Search up Minecraft on YouTube or Twitch and chances are you'll see people playing Minecraft Java, but for the vast majority of Minecraft players, they play on Bedrock. Why is that, and if Java is so popular with PC gamers, are consoles getting Minecraft Java anytime soon? In this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about if Minecraft Java is coming to PlayStation and Xbox.
Is Minecraft Java Better Than Bedrock?
This is a complicated question. See, Minecraft Java is the original version of Minecraft, so it's got the most features, and it has by far the better modding scene and multiplayer experience. However, Bedrock runs on a long list of devices, and it has a much more modern engine that can run the game a lot better. Plus, Bedrock has crossplay and effortless drop-in, drop-out coop. It really depends on what you want.
If you're just looking for a vanilla singleplayer experience and you want the most consistent performance possible, maybe check out Bedrock. If you're looking to try out a crazy anarchy server you've heard about from YouTube videos, you're going to have to play Java. In the world of content creation where it only makes sense to focus on the version with the most features and best multiplayer, it makes sense there's a focus on Java.
Related: Are Minecraft Servers Free?
Plus, when you play Bedrock you can get access to Minecraft RTX as well as Minecraft VR and you can crossplay with all the other platforms, like consoles, phones, etcetera. There are definitely unique features on either end, but Bedrock has always been behind Java in terms of gameplay mechanics, and the modding and multiplayer scenes are just night-and-day different, with them being a shadow of what they are on Java on Bedrock.
Ultimately, there are definitely reasons to play Java, but it's not always the right choice for everybody, so it's hard to say that it's just the best version and that you'd be wrong for playing it, especially since it's the vastly more successful version of the game in terms of playerbase size.
Is Minecraft Java Coming to PlayStation and Xbox?
In a word? No. It's not. Bedrock was designed to run on consoles and be crossplatform, and moreover, the modular nature of Java won't transfer over to consoles. Even console games with mods, like Skyrim, have serious limitations that meaningfully restrict what's possible with mods, making it inevitable that the Java experience won't work on console.
Related: How to Fix Minecraft Launcher Not Opening
Moreover, Java is a PC game. Bedrock has all the controller support and UI design you could want, and the point of Java is itself that it's PC specific. If you wanted a console version of Java, that's why Bedrock already exists for. In short, no, Java is not likely to ever come to another platform outside of PC, because it's fundamentally a PC version of the game.
It's better to think of Java as the PC version of Minecraft while Minecraft everywhere else is just 'Minecraft' because that's a lot truer to what the situation is actually like. There are fewer reasons to play normal Minecraft on PC precisely because Java exists, while for everyone else, Minecraft is Java, just for whatever platform you find yourself on that's most likely not PC.
Is Bedrock Going to Get Updated to Play Like Java?
This is another complicated question. See, Bedrock already has lots of multiplayer functionality and its own version of mods, but these things are unlikely to ever rise to the level of what's possible on Java, so no dice there, unfortunately, that's always going to be the strength of Java.
Related: Best Minecraft YouTubers in 2022
However, in terms of actual gameplay, Bedrock has been slowly updated over the years to be more and more like Java, with Mojang's eventual goal being to bring the two versions into line with each other gameplay mechanics-wise. We're not there yet, but we're definitely closer than ever before. One day, no doubt, Bedrock and Java will play the same.
Eventually, Java will exist if you want the most customization possible via mods and the deepest multiplayer you can have, but if you just want to play Minecraft with either light mods, anywhere that's not on PC, or just with some coop, then you can just play Bedrock and enjoy better performance, too. This is the ideal differentiation between the two versions that Mojang continues to work towards, but once that happens, don't expect anything else.
The short answer here is, well, no, but the longer answer is yes, it just depends on what you mean when you ask the question, really.
Related: Minecraft Bedrock vs. Minecraft Java Farms Explained
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!