Microsoft unifies Minecraft with third-party servers and cross-platform saves

The many versions of Minecraft are going away. Don’t worry — it’s still on your favorite platform, but now the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and mobile versions are all the same thing.

Microsoft is unifying its megapopular block-building franchise Minecraft to enable cross-platform multiplayer, saved data, and purchased content. Where previously Minecraft: Xbox One Edition and Minecraft: Pocket Edition for iPhone were separate experiences, you can now take your world, your save, and your data back and forth between the versions whenever you want. The console games are now also getting infinite-sized worlds. For Microsoft, this is a major shift toward treating Minecraft as a service that players can access however they want.