As iOS gamers we're not used to being jealous of owners of other platforms. We're used to having every gaming company in existence grovel for our attention and charge 99 cents for their million-dollar games. So when info leaks that the developer of the indie sensation Minecraft is developing a mobile version of the game we simply assumed it would be coming to iOS first. Well, we were wrong.
Minecraft -- Pocket Edition, as it's being formally called, will be an exclusive on Sony Ericcson's Xperia Play smartphone according to a report on Toucharcade.com. The news was confirmed in a brief email exchange with Minecraft developer Mojang. The news was also somewhat outed by Xperia Play press invites for E3 which included Minecraft art.
The Xperia Play will go on sale in the United States for $199 tomorrow with a new two year service agreement. The developer has said that the Minecraft team will be employing the same strategy on Xperia as they have on PC. This means an early release with a ton of big patches. Though we have to wonder how long Mojang will continue to update the game if sales continue to be sluggish on Xperia. The Xperia Play is already out in Canada, Spain, Ireland and the UK, but reports from earlier this month indicate slow game sales.
As of now there is no information on the details of Minecraft -- Pocket Edition's exclusivity, so we don't know when the version will come to iOS. However, back in February Minecraft was announced for iOS, so it's likely to be coming eventually.
