Nintendo and Microsoft Team Up in Cross-Play 'Minecraft' Ad; Where's Sony?

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Friday, June 22, 2018

Red and green have come together as Nintendo and Microsoft came up with one of the more unexpected ad campaigns for "Minecraft." The sandbox game is now available on the Nintendo Switch, and players can link up seamlessly with others on their Xbox consoles or Windows PCs.

This is one case where Sony's insistence on staying away from cross-play features are now making "Minecraft" players on the PlayStation 4 feeling a bit left out.

Players are still waiting for team blue to finally join the "Better Together" initiative started by Microsoft for "Minecraft," and more cross-play between competing platforms could only be a good thing for gamers from all sides, as Comic Book pointed out.

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A new "Minecraft" Cross-Play trailer, which also pulls double duty as a promo ad for the new version of the block-based game on the Nintendo Switch, shows an unlikely picture of Nintendo products being showcased alongside Microsoft's brand.

Throughout the video, which also showed the long-awaited Aquatic Pack for the game, the two players seamlessly work together to explore the blocky and perilous world of "Minecraft" despite using two very different systems.

It's an ad that finally shows in convincing detail that cross-play — and cross-promotion for multiple platforms — is one of the new directions the gaming industry is heading to. It's also a good indication that outside of Sony, console gaming industry players are pretty much willing to work together, as Polygon noted in its report.

At the end of the trailer, the two erstwhile competitors further built on an image of working together with a message that, in the end, calls for all "Minecraft" fans on both Nintendo and Microsoft platforms to "SURVIVE TOGETHER."

The new version of "Minecraft" is out on Nintendo Switch starting Thursday, June 21, and is cross-play compatible with "Minecraft" on the Xbox One, Windows 10 or Windows Mobile. The Switch version includes the "Super Mario Mash-Up" bonus pack as well.