When will Minecraft come to Steam? Here's what we know so far

In a recent interview, Phil Spencer revealed more information about the plans to bring Xbox Game Pass titles to Steam.

When asked what were the steps that lead to this decision, Phil Spencer replied that was due to Xbox Game Pass’s success ever since its conception in 2017. The Xbox team wanted to see if they could replicate the formula for PC games as well.

Read on if you want to learn when Minecraft comes to Steam.

An open market for PC gaming

As you may already know, there are tons of platforms out there offering PC gamers the chance to download amazing titles, such as Steam, Epic Store or GOG.

All of these game distribution platforms have managed to make a name for themselves in one way or another, either through their exclusive titles, or their periodic rotation of deals, discounts, and bundles.

As such, Xbox’s approach of having a subscription-based service where you would have access to games at discount prices (and sometimes free games altogether) could be considered their very own unique touch to PC gaming.

Phil Spencer stated that he believed in the concept of an open market, and that gamers should have the power of choosing where they get all of their games.

However, he didn’t want to make it seem like Microsoft is trying to establish a foothold in the gaming market by eliminating the competition either.

Thus the idea of bringing Game Pass titles to other game distribution platforms came to be, as it also seemed to be a way of unifying the gaming community even more.

Why was Steam chosen over all the others?

While the best case scenario would dictate that all Microsoft titles should be available on all gaming platforms, this endeavour is limited by each platform’s distribution policy.

For example, some platforms have certain rules regarding the content you can put on them, while other stores have rules against sharing titles with other platforms.

Because of this, Steam was chosen for a potential partnership mainly due to it being the most non-restrictive of all major platforms.

Will all Xbox Game Pass titles be available on Steam?

Phil Spencer stated that, in theory, there should be no problem making all of their games available on Steam, regardless if they are singleplayer and multiplayer.

In fact, he added that besides the additional effort that needed to be put into preparing the servers for extra players, both Microsoft and Steam would greatly benefit from this “merger”.

Of course, ever since Microsoft acquired Mojang in late 2014 and the rights to Minecraft along with it, players have been wondering if the game will become even more accessible.

However, besides a handful of examples that have already been made available on both Steam and the Game Pass, no actual names were given as to what other games will be made available on both platforms.

So, when is Minecraft coming to Steam?

This means that the possibility of having Minecraft available on Steam is neither confirmed, nor is it disproved. Now with the recent announcement that Xbox Game Pass titles are coming to Steam it isn’t hard to see why players are starting to ask these questions again.

Besides, Minecraft’s extended history with the modding community through the Forge Mods, and Steam’s habit of supporting user-created content are both indicators that nothing wrong could happen if the two gaming giants would join forces.

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