Minecraft’s never going free-to-play because as it stands it’s ‘the best deal in the world’

It’s Minecraft Live time, and developer Mojang has announced the latest content coming to the perennially popular block builder: including, in the year of our lord 2025, fancy new shaders.

One topic raised was the game’s business model. There are various deluxe editions, but the standard version of Minecraft is the “Java and Bedrock” edition that retails for an upfront price of $30 / £20. On top of this you can buy skins, texture packs and so on in the Minecraft marketplace, and there are two optional subscriptions: Marketplace Pass and Realms Plus. But the important thing is that the base purchase really does have everything you need, and the game never feels like it’s trying to upsell you.

But this is one of the most popular games in the world, at a time where alternatives like Fortnite and Roblox are free-to-play. Mojang, however, is not into that way of doing things.

“Yeah, it doesn’t really work with the way we built it,” Ingela Garneij, executive producer of Minecraft Vanilla, told IGN. “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.”

Garneij isn’t wrong. I bought my son Minecraft on Switch for £20, since when he hasn’t played a single other title on there, and I don’t think he even realises there’s a marketplace of paid-for content. I’m not sure it’s “the best deal in the world” but it is unquestionably excellent value-for-money.

Asked whether Microsoft puts any pressure on Mojang to find new ways to monetise the experience, Garneij says “no, no. What’s important for us is that many people can enjoy it still, and that’s going on strong still.”

Hey, you want to get highfalutin about this? Let’s get highfalutin. “For me it’s part of the important values of Minecraft,” says game director, Agnes Larsson. “I think it’s become such an important thing of what Minecraft is and the perfect culture and values, and I think we all here can agree on that. It’s a thing for the game and it’s one part of what makes the game strong. It has strong values.”

I’m not sure what values Minecraft really has beyond “mine stuff” and “kill creepers”, but one could extrapolate the wider point that this remains a phenomenon among younger people and, especially, children. I do think it’s important that every kid who’s into Minecraft gets the “full” experience for the standard price, and to be fair to Microsoft it has done a lot since acquiring Mojang but never touched this aspect of the game.

And let’s not beat around the bush either: Minecraft is an absolute cash cow, and will continue to be so for a long time to come. Hell A Minecraft Movie is about to come out, and may well be the first film to make a trillion dollars (OK, I’m kidding, but it’ll make a lot).

The new Spring to Life update is released today, free for all players naturally, which adds more ambient features and different mob variants, as well as some A Minecraft Movie-inspired minigames. But the most exciting change, as someone who’s spent way too much time staring at their colour palettes, is that spawn eggs are getting a visual overhaul.