‘Minecraft’ Oculus Rift Release Date Will Be First Quarter 2016, Announced At Oculus Connect 2
Minecraft will be coming to Oculus Rift, and it will be sometime in 2016, announced Oculus VR co-founder Palmer Lucky yesterday. The announcement was made at Oculus Connect 2, the second annual developer conference for the as-yet-unreleased Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. According to Popular Science, the headset is coming out first quarter in 2016 and when it does, Minecraft for Oculus Rift will be available in both the Windows Store and the Oculus Store, making Minecraft one of the first major titles announced for Oculus Rift.
Minecraft coming to the Oculus Rift console comes as rather a surprise for two reasons; the first is simply that Microsoft, owners of Minecraft publisher Mojang, are currently developing their own VR headset (one which, relative to the Oculus Rift, is practically unheard of.) Of course, Microsoft has been getting out of the habit of demanding exclusive titles for the Xbox system as well. It’s certainly a change of pace from Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft; the original Xbox was launched almost entirely on the strength of the (at the time) Xbox-exclusive Halo.
It’s also surprising in that, as per Wired, Mojang founder Markus “Notch” Persson had originally planned to develop a Minecraft version for Oculus Rift (which has been in development since 2012) but cancelled these plans when Facebook acquired Oculus VR in March, 2014. Persson indicated in a personal blog post that he had no interest in working with social networks and nixed the Minecraft Oculus Rift edition.
Notch, meanwhile, popped onto Twitter (presumably in the wake of endless messages) and made it emphatically clear that he no longer particularly has opinions on what happens with Minecraft.
My opinion on minecraft/oculus? Neato!
Now, back to ignoring Quiet because D.D. obviously is much better.— notch (@notch) September 24, 2015
While it’s not surprising that Microsoft sees things a little differently than Notch, most Minecraft/Oculus Rift fans had essentially given up on ever seeing Minecraft on Oculus Rift and the announcement comes as a bit of a shock.
TechRadar, meanwhile, noted that this will specifically be the Minecraft for Windows 10 edition of the game. Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition is a simplified variation of the original Minecraft based on Minecraft: Pocket Edition which is optimized to run on mobile devices.
Perhaps most tellingly, a quick check of the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition page on the game’s official wiki notes that it has been quietly updated to mention that it is “also capable of running on devices such as the HoloLens.”
One is left to wonder if this was a part of Microsoft’s strategy all along when it purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion in September, 2014.
[Image courtesy of Oculus VR / via Twitter]
