Jun 15th 2017 Minecraft on Switch Connects through Xbox Live

Minecraft is coming to the Nintendo Switch, which is pretty cool. However, something that many people are a little surprised to see from Nintendo is that Minecraft on the Switch is available for crossplay with anyone else (phones, PC, VR, and even Xbox One). Well, everyone except for the PS4.



Jonas Märtensson the CEO for Mojang spoke with PressFire (a Norwegian site) about Minecraft coming to the Switch, the upcoming cross platform play, and how badly they wanted Sony to join in. He explained that to make sure everything would run smoothly across all platforms they would be using Xbox Live across all platforms for Minecraft's online service, even on the Nintendo Switch. "...everyone that's in on this, all the platform holders, have been pretty pragmatic and understanding of that what we're trying to do is create a good experience for the players. We needed a good system to connect everyone, and Xbox Live is a good system."



With them being two big console rivals PressFire asked if it was hard to get cooperation between Xbox and the Switch, and Jonas replied, "No. We have always wanted to, from a Minecraft perspective, try and give the players as many options as possible, on any platform. Nintendo has been very open when it comes to working together, so I'd say it's been very smooth."



So it appears that the focus has been on the player experience, and Nintendo has been on board with things because of that. However, Sony has shut them down completely, just like they did with Rocket League crossplay. Sony has defended this choice by saying it is bad for their userbase to expose them to an online system they can't control, especially for Minecraft when they have such young kids playing it. Seems kind of like they're just trying to hold out longer, because everyone else looks to be on board with playing among other systems, at least with some games.



What do you think? Are you excited for the new Minecraft update and to be able to play with anyone, unless they're on a PS4? Also, just to clarify this is using a free Xbox Live service, so no one is doing anything like making you pay for Xbox Live gold just to play Minecraft online with your friends (in case that was worrying you). What do you think about all the recent crossplay announcements between Xbox and the Switch? Let me know what you think by tweeting me @spencerhavens.

