Minecraft developer Mojang has confirmed that the popular sandbox game is finally coming to the Oculus Rift next week, and further that the game would get support for Oculus’ Touch VR controllers later this year.

During an official Xbox stream, members of the Minecraft development team played the game entirely in virtual reality mode with the Oculus Rift and confirmed that the update (Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition v0.15.6) would launch next week and bring with it support for the Rift headset. During the stream it was confirmed that Minecraft would support Oculus Touch later this year, reports Reddit user Heaney555.

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See Also: John Carmack’s Quest to Bring Minecraft to Virtual Reality

Minecraft saw its first official VR version when it launched for Samsung’s Gear VR headset back at the end of April. On the stream it was demonstrated that players will be able to play together in the same server across Rift, Gear VR, and PC versions.

Minecraft for Gear VR sells for $6.99, and unless Microsoft decides to charge a premium for the version with Rift support, we should be seeing it launch next week for the current $9.99 price. If you’ve purchased the prior PC version of Minecraft, you can get the Windows 10 Edition (and it’s forthcoming Rift support) for free.

While official VR support for the game is likely to remain an Oculus exclusive for some time, HTC Vive owners can play Minecraft already thanks to the impressive (and free) Vivecraft mod which also supports the system’s motion controllers.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Shinigami

    So only win 10 app?

    • yep

    • hyperskyper

      Yes, unless you use a mod for the traditional Java version of the game. The Vivecraft mod is absolutely outstanding and I know that there used to be a Minecraft mod(s) for the Rift DK1 and/or 2. Someone has probably updated the Rift mod for the CV1; hopefully it works with the latest version of Minecraft, 1.10.

  • Nigerian Wizard

    “Windows 10 App”

    Into the trash it goes.

  • WyrdestGeek

    So we’re still talking about Pocket Edition, essentially?

    I’ve tried to make friends with pocket edition in the past few weeks– it has been thoroughly pwned by M$: I.e. you must have an Xbox live account, and if you want to install Windows10 edition, you must sync your Windows logon to your MSN acct, etc.

    It looks like that is how M$ currently plans to flex their muscle in regards to Minecraft– they will put support and features into the PE and all the VR editions will all be focused around the PE and in order to get in on all that– you have to give yourself over to M$.

    Total domination.

    It would not surprise me if, once PE has feature parity with the Java based version, they suddenly announce that the PE is the new standard version and now all future features will come for it first.

    Then later still, they complete the domination–discontinue the Java version entirely.

    So it goes.

    —
    Furry cows moo and decompress.