Minecraft Cross-Play is Coming to PlayStation 4

Our national nightmare is over: Microsoft announced today that Minecraft cross-play is finally coming to the PlayStation 4.

“Starting tomorrow, Minecraft players on the PlayStation 4 Edition will begin updating to the unified Bedrock version of Minecraft,” Microsoft’s Kelsey Howard writes. This “means that cross-platform play will be active across Xbox One, Windows 10, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android mobile devices, Gear VR and now PS4.”

As you may know, Microsoft has wanted to enable cross-play capabilities on the PS4 since 2017, but Sony blocked them from doing so.  “We would love to work with Sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into our united ecosystem as well,” a Microsoft statement explained in mid-2017.

Sony’s explanation was that it blocked cross-play because of “a commercial discussion between [Sony] and other stakeholders,” and that because the Minecraft user base was very young, it didn’t want to “expose children to external influences [Sony] have no ability to manage or look after.” Yeah, no one else bought this excuse either.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

“PS4 players will now have their purchases and progress carry across platforms and have access to the ever-growing Minecraft Marketplace—a source for worlds, skins, mini-games, and mash up packs—meaning PS4 players will have not just a better Minecraft experience than ever before, but more Minecraft than ever,” Howard continues.

The new update for Minecraft on PS4 will be free, of course, and will install automatically.