So recently, Mojang announced some renames for Minecraft editions. They renamed literally every other version of MC to just Minecraft, and the Java version to Minecraft: Java Edition. That’s somewhat concerning because that just reeks of impending EOS. Honestly, I think it wouldn’t be a good move just player base wise. It would probably anger the hell out of players that have played original Minecraft during their entire time having the game, and really that appreciate mods.
The Java version really is the most fleshed out version and honestly I’d hate to see it go.
I’ve stated this elsewhere, but I’ll put it here for the record:
The “Better Together” update leaves a lot to be desired. By omission, it has left a lot of users of the Java version in the dark, even if they say they’ll still support it. It won’t be part of their marketplace, nor the new shared protocol, and the modding API is a long-dead duck (unless mojangson modding floats your boat). However feature parity between the two versions is lacking, and Java is still the feature vanguard platform.
When the two versions approach full feature parity, that would be when Microsoft might pull the plug. Framing it cynically, when they can then sell you what used to be a free mod (eg fancy HD shaders) for the new version, and there’s no competition from the old modding crowd due to the change of underlying language, it’s theirs for the plunder.
There are more complex issues underlying some of the assumptions people are making about these changes. For example, although the “Java Edition” sells less than a fifth the numbers of “Minecraft”, the price is more than three times greater so the profit margin is better. Java MC may also be easier for new features to be added and tested; Java is a relatively forgiving language to build a game with, very flexible and featuring in-built garbage collection.
However, the overall driver is probably down to this: It still makes money. Why would they cut off any source of income without good reason? As long as it remains profitable, there’s no business case to stop selling “Minecraft Java Edition”.
Well, it’s just the like, way they’re kind of acting about Java edition. Renaming it to literally Java edition is kinda… eh in my opinion. The new “Minecraft” should have a subtitle rather than the original.
And from a business perspective, windows 10, really.
I am not so sure about this one. Developing and maintaining the Java edition also costs money, plus if the Java version cannot access Microsoft’s new way to generate revenue from Minecraft (the marketplace for user generated content and mods, shared multiplayer, perhaps some sort of official servers), the revenue that can be made from it is limited.
That said, I think that the java edition will not be discontinued in the near future. Probably once an official mod API and a content store are implemented in the Portable/Windows 10 edition and once it becomes simply more attractive to new players because of these changes, it will be discontinued. However, this takes some time.
It will also be interesting to see what happens with the Linux and macOS versions. Since the portable version already runs on iOS supporting macOS should be rather simple (if desired), but Linux users might face some problems…
macOS support would probably be really easy. They already support it for the Education Edition, so they would just have to swap out the education code. Linux support is the big question for me.
Yeah, it does… and if the profit made on that investment (programmer’s wages, offices and such) is still at least several million dollars per annum, then there’s no motivation to stop doing so. Killing the Java version won’t encourage former users to buy the APP version, and would generate very significant ire. It makes no business sense.
For now I agree. But once a content store, shared multiplayer etc. are implemented and well adopted by players, that is, once the Portable Version has the same or even a better ecosystem than the Java version, this changes. Because at this point, I suspect that a significant part of revenue will be generated from the content store (in some way), from the shared multiplayer (in some way) and perhaps even from official, hosted servers.
The Java version, due to technical constraints, cannot access these sources of revenue and might become less interesting from a business point of view, resulting in its abandonment. But of course, this is by no means immanent.
Another thing that could encourage shutdown of the Java versions services is that they don’t make enough money for that service compared to the other versions which all of their revenue goes towards maintaining Minecraft services.
I’ve heard a few dozen people trot out this glib justification. The problem is, it makes no sense in this situation. Microsoft already OWN Minecraft (via Mojang); they aren’t in competition with it. What do they extinguish, the fire they lit under their own foot? This is getting silly.
This is just much ado about nothing in my opinion. Even if the Java version died - so what? The programming language of the client has nothing to do with the programming language of the server anyway. I estimate more than 95% of my code relies on community APIs instead of native code by Mojang. A client written in C++ doesn’t mean we won’t be able to use Bukkit and Sponge anymore. I could well imagine that if there was no Java server, community projects like Glowstone would get a boost and eventually fill the gap.
