Minecraft for PlayStation to be considered, Wii U 'unlikely'

Minecraft has an exclusivity arrangement with Microsoft still in effect, but when that runs out Mojang's Jens Bergensten says they'll "consider" a PlayStation version. A Wii U port, on the other hand, is "very unlikely."

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Minecraft has been a hit on Xbox 360, becoming one of the chart-toppers on Xbox Live and most recently hitting the five million sales mark. Other consoles would probably enjoy some of that action, and for Sony it's a possibility. Nintendo? Not so much.

"Microsoft has an exclusivity deal for consoles," Mojang's Jens Bergensten told iGamer (via Edge). "When it runs out we'll consider Minecraft for PlayStation, but Wii U is very unlikely."

The interview didn't shed any light on just when that exclusivity arrangement might run out, but the game is coming up on its year anniversary in May. At that point, we might hear more about PlayStation plans.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 5, 2013 11:05 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Minecraft for PlayStation to be considered, Wii U 'unlikely'.

    Minecraft has an exclusivity arrangement with Microsoft still in effect, but when that runs out Mojang's Jens Bergensten says they'll "consider" a PlayStation version. A Wii U port, on the other hand, is "very unlikely."

    • reply
      March 5, 2013 11:09 AM

      The Wii U news keeps getting worse.

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      March 5, 2013 11:13 AM

      The WiiU deserves its fair share of hate, but I think stuff like this is pretty shitty. WiiU got shit on by Rayman Legends, there's this, I read something the other day saying that another game wouldnt be released on WiiU, etc.

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        March 5, 2013 12:21 PM

        Crysis might be the other game you're thinking of

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          March 5, 2013 12:28 PM

          There was something else recently as well where they said they'd thought about it, but it wasn't worth it.

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            March 5, 2013 12:33 PM

            Mario Bros

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            March 5, 2013 12:38 PM

            Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 said it wasn't worth it to them to make a port for the WiiU. Not sure if that's what you're talking about.

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      March 5, 2013 11:19 AM

      Drag and drop for creating recipes, touch screen for interaction with environment, utilizing the gamepad for inventory.. it's all too good to be true, I guess.

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        March 5, 2013 11:31 AM

        It would work beautifully on Vita.

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        March 5, 2013 11:44 AM

        being able to switch and look at inventory on the small screen and the action still on the main screen would be pretty cool. inventory management in that game is typically pretty tedious.

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      March 5, 2013 11:44 AM

      I would think Wii U would be the best console platform for this type of game, wonder why they are ruling it out.

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        March 5, 2013 12:02 PM

        install base, cost in money/time to develop all the 2nd screen feature, or just plain not wanting to do it. It really could be anything.

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          March 5, 2013 12:12 PM

          Also Nintendo's external support has long been horrific

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      March 5, 2013 11:53 AM

      Minecraft, I remember that.

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      March 5, 2013 12:14 PM

      Oh the drama!! Maybe Nintendo should just make games for Sony and MS

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      March 5, 2013 12:24 PM

      it would sell like hotcakes on the wii u demographic........and the controller usage.....damn.

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        March 5, 2013 12:35 PM

        yah it seems like a no brainer... but I keep hearing nothing but bad news for the WiiU.

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        March 5, 2013 1:51 PM

        I bet is the development costs for this console.

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      March 5, 2013 1:02 PM

      Wii U is a dead console, Nintendo should just start getting ready to make their games for other consoles. it's over.

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        March 5, 2013 1:02 PM

        ^said before the wii and gamecube as well

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          March 5, 2013 1:33 PM

          Please, the Gamecube and Wii were never this bad off.

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            March 5, 2013 1:35 PM

            yah the Wii started selling like hotcakes... there is pretty much no hype surrounding the WiiU in the general public.

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              March 5, 2013 1:40 PM

              i don't think the average joe and sally even know about the WiiU. the marketing on it has been mostly absent. the writing is on the wall in the same sense as it was for SEGA...ignore it or push on...only time will tell.

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                March 5, 2013 1:42 PM

                I still think naming the console Wii U was a mistake.

                You want average people to be aware that you make a new thingie? Give it a goddamn new name, not an extension of your previous hardware!

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                  March 5, 2013 2:37 PM

                  Yup. I've met a lot of people who didn't understand that the WiiU was a new system, rather than a tablet add-on to the Wii (if they knew about it at all).

