What you need to know
- Minecraft is a massive game, and its Minecraft Realms service hosts thousands of private servers.
- Mojang Studios announced earlier this year that they were working to migrate Minecraft Realms to Microsoft Azure from AWS, a huge move.
- The Microsoft Azure team confirmed today that it has completed the transition, and the move should be greatly beneficial in the longterm.
- Moving to Microsoft is a big deal not only for the future of Azure, but also for the development of Minecraft in the future.
Back in July of this year, we reported that Mojang Studios was seeking to migrate from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Microsoft Azure, a massive undertaking that would bring Minecraft's private servers, known as Realms, firmly in-house with Microsoft. While this caught many players by surprise, since Microsoft bought Mojang Studios all the way back in 2014, this kind of migration is daunting in its scale, so it is in part understandable why it took the Swedish game studio so long to make the transition.
Today, the Microsoft Azure team confirmed with us that Minecraft has officially completed the migration to Microsoft Azure, with minimal disruption of play time for Minecraft gamers, which should make the game's future development considerably easier and simpler for the development team. With this move, Mojang Studios believes it'll be able to focus resources in other areas that would otherwise be tied up handling AWS and the management of Minecraft Realms.
If these kinds of things interest you, the Microsoft Azure team has published the first of a series of posts on the Microsoft Game Stack blog, which details the benefit of Azure's game-dev tools, and how, while this move was a big one, means great things for Minecraft's future. This is also a big win for Microsoft, as it means considerably more data and usage for Microsoft Azure, and reduced maintenance and development costs.
And with nearly 132 million monthly active users playign Minecraft, there should be a lot of people tuning into Minecraft Live, where we should learn more about Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons, and even vote on what the next mob in Minecraft should be.
Available everywhere you play.
Minecraft is an inarguable and complete success. It has sold copies in the hundreds of millions, has a huge following of dedicated players, and lets you unlock your every creative desire. It's also available on every platform imaginable, including Xbox One, Windows 10, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Play with anyone, and play anywhere.
Awesome Minecraft merch
Love Minecraft? We're fairly certain you'll love these accessories equally.
Minecraft Sprites Premium T-Shirt ($19 at Amazon)
Show off your Minecraft pride with this premium tee from Jinx, showcasing many of Minecraft's iconic mobs.
Minecraft Lego: The End Battle ($20 at Amazon)
Who doesn't want a Lego Ender Dragon?
Minecraft for Nintendo Switch ($30 at Amazon)
Minecraft for Nintendo Switch features full cross-play between Xbox, Windows 10, mobile phones, and even VR!
Minecraft shades ($8 at Amazon)
You might think you're cool, but are you cool enough to wear these?
