Minecraft Doesn’t Have a PS5 Version Because Sony Didn’t Send Microsoft Dev Kits, Phil Spencer Says

Xbox boss Phil Spencer blames Sony for the lack of a native PlayStation 5 version of Minecraft. During today’s portion of the Microsoft FTC trial, Spencer claimed Sony was hesitant to give Microsoft access to PlayStation 5 dev kits ahead of the console launch in 2020.

“Sony was reluctant to send us development kits for the PlayStation 5 at the same time they were sending them to other developers, which put us at a disadvantage relative to other developers,” Spencer said. “I think Sony could have sent the development kits to Microsoft just as easy as they sent them to any other publisher.”

“Sony was reluctant to send us development kits for the PlayStation 5 at the same time they were sending them to other developers,

Minecraft is playable on PS5 through the PlayStation 4 version, so it’s not as if PlayStation players have been left out of the Minecraft ecosystem this generation. Industry experts are also pointing out the Xbox Series X|S doesn’t appear to have its own optimized version of Minecraft, putting the two platforms on even ground.

However, the FTC argued Microsoft has had three years since the PS5 launched to create a native version of Minecraft for the platform. Spencer responded by saying Xbox looked at ways to “maximize the success of Minecraft”.

Elsewhere, Minecraft Dungeons was also discussed, and we learned the game was at one point considered as a potential PC-only title. It ended up shipping on all platforms.

The Microsoft FTC trial has already revealed a lot about the inner workings of the video game industry we rarely get to hear about otherwise. Earlier in today’s proceedings, we learned Starfield almost skipped Xbox entirely ahead of Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda. For everything that’s happened, check out our recap of the trial so far.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.