Minecraft ‘Wouldn’t Function Well’ as a Free-to-Play Game, According to Mojang

Mojang has reaffirmed that it does not plan to make Minecraft a free-to-play game, because that change would not mesh well with the rest of the game.

Most games as popular as Minecraft, like Roblox and Fortnite, are available to players for free. Minecraft predates that free-to-play boom, though, and if you want to pick it up on consoles it costs $20. Speaking to IGN, Minecraft Vanilla executive producer Ingela Garneij and Game Director Agnes Larsson made it clear that there are currently no plans to make Minecraft free-to-play.

“Yeah, it doesn’t really work with the way we built it,” Garneij explained. “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.”

Larsson added that he thinks Minecraft not being free-to-play is “part of the important values of Minecraft,” so it just won’t make sense for them to find new ways to monetize the game while going free-to-play. Of course, Minecraft still has plenty of DLC for players to purchase, including a new pack based on A Minecraft Movie, which hits theaters next month.

If you want to play Minecraft, you’ll have to buy it on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, or Android.