So far the hit indie sandbox game Minecraft has mostly been a PC game phenomenon but the game"s development team at Mojang have confirmed that versions of Minecraft will be coming to both iOS and Android devices as well. Now Gamasutra is reporting that the when the Android version of Minecraft is released it will be made available first for Sony"s Xperia Play phones before it"s made available for other Android devices.
The so-called "Playstation Phone" was first announced by Sony earlier this year and will be made available for sale in the US via Verizon on May 26 (it was released in Europe back in April) Gamasutra"s story says that the Xperia Play version of Minecraft will be specially designed to use the phone"s Playstation-like button layout. So far there"s no word on pricing or a release date for this first mobile version of the game. There"s also no word on how long this exclusive with the Xperia Play phone will last. However more info is expected to be revealed at a press event on June 7 during E3 2011.
Minecraft on the PC has become a massive success for a game that has little traditional marketing or publicity. Launched in 2009 in an alpha version, the game became a cult hit during the summer of 2010 as fans and even game developers started to talk about the addictive gameplay. The game moved to a beta version in December but is still selling between 8,000 and 11,000 copies per day on the game"s web site. So far Minecraft has sold close to 2.3 million copies. It will "officially" come out of beta on November 11 although it will still be expanded via updates and expansion packs afterward.
In related news, a beta version of the game"s 1.6 update will be released sometime next week. The update will add new features such as Nether support in multiplayer, craftable maps, hatches, tall grass in some areas and more.