That’s nice, I guess, and some people do prefer this kind of game with a gamepad. Minecraft Windows 10 Edition is a simple duplication of effort with no real advantage to the user-base that’s been explained in any way other than “Isn’t this neat?” Yes, it supports controllers and touch-screens. The bits that aren’t being downgraded are just treading water, maintaining parity with something that already exists in a form that works.

No, this is not a particularly good idea unless there’s more going on under the surface than is apparent. Oh boy! I can beta-test a game that doesn’t do as much as the one that already runs fine while allowing mods to enhance its playability with as many friends as can fit on a server! But someday it might maybe do all these things, so um… Maybe later? The new engine is faster than the old one, sure, but the losses far outweigh the gains. The confusing thing about this announcement is - why? What’s the point? I’ve already got a version of Minecraft that will run just fine on Windows 10 and it’s called Minecraft. Win 10 Minecraft will be in beta for an unspecified period of time, and part of the plan is to work around those limitations, but it seems a long way to go when the current version of the game will work perfectly fine on Windows 10 already.

Back when it was rumor rather than a confirmed event I speculated that, merchandising and non-game franchise rights aside, Minecraft 2 seemed the logical next step, but instead we’re getting the same game trimmed down with no mod support and an eight-person limit on multiplayer. It was a weird announcement, although seeing as Microsoft bought Mojang last fall it makes a certain kind of sense. Mojang announced a new version of Minecraft at Minecon this weekend, the Windows 10 edition.

Mods for minecraft windows 10 edition