Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Minecraft Windows 10 update introduces cross-platform multiplayer

By

The newly updated Windows 10 version of Mojang’s creative construction sim Minecraft now allows players to team up with local friends who own copies of Minecraft: Pocket Edition for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices.

Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta now supports cross-platform local multiplayer, letting users within the same household join five-player sessions across Windows 10 PCs and mobile devices. Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta also supports same-platform online multiplayer over Xbox Live.

Recommended Videos

Mobile players in particular will discover a wealth of new features in Minecraft‘s latest version, which Microsoft describes as “the biggest update for Minecraft: Pocket Edition to date.” New and expanded features for mobile users include new craftable items, potions, and equipment, along with new monsters like golems and ocelots.

Related: 
The 8 best TVs for gaming in 2025, as vetted by our experts

Minecraft: Pocket Edition additionally boasts redesigned touch controls and controller support via a new controller mapping screen. Weather effects introduced in the Windows 10 version of Minecraft, including directional rain and accumulating snow, have also made the trip over to Pocket Edition. Players are now able sprint and sneak starting with today’s Minecraft: Pocket Edition update, and mobile users can finally explore Minecraft‘s endgame area, the Nether.

This week’s cross-platform expansion follows up on Microsoft’s purchase of Minecraft and its creator Mojang in 2014. The buyout saw the departure of Mojang studio founder Markus “Notch” Persson later that year.

In the months following Microsoft’s acquisition, Minecraft landed on Windows Phone platforms, and a revamped Windows 10 edition launched in beta form in July. Microsoft has also used the popular game to demonstrate its in-development smart glasses headset Microsoft HoloLens.

Though Minecraft‘s core premise consists of free-form gameplay, Mojang plans to roll out a narrative-focused Story Mode for its game in the coming months. Developed by acclaimed adventure game developer Telltale Games, Minecraft: Story Mode is expected to launch as soon as the holiday season of 2015.

Danny Cowan
Danny Cowan
Contributor
Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…
Topics

Editors’ Recommendations

I really hope this potential change to Windows updates is true
Windows 11 updates are moving to once a year.

Windows updates have always required a restart to your PC, which is a hassle. However, Microsoft may use hot-patching to make it easier for PCs with Windows 11 24H2 to apply updates without having to reboot their computers.

A support page mentioning the change was first spotted by PhantomOcean 3 in a post on X (formerly Twitter) before the software giant took down the page.

Read more
PC gamers still prefer Windows 10 over Windows 11
A man stands in front of a gaming PC.

Windows 11 saw a decline in the latest Steam hardware and software survey for July 2024. According to Valve's data, gamers using Microsoft's newer operating system dropped below the 46% threshold. Currently, Windows 11 accounts for approximately 45.81% of all Windows users on Steam, marking a decrease of 0.82% from the previous month.

In contrast, Windows 10 experienced an increase of 0.74%, reaching a 50.16% share. Although gaming performance is generally similar on both operating systems, a recent test by Hardware Unboxed reveals that Windows 10 may offer better performance in certain titles due to the core isolation feature, where memory integrity is enabled by default on Windows 11.

Read more
Microsoft is backpedaling on future Windows 10 updates
The Windows Update screen in Windows 10.

Windows 10 is on its way out, with support ending in October 2025. That isn't changing, though Microsoft's approach to rolling out new features in the meantime definitely has. In a surprising move, Microsoft announced in a June 4 Windows Insider Blog post that it is bringing a Beta Channel for those Windows Insiders currently running on Windows 10 version 22H2.

This means that despite the end of support, Windows 10 users will continue to get some new features that were initially restricted to Windows 11, such as the new Copilot app. It's also possible that other features may be on the way, but Microsoft has not released any further information on the subject. It was originally stated that Windows 10 version 22H2 would be its final feature update, but that appears to not be true anymore.

Read more