Apple’s October event was most known for the introduction of the 2016 MacBook Pro with its new Touch Bar input device. As usual at such events, however, Apple rolled out some other, lesser products and announced some things coming from partners and even competitors.
One of the latter announcements was that Microsoft would be releasing Minecraft for Apple TV. Apple indicated Microsoft’s popular open-world sandbox game would make it to its media server by the end of 2016, and Microsoft made that promise real on Monday, MSPU reports.
Minecraft runs on a host of different platforms, from PCs to Xbox One to smartphones, and it is used for fun by millions of players, as a business endeavor by YouTube celebrities, and as an educational tool by teachers and institutions around the world. Minecraft allows for open exploration of a massive world and the ability to recreate real-world sites and technologies inside of the game.
Apple has been pushing its Apple TV product as a sort of poor man’s gaming console for some time now and Minecraft will be a welcome and important addition. At this point, Minecraft support on Apple TV is a bit limited. For example, support for Microsoft Realms or Xbox Live are omitted, but developer Mojang promises support for those features and more in an update. The Apple TV version does support both Creative Mode, which offers unlimited resources, and Survival Mode, for some in-game combat action.
You can buy Minecraft: Apple TV Edition for $20 from the App Store. The Apple TV version of Minecraft supports the various DLC that’s been released for the game and some editions ship with Holiday 2015, Town Folk, City Folk skin packs and Plastic, Natural, Cartoon, and Festive 2016 mash-ups.