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                  March 5, 2013 10:10 PM

                  Damned if you do, damned if you don't. They either ditch the branding of the enormously successful Wii and therefore start from scratch in mainstream brand-recognition, or they stick with the Wii moniker and have those same people think it's just an add-on for the Wii they already have.

                  The problem is the "mainstream" audience doesn't follow gaming news, they don't know WTF, so Nintendo is stuck either way. And much of the "hardcore" contingent has disowned Nintendo for the unforgivable sin of pursuing something other than more graphics. I mean let's face it, a significant proportion of gamers bitterly resented the motion control revolution because their idea of progress is the same shitty shooter they played last year with a little more frosting on top.

                  That leaves Nintendo fans. Will that be enough this time? I dunno.

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                  March 5, 2013 11:57 PM

                  like the Playstation? or the Playstation 2? or the Playstation 3? or the soon to be Playstation 4?
                  =/

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                    March 6, 2013 12:35 AM

                    hum... Wii U =/= Wii 2. That would have been an obvious thing to people (but it sounds bad and it ain't Wii 2, as far as the controls & general orientation Nintendo wanted to give it)

                    Incremental numbers transmit the idea of evolution. A letter or word doesn't, especially when Wii U stands at the side of Wii Fit or any other addon for the original Wii.

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                    March 6, 2013 4:25 AM

                    Iterative numbering makes sense to people. If you have a Playstation and I have a Playstation 2, I'd bet even without knowing anything about videogames, you could assume the one is better, newer, etc than the other. Wii and Wii U? That's confusing.

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                      March 6, 2013 4:33 AM

                      Or iPad, iPad2, iPad and then iPad and iPad mini ?
                      its lol worthy, and I don't really understand the reason they name them like that, I get it they want to make it an an ubiquitous device living outside hardware specs, but still customers have to buy them and the stores have several generations in stock, which one do you choose ? the iPad or the iPad ?

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                March 6, 2013 6:59 AM

                My parents and their friends knew about the WiiU, I don't think this whole "nobody knows about the WiiU" is actually a thing.

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            March 5, 2013 2:31 PM

            Smart money is on all consoles launching soft in 2013, IMO. Price points will get lower and things will shake out in a year or two.

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          March 5, 2013 6:47 PM

          This isn't before anything, the Wii U has been out a while.

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        March 5, 2013 1:09 PM

        Yup, and it's been over since 1996. It's a pretty long time to be in denial, you got to admire their moxy.

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          March 5, 2013 1:47 PM

          Or maybe you're just full of cookie dough.

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          March 6, 2013 7:00 AM

          Nintendo is sitting on a mountain of cash thanks to the DS, 3DS and the Wii.

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            March 6, 2013 3:12 PM

            Right, and they can tighten their belts and survive until things turn around.

            Just saying, I've been hearing predictions of Nintendo dying and going multiplatform since the N64, and it ain't happened yet.

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        March 5, 2013 1:38 PM

        As long as the console will sell for their 1st party titles, there's no way they should do that.

        Still, Pikmin 3 can't come soon enough.

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        March 5, 2013 8:06 PM

        isn't nintendo the only one making money? Sony's games division has been in the red forever

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          March 5, 2013 9:50 PM

          Well they're not making money right now, but you identified their disadvantage - they don't have other businesses to divert money and resources from to prop up their gaming division. Gaming is all they do.

          So they either make affordable hardware that gets derided as underpowered, they make expensive hardware that no one could buy (they can't afford to subsidize and they're selling the Wii U at a minor loss as it is), or they just pursue the failed GameCube strategy and put out a pointless me-too system that can't keep up with the big boys.

          Or they give up on systems entirely and just make games for whatever hardware other companies happen to throw their way? People really want that?

          I guess it would save you some cash if you already have one of the other systems and you sneer at Nintendo's inventions as "gimmicks", but it's not for me. I'd have to buy a Sony or MS system I wouldn't otherwise want, would cost more, and would have the games hamstrung by the lack of imagination those companies bring to their hardware.

          The day that Nintendo stops making hardware is the day their full creative freedom to deliver the experience they want, dies. So while some are clearly looking to bring about that day as soon as possible, I'm not enthused.

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          March 6, 2013 7:03 AM

          Sony had to sell their US headquarters to keep themselves going, and Nintendo is the one that is failing hard in people's eyes?

