Minecraft coming to Xbox Game Pass

Minecraft is coming to Xbox Game Pass. This announcement at today’s Inside Xbox finally brings Microsoft’s last major holdout title to Game Pass and makes the subscription even more enticing.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers will get to play Minecraft for free starting April 4. After that day you can download the full version of the game on Xbox One. While all significant content updates will be free, you can also purchase a multitude of skins and other content via the Minecraft Marketplace.

Minecraft has been a massive success in the decade since its release, and it doesn’t show any sign of stopping now. The most recent major update, the Update Aquatic, was released last summer and revamped how water works in the game and added depth and life to the ocean biomes. The addition of Minecraft to Xbox Game Pass couldn’t come at a better time, since the next major patch, the Village & Pillage update will be coming in the next few months.

Over 90 million players have tackled Minecraft, and it almost single-handedly spawned the voxel-based game craze. While there have been plenty of imitators, none have come close to the astounding success Minecraft has had in the market. The game is available on pretty much every platform possible, and if you haven’t played it yet, its release on Game Pass is the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

Unfortunately, player-created mods aren’t available on console versions of the game, but the base game gives you enough to do that you shouldn’t get bored for the first 100 hours or so. There’s tons of fun to be had in Minecraft, and one advantage that consoles enjoy over PC is the ability to play split-screen multiplayer. Minecraft is fun alone, but it’s even better with a friend.

Again, Minecraft will be available on Xbox Game Pass on April 4, 2019.