Minecraft’s cross-platform Bedrock Edition is now available to play via your ChromeOS browser.
This early access version is currently being rolled out to certain Chromebook devices to test how it works on various pieces of hardware.
If you’re interested, there’s a list of minimum specifications for your Chromebook available via this Minecraft support site.
Otherwise, this is the same version of Minecraft you might expect to play on PC, console or mobile, with cross-device play and the ability to customsie your experience via its in-game marketplace.
“Early access means that in this first stage, only selected Chromebook devices that meet the minimum requirements will get the option to buy Minecraft, so you’ll have to check the Google Play Store to see if Minecraft is available for you,” developer Mojang said.
“This isn’t because we want to single out some of our players as special (we love you all equally!) – it’s so we can test the game’s performance before we make it available to more players.”
A final release date for Minecraft on ChromeOS is still to be determined.
Previously, Microsoft offered Minecraft: Education Edition for Chromebooks – a special version of the sandbox game designed for use in schools.
The launch of Minecraft for ChromeOS comes as Microsoft is busy convincing various financial regulators that it should be allowed to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn.
A key regulatory concern in that process has been whether Microsoft’s ownership of franchises such as Call of Duty will mean more restricted access to these series on rival platforms in future.
Microsoft has, obviously, argued that this will not be the case – and pointed to Minecraft as an example of an existing franchise it acquired and still operates as a very profitable cross-platform concern.