          I'm not saying the WiiU is dominating anything, but the usual "llol Nintendo is dead" thing every cycle is getting as old as "PC gaming is dead" and "year of the Linux desktop."

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      March 5, 2013 1:06 PM

      If the next XBOX moves to an x86 architecture (which seems very likely at this point) its going to be EXTREMELY bad news for any ports on the WiiU.

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      March 5, 2013 5:14 PM

      Is it bad that I smile every time the WiiU gets shot down when devs are talking multiplatform?

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        March 5, 2013 5:43 PM

        Yes. But it's not surprising, a lot of people hate Nintendo. I don't understand it in the slightest, but that's the facts.

        I mean EA, Ubisoft, Activision, even MS... I can see that. It still strikes me as silly to hold a grudge like that, but can see the reasons why someone would actively dislike those companies.

        Nintendo? What the fuck did Nintendo do to anybody to earn this? It boggles my mind.

        When did this happen where most of the gaming community found reason to treat Ninty with such habitual disdain? Someone please explain this to me because I have yet to hear an even halfways logical explanation.

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          March 5, 2013 5:50 PM

          It's not just posters on the internet, either. It's the entire gaming industry. These articles illustrate how developers seem to be going out of their way to shun Nintendo even for games that would be great on the system.

          "Low install base", well no shit! Because you won't make any games! What a self fulfilling prophecy. All consoles start out with a low install base, it never stopped you before...

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            March 5, 2013 5:54 PM

            It's the same thing people did to PC back when XBOX launched. Money is a potent motivator.

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          March 5, 2013 6:34 PM

          Yep, pretty much this. I don't really understand why either :(
          Nintendo just became uncool out of nowhere.

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            March 5, 2013 6:39 PM

            I think it's because the original Playstation generation is finally in a position of power. Early to mid-30's and have a longstanding distaste for Nintendo because they loved the PS1!

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            March 6, 2013 7:06 AM

            Nintendo paved the way for these companies to even exist in people's living rooms, they'd still be developing on PC (those that started there at least) and a lot of console only devs wouldn't even be around.

            It's kinda like biting the hand that feeds you.

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          March 6, 2013 4:46 AM

          Because Nintendo is not kind to developers is the answer. They don't do much to cater to the devs like Sony and Ms do. Why bother making a game for the Wii U if all they care about is their own first party titles?

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            March 6, 2013 5:00 AM

            I think there's a lot of factors, but this is definitely one of them.

            In addition, I can't shake the feeling that a large number of Wii U owners are also PS3 or 360 owners, and that when making multiplatform titles at this point, you can count on technical parity across systems, but then the Wii U has its weird controller that (I assume) customers expect to do something, so making a Wii U version means extra dev costs to do something with the tablet.

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            March 6, 2013 7:08 AM

            Except so far I've heard the exact opposite for the WiiU, they are even funding Bayonetta 2 for Platinum and they aren't even first or second party. Indie devs liken the eShop to Steam for how easy it is to get a game on it now compared to the WiiShop which was terrible.

            I think Nintendo really needs to start being a bit more vocal, swallow their pride and acknowledge that they need to get more people on board.

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          March 6, 2013 5:11 AM

          Because my wii started collecting dust within six months of purchase. They did a horrible job with online functionality. The controls were gimmicky and uncomfortable to use imo.

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            March 6, 2013 3:17 PM

            And that's as fair a reason as any to not buy into their new hardware, but to actively take pleasure at their misfortune? Why?

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              March 6, 2013 4:09 PM

              Welcome to the internet?

              • reply
                March 6, 2013 6:50 PM

                That's not really a reason.
                If the internet jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

      • reply
        March 5, 2013 5:53 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        March 5, 2013 6:36 PM

        Yes, it is? Why so much vitriol at them? And I agree with what someone said earlier, of all the consoles the WiiU is probably the best fit for Minecraft anyway.

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      March 5, 2013 7:43 PM

      Pity. It'd be pretty damn good on the Wii U.

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        March 5, 2013 9:55 PM

        Yeah the gamepad could serve for a lot of things in that game, like inventory and a map like how ZombiU used it.

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        March 6, 2013 7:10 AM

        After playing ZombiU any game with an inventory on PC, PS3 or Xbox feels outdated and navigating menus seems tedious now.

        That's coming from an Ubisoft game, not even Nintendo.

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      March 5, 2013 11:33 PM

      Well, it was one of the first game I thought about when holding my Wii U gamepad, that's a shame.

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