Editorial: We hate 4J Studios

4J Studios is a Scottish video game development studio located in Dundee, Scotland. The company has been in business since 2005, and is responsible for six original games and seven ports of other games to consoles. Some of their most notable original games include Star Trek: Encounters for the PS2, Star Trek: Conquest for the PS2 & Wii, and Wuggle for the iPhone. They were responsible for the PS3 port of The Ender Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the XBLA ports of Perfect Dark & Banjo-Kazooie, and most recently the PS3 and Xbox 360 ports of Minecraft.

Much like Minecraft: Pocket Edition, the Xbox and PS3 ports of Minecraft have been met with some criticism from gamers. Many complain that the console ports are not as full-featured as the PC edition, updates are too few and far between, 4J Studios is 'greedy' for charging for texture packs and mashup packs, and many more. Attacking the company on Twitter are several Twitter accounts focused on the negative side of the game. One tweet states, "If @4JStudios was a good company, it would have been released already, but they're not."

The problem with these arguments is that gamers typically compare Xbox/PS3 Edition to Minecraft for the PC. Minecraft for the Xbox and PS3 just aren't PC games, and they shouldn't be treated as such. Minecraft for consoles should be compared to other games for the Xbox and PS3. Very few games for the PlayStation and Xbox ever have free major updates, more often than not major additions are included in paid DLCs (downloadable content). Minecraft for consoles is very different in that aspect since every update is free.

Unlike PCs, the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network are not designed for quick updates. Even after 4J Studios finishes an update, they must send it to Microsoft (or Sony, if it's the PS3 Edition) for them to playtest and confirm no major bugs are apparent. When gamers say that 4J Studios has 'slow updates', what do they compare it to? Minecraft for the PC.

The last major complaint many gamers has with 4J Studios is their lack of development updates via social networking. Minecraft developers usually send updates about the progress of Minecraft's development over Twitter, sometimes multiple times per day. By comparison, 4J Studios is a ghost. They very rarely talk about upcoming updates, until it's only a few days away from arriving on consoles. It's likely 4J Studios simply doesn't wish to announce additions to the game that turn out to be unfeasible later on, which Mojang has done on several occasions.

So is 4J Studios really a bad company? No. They release free updates for Minecraft for consoles in a timely manner, they work around the limitations of consoles, and have released a very good port of Minecraft for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Although 4J Studios is subject to constant criticism (and possibly some deserved criticism), overall they have provided console players with a stable and fun port of one of the most successful indie games of all time. Not too shabby 4J, keep it up.