X

Minecraft arrives on PS4 just ahead of Xbox One

The popular and sometimes addictive game lands on the PlayStation Store on Thursday, outhustling the Xbox One debut slated for Friday.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
See full bio
Lance Whitney
2 min read

minecraft-ps4.jpg
Minecraft is building a presence on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 -- but it's getting to the PS4 first. YouTube/screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET

Playstation 4 users will be able to travel through the worlds of Minecraft a day ahead of their Xbox One counterparts.

The Minecraft PS4 edition will starting selling at Sony's PlayStation Store in the US on Thursday sometime before 12 p.m. PT, Sony said in a blog post Wednesday. The game will be priced at $19.99 for new users and $4.99 for owners of the PS3 edition who want to upgrade.

Cooked up by indie gaming developer Mojang, Minecraft lets you travel through a Lego-like land composed of blocks. Along the way, you can devise your own buildings, machines, flora, fauna, and other items to build virtual worlds. But you'll also have to fight off monsters and other hazards. Since the game is open-ended, Minecraft has been described as a learning environment for children, and one that can prove quite addictive.

Sony promises a bigger and better Minecraft environment on the PS4 than the one on the PS3.

"For those looking for the ultimate Minecraft experience, the PS4 Edition will feature worlds 36 times bigger than the ones you might be used to on the PS3 system," Sony said in its blog. "Existing players will be able to import PS3 saves to the PS4 Edition, allowing them to continue work on their immense structure or delve even deeper towards the Nether."

Microsoft is also launching Minecraft for its Xbox One, but that version won't arrive until Friday. The pricing from Sony and Microsoft are the same -- $19.99 for new users and $4.99 for upgraders. PlayStation 3 users are eligible for the PS4 upgrade if they bought the Minecraft PS3 edition via disc or digital download and sign into their PS4 console using their Sony Entertainment Network account.

Sony recently said that it has sold 10 million PS4 units since the console's release last November, according to GameSpot. That number that has made the PS4 the top-selling gaming console for the past seven months and helped it outscore the Xbox One in sales.