Minecraft: Better Together update now launching this Winter on Nintendo Switch, more details

Yesterday, the long-awaited Better Together update for Minecraft was finally launched… but not on Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s not quite ready for Nintendo’s console, as explained by Mojang in the release announcement post:

We’re still working on getting this new version of Minecraft ready for players on Nintendo Switch. We want to make sure that everything is ready to bring this platform onboard, and there’s a lot of work to do to make that happen. After all, no one has ever done anything like this before in the history of gaming. We expect to be ready with the free Better Together Update on Switch this winter.

Unfortunately, it’s not clear what “Winter” means in that particular case: December, or Early 2018? By the looks of it, it seems the “issue” delaying the release on Nintendo Switch is cross-platform play:

A: We’re working really hard with our partners at Nintendo to accomplish cross-device connectivity that is yet unprecedented in the history of gaming. This is very exciting work, but introduces lots of complexities to the development process. So, we’re continuing development work to bring Minecraft to Nintendo Switch and will release it once it’s ready.

For more details about the Better Together update, you can check out the launch announcement post, as well as the updated FAQ! You can also read about the improvements made to the game thanks to the beta test on this page.

Here’s a trailer for the update:

Mojang also shared some details about a new feature called Realms invite links, that allow you to easily invite friend to your Realm. Those are basically custom URLs: when someone clicks on one, they’re prompted to sign in with their Xbox Live account, and after that, they’re added to the Realm’s whitelist. People on the whitelist are free to join at any time, even when you’re not online.

You can refresh the link from your Realms member settings, in order to cancel the old invite link: useful if you want to prevent more people from joining, as previously whitelisted players will still be able to join.

Finally, Aubrey Norris from Mojang announced earlier this week that, even though the platform exclusive Mash-Up packs (such as the Super Mario one) will remain exclusive to their respective platform, it’s not the case of the Halo pack and skins. In other words, you will be able to play Halo on your Nintendo Switch!… in Minecraft, that is.

Minecraft: Better Together Update will be released this Winter on Nintendo Switch. The Upcoming Games page has been updated!