Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Despite being purchased by Microsoft, Mojang and Minecraft have still sort of gone their own way, ever expanding through the years with aid from the PC giant. Minecraft Java Edition in particular is a playground where you can mod, play instances, check out preview builds, and more. Up until now, you used Mojang accounts to get into it, but that’s about to change. Mojang has announced that new players will need Microsoft accounts to access Minecraft Java starting this Fall and existing Java users will need to migrate their accounts to a Microsoft account starting in early 2021.
The announcement of account migration was made on Minecraft’s website on October 22, 2020, complete with a video to go with it. According to Mojang, while existing Mojang accounts will be able to log into Minecraft Java Edition for now, in early 2021, players will be emailed to migrate their accounts to a Microsoft account. After the migration is complete, Minecraft Java will no longer allow Mojang accounts to login. New Minecraft Java players are expected to use Microsoft accounts sometime this Fall.
As Mojang describes in the video above, the main reason for the migration is to add security to the game. The Microsoft account login will allow for two-factor authentication, all Minecraft games to be linked to the same account, and chat and invitation blocking to name a few things. Minecraft Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Java will also still remain separate experiences, and supposedly instance loading, mods, and other unique properties of Minecraft Java will remain intact. Being able to sneak peek upcoming content like we were able to do with the Nether Update will still be possible. And apparently, Mojang will reward account migrators with a cape for making the switch.
With so much still around the corner for Minecraft, such as the Cave and Cliffs Update, the account migration here seems less intrusive than… say… the Oculus/Facebook account migration, but Mojang claims to have even more incentives up its sleeve for this coming move. Stay tuned for more information and check out Mojang’s support page on what to expect from the account migration.