Minecraft's non-existent PS5 port became a talking point during the FTC hearings over the Xbox Activision deal, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer claimed at the time that Sony was "reluctant" to provide development kits for the new platform. It seems Microsoft has its hands on the necessary development tools now, though, as Minecraft is finally hitting PS5 on October 22.
The new native PS5 version of Minecraft is "optimized to take advantage of the console’s more powerful hardware," according to the official announcement. "This means your game will have a greater render distance while still being 4k resolution and 60 fps, allowing you to take in even more frames and pixels while running from Endermen in the Overworld."
The PS5 version will be a free upgrade for owners of the PS4 game. That PS4 version has, of course, been available since well before the PS5 launched, and as with the vast majority of PS4 games it's fully backwards compatible. The PS5 port should just offer a bit better performance.
Back in June 2023, during the FTC hearings, Phil Spencer was asked why Xbox had never published a native PS5 version of Minecraft. "Sony was reluctant to send us development kits for the PlayStation 5 at the same time they were sending them to other developers, which put us at a disadvantage relative to other developers," Spencer responded. "I think Sony could have sent the development kits to Microsoft just as easy as they sent them to any other publisher."
Given the volume of PS5 ports being developed at Xbox these days, it certainly seems that Sony's now willing to turn over those dev kits. Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment all hit the platform this year, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be on PS5 in 2025. I guess the reluctance has run out.
