understandably dominated the headlines from Microsoft’s E3 press conference, the software giant made another huge announcement: Minecraft is going cross-platform.

“Our Better Together Update introduces cross-platform play, breaking down the barriers and letting people play the same complete Minecraft with each other across devices!” Microsoft’s Tom Stone explains. “We’ve wanted to integrate cross-platform for ages, essentially making a version of Minecraft that’s consistent no matter what device you’re choosing to play on.”

Cross-platform compatibility is the holy grail for Minecraft fans. Today, there are multiple versions of the game across various platforms—PC, consoles, mobile, VR, and so on—and they are not compatible with each other. This means that you, as an individual, cannot create a world on the PC and then continue working on it from a mobile device, or vice versa. And that groups of people across different platforms cannot play together either.

“Going forward, the edition you’ll find on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, mobile, and VR will simply be known as Minecraft, a separate entity from Minecraft: Java Edition, which is the original PC game (that we’ll continue to support, of course),” Smith continues. “This means when you buy Minecraft, you’re buying a game that can you can play with friends across devices.”

Furthermore, anyone playing Minecraft on Windows 10, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and VR devices will be able to play together for the first time. The Better Together Update will be offered to gamers for free this summer, though the schedule varies by platform.

Additionally, Microsoft announced that a coming update for Xbox One and Windows 10 will bring 4K graphics and HDR capabilities to Minecraft on Xbox One X, Windows 10, iOS, mobile, and VR. And a separate DLC (downloadable content) package, the Super Duper Graphics Pack, will add (paid) features like “dynamic shadows, lighting that streams through fog, movement in leaves and grass, new textures for mobs and villagers, directional lighting, edge highlighting and more,” Microsoft says.

Tagged with Minecraft