Minecraft's non-existent PS5 port became a talking point during the FTC hearings over Activision's Xbox deal, with Xbox boss Phil Spencer claiming at the time that Sony was “reluctant” to provide development kits for the new platform. However, it seems Microsoft already has its hands on the necessary development tools, as Minecraft is finally coming to PS5 on October 22.
According to the official announcement, the new native version of Minecraft for PS5 is “optimized to take advantage of the console's more powerful hardware.” “This means your game will have a higher render distance and still run at 4k resolution and 60fps, allowing you to grab even more frames and pixels as you run from Endermen in the overworld.”
The PS5 version will be a free upgrade for PS4 owners of the game. Of course, that PS4 version has been available since long before the PS5 launched, and as with the vast majority of PS4 games, it's fully backwards compatible. The PS5 port should offer slightly better performance.
In June 2023, during the FTC hearings, Phil Spencer was asked why Xbox had never released a native version of Minecraft for PS5. “Sony was reluctant to send us PlayStation 5 dev kits at the same time they were sending them to other developers, which put us at a disadvantage relative to other developers,” Spencer replied. “I think Sony could have just as easily sent the dev kits to Microsoft as they sent them to any other publisher.”
Considering the volume of PS5 ports being developed on Xbox these days, it seems Sony is willing to hand over those dev kits. Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment are all coming to the platform this year, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PS5 in 2025. I guess the reluctance is over.
After completely revamping the way Minecraft updates, the developers will reveal the first features of the new era this month.