14 DAY TRIAL // 4J Studios, the developer of Minecraft's different console versions, believes that the game could appear on other platforms, like Nintendo's Wii U, if the user base is large enough and if the update process is as smooth as possible.
Minecraft first appeared on the PC platform from indie developer Mojang many years ago, and since then, it's slowly surfaced on quite a lot of other platforms, including mobile devices but also the PS3 or Xbox 360, where it landed with the help of 4J Studios.
Currently, 4J is putting the finishing touches on Minecraft for the PS4, Xbox One, and PS Vita, which should appear in the near future on all the different devices.
Afterwards, it's possible that Minecraft might be adapted for other devices, at least according to 4J's Daniel Kaplan, who talked with TotalXbox.
"It's mostly about platforms that make sense," he said about ideal destinations for Minecraft. "We didn't anticipate the mobile version to be that big compared to the PC, and it's the same for consoles. People always compare it to the PC, which is supposed to be like the big original version where you get all the cool features first."
"But we have seen there is a massive audience on other platforms so there are still huge groups of people who don't play on PC at all."
Kaplan notes that, after completing the PS4 and Xbox One versions, most of the intended platforms for Minecraft are covered, although some, like the Wii U, are still unaccounted for.
"With the release of PS4 and Xbox One I think we have fulfilled most of the needs for now. There aren't many platforms left to release on. We'll see, whatever makes sense and if the platform has the user base for it. We won't release on the platform is the base is very small because it's much too big of an effort."
Besides having a large number of owners, Minecraft also requires a smooth update process, as 4J is constantly working on patches to bring more content to the game and keep up with the PC edition of the title.
"The whole point of Minecraft is that you get updates all the time. If you release somewhere you want to make sure that we will be updating rather than, 'Oh yeah, we only sold 1000 copies on that platform so let's kill it off'. That's not the way Minecraft has been developed."
The Wii U isn't doing that great in terms of user base and the update process isn't exactly the smoothest out there, so it's anybody's guess if Minecraft is going to eventually appear for it.