In an age where many live service games of this kind were pivoted to a free-to-play business model, Minecraft remains a stubbornly premium experience. In a recent interview with Passthecontroller, developer Mojang said he was determined to stick to an established “purchase and ownership” approach. In short, don’t expect Minecraft to play for free anytime soon.
“Yeah, that doesn’t really work the way we made it,” explained Ingela Garneij, executive producer at Minecraft Vanilla.
“We built the game for a different purpose, so monetization doesn’t work that way for us. It’s a game purchase, and that’s it. For us, it’s important that our games are available to as many people as possible.
As the industry has evolved over the years, many games have jumped to download for free, but the water in the Battle Pass and Cosmetic Pack has been infected, resulting in a mix of results. Examples include the decision to play Overwatch 2 free, Destiny 2, or Minecraft’s Microsoft Stablemate Halo Infinite (at least when it comes to multiplayer).
Of course, there is pressure on video game publishers and developers to find new ways to monetize to survive, but this seems like pressure that isn’t felt by Garneij and her Mojang teammates.
That’s the sentiment expanded by Minecraft Vanilla game director Agnes Larsson.
Minecraft continues to evolve without asking players to spend money on new features. This is illustrated by the upcoming Vibrant Visuals Graphics overhaul, which will arrive free of charge in the coming months. Also, there is no Minecraft 2 plan on the horizon, so you don’t need to buy any of the bestselling games of all time again anytime soon. Of course, unless you want to play it on one of the seemingly endless amounts of devices, these days you find yourself.
Check out everything announced at Minecraft Live 2025 for more information on what comes to the game.
Simon Cardy can be found to be running around open world games, indulging in Korean movies, or despairing in Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets state. Follow him on Bluesky @cardy.bsky.social.
