Gamers everywhere wish Xbox One and PS4 backwards compatibility were a reality today. Those streaming and emulating options just seem too far off. However, for people buying the Minecraft Xbox One edition, Microsoft has some interesting related news: Minecraft Xbox 360 game saves will transfer to Xbox One.
The news doesn’t solve the real problem of backwards compatibility, but it does ensure that Minecraft Xbox One owners won’t have to re-create the wheel when they fire-up their new game.
In a Twitter post, Microsoft’s Xbox grand poobah Phil Spencer said “After months of teaming up with Mojang, we can confirm that Minecraft X360 Edition will save transfer to Xbox One Edition…more news soon!”
Precisely how the Minecraft Xbox One game will be able to read transferred game saves from its Xbox 360 counterpart is unclear. Presumably the game saves will be transferred via the OneDrive Xbox One app. Regardless, the news that any level, character or widget you’ve created on Xbox 360 will make the move with you to Xbox One is big.
The news isn’t unprecedented, though, nor is it unique to Xbox One. Just over one week ago, the developers at Mojang confirmed that the Minecraft PS4 edition would support game-save transfers as well.
Mojang’s Minecraft PS4 revelation was equally crytpic — “the plan is to enable users to transfer from PS3 to PS4. We’re still working out how it’ll work with the Vita version” — but equally encouraging.
The big question, of course, is whether having Xbox 360 game saves transfer over to the Minecraft Xbox One version will compel gamers to buy a second version of the game and/or buy an Xbox One. Ditto with the PS4/PS3 info.
Minecraft’s a big franchise and has millions of fans. But if those gamers already own either Minecraft Xbox 360 or Minecraft PS3, will the ability to transfer their existing game saves over to the shiny new Xbox One or PS4 be enough motivation to buy another version of the same game? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.