Minecraft has been out for over 15 years, and many fans have questioned if the time was right for the game to finally go free-to-play. If you happen to be one of those fans, you’re not going to like the answer.
In a recent interview with IGN, Minecraft executive producer Ingela Garneij said that neither Microsoft nor Mojang have any plans for the game to go the free-to-play route.
“Yeah, it doesn’t really work with the way we built it,” she said when posed with the question.
Garneij continued: “I mean we built the game for a different purpose. So monetization doesn’t work in that way for us. It’s a purchase of the game and then that’s it. For us it’s important that our game is available for as many people as possible. And so I think that’s a very core value that it should be accessible for everyone. It’s the best deal in the world.”
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Minecraft first launched on PC in May 2009 before released a full 1.0 release in November 2011. It debuted on console when it released for Xbox 360 in May 2012 and is now available on every major platform.
Since its launch, the game has sold over 300 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time. The game, alongside its developer Mojang, was purchased in 2014 by Microsoft for $2.5 billion.
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