Mojang decides Minecraft needs its own Xbox Game Pass, costs $3.99 a month in the Marketplace
The Minecraft Marketplace Pass is official, if you really want a rotating catalog of Minecraft DLC in your life.
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What you need to know
One of the best gaming subscriptions in the world right now isXbox Game Pass, which grants players access to a rotating library of hundreds of Xbox, Windows PC, and cloud games. It seems Mojang Studios wants Minecraft to offer a similar experience, and has just announced the Minecraft Marketplace Pass for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, available now across Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, Switch, and mobile devices.
Announced viaMinecraft.net, the new Marketplace Pass costs$3.99 /monthand provides unrestricted access to over 150 worlds, adventures, skin and texture packs, and more. Subscribers even get free Character Creator items every month, which can be added to their wardrobe to keep forever. The Marketplace Pass library isn’t set in stone, too, periodically getting new items (while existing ones may leave the service).
It’s an easy, affordable subscription for those always looking to try new experiences inMinecraft, and you always have the option of buying DLC you wish to keep forever. However, not all Minecraft players will need to bother with the Marketplace Pass; all of the items and DLC included in this pass are the same included in Minecraft Realms Plus (which also provides a private, 11-person server). You can read ourMinecraft Realms FAQfor more information.
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If you have a normal 4-person Minecraft Realms server, you can still subscribe to the Marketplace Pass and share those items with your fellow players, but at that point you’re probably better off moving up to the Realms Plus tier. The Minecraft Marketplace Pass is not available for Minecraft: Java Edition. It does sync to your Microsoft Account, though, meaning one subscription gives you access to all the same items and DLC across all Minecraft: Bedrock Edition platforms.
It’s an interesting new option for one of thebest Xbox games, and comes hot on the heels of the announcement thatMinecraft: Bedrock Edition now has official mod support on all platforms. It’s not clear how many players will actually take advantage of this option, though, since you’ll need to be a pretty hardcore Minecraft fan for it to be worth the monthly cost. More free content is coming in the future, though; in case you missed it, Mojang Studios recently revealed that theMinecraft 1.21 content updatewill alsointroduce seven brand-new wolf variants to the game.
If you want to check out the Minecraft Marketplace Pass, you can subscribe throughMinecraft(this will open the game on your device if installed).
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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.
