Minecraft has been a smash hit on the PC platform. Outselling Half Life, Half-Life 2, and The Sims 3, it is without a doubt one of the most influential PC games of all time. But when Minecraft was finally ported to Microsoft's Xbox 360, it quickly became a console classic by outselling Gears of War and coming close to outselling Modern Warfare 2. But we keep getting emails and Twitter messages asking us when you can expect Minecraft for the PlayStation 3, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, etc. I thought I would answer this question in the form of an article.Let me get you thinking about a term called exclusivity. A video game that is an exclusive means it is released for one console/platform only. For example, most games in the Halo series is exclusive to the Xbox and Xbox 360. Mario games are exclusive to Nintendo consoles. These are examples of exclusivity in video games.
Now imagine going to a store to buy a game console. If you like Halo, you are likely going to consider buying an Xbox. If you like Minecraft, you are likely going to buy an Xbox to play Minecraft on. That's because the Xbox is the only console that can play Minecraft, right? Well, that's a classic example of buying a console because of exclusivity.
The reason why Minecraft is an Xbox-exclusive title is because Mojang was paid a hefty amount of money in a contract to keep Minecraft as an Xbox-exclusive. This means that until the contract has expired (and Mojang chooses not to renew it) there is no chance Minecraft can be ported to another console. It's been a little over a year since Minecraft for Xbox was released, so we can assume it is a two-year contract or longer.
But what happens when the contract does expire? Well, Mojang has said that once the contract expires a PS3 edition is a possibility. They have also said that a Wii U edition isn't likely (sorry Nintendo fans). However, will Minecraft be ported to the newer generation of game consoles instead of the PS3 like the PS4 and Xbox One? Only time will tell.
Minecraft screenshot shown in mockup image from the Phoenix MyFallen server.