The thing is, it’s competition between Microsoft and the Minecraft community. Sure, Microsoft owns both versions of Minecraft, but they don’t own the community. The community decides what it likes most.
Microsoft wants the unified version of Minecraft to be predominant over the Java Edition.
They can’t just immediately shut down the Java Edition and force people to move over the new unified version. They’ll want to make the unified version of Minecraft be more feature-rich and “better” than Java Edition to the point in which in the community will naturally want to switch over.
My prediction is: with the pace of updates being compared with the two versions, the unified Minecraft version will eventually outpace Java Edition in terms of features. Before then, the unified version of Minecraft should have its modding API (which I believe is called the Plugin API) finished, a possible Mac/Linux version, and official dedicated server software.
Right now they’re “embracing” the Java Edition, saying they’ll keep supporting it.
Then they’ll “extend” the unified version of Minecraft to the point where Java can’t keep pace.
Finally, the community will naturally make the switch over to the unified version since the Java Edition will have become too “sluggish” when compared. By then, the Java Edition will be considered “extinguished”
Plus, there’s a reason why Mojang gave out free Minecraft Windows 10 Edition to all Java Edition players.
It is already. The price differential is a major factor, let alone the wide array of platforms.
However, my point still stands: where’s the profit in abandoning “Java Edition”? The lack of connection with the marketplace is the only monetary factor involved, and it was apparently an unpopular idea amongst the Java-Minecraft community - so there’s little expectation they’d move over to it. Shutting it down would cut off an income stream, and generate some displeasure amongst the millions of existing owners, which is bad PR to put it mildly.
All we have to go on is unquantifiable speculation about the API, and whether the cheaper platform will eventually overtake the Java version by feature creep. Kudos to them if the Plugin API is more than the damp squib that the Java modding API became. I won’t be holding my breath
The community of content creators on YouTube, Twitch, and other sites are still playing Java Edition for the most part, which still drives sales of the Java Edition. So Java Edition is still predominant in terms of that.
Microsoft’s goal is to move the community (which also includes the content creators) off the Java Edition and over to the unified version without causing too much disruption. Once they move over, profit from the Java Edition will be lost.
Because of this, I believe it is still a long way before the Java Edition is killed off.
About the marketplace, it is just a way of funding community content while also making it more convenient to find and install since it’s all in one place.
You can still install free community content found online by digging into the MC file system and dragging and dropping the respective files in as usual, similar to how it is in the Java Edition already. Perhaps Mojang will allow adding free community content to the Marketplace, like the Redstone Mansion.
If the marketplace was just a place to put up creations for everyone to use in general with Java Edition, I’d proabably like it more. Unifying stuff like that would be a good move, but this is Mojang. If it wasn’t in the original plan it probabaly won’t happen anytime soon.
The so-called Plugin “API” will never do more than some simple scripting and tweaking to existing features of the game, unlike Forge, which has things like GalactiCraft, Pixelmon, Tinkers Construct, which add completely new mechanics that would not be possible to tack-on to Minecraft using the aforementioned “API”
What could cause end of java minecraft as we know it would be releasing official api based on .net/mono platform but i do not see this happen any time soon.
However as long as they think that command blocks and resource packs are good source for “game modification” then java version is more than safe.
The funniest part is the marketplace, which seems to be a place where you can just buy resourcepacks/shaders/maps and similar content… content which java version had for years and for free, this is point where mojang has lost large amount of money and now its too late to get it back.
The best possible outcome would be mojang dropping java version completly and releasing java server and clinet as opensource. So someone more competent (forge devs) could eventually pick it up.
Java is so easy to decompile, and plus the client and server have already been pretty much dissected. If the Java version was ever dropped, don’t be surprised if a bunch of replacement update services pop up.
The Java version won’t die, not while there’s no non-10 Windows version. There are more Windows users playing Minecraft without 10 than with, and Minecraft isn’t enough to make someone change their entire operating system. They won’t kill Java until a version exists for most of the platforms.
God, I hope so. It’s better than either the current JSON system or the inevitable Lua one.
