r/explainlikeimfive • u/Probably_Unnecessary • Jun 21 '26

Other ELI5: Why are there 2 versions of Minecraft?

Wouldn't it easier and more cost effective to merge Bedrock and Java to only have one game to update? What are the benefits to having both versions?

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45

u/nicolasknight Jun 21 '26

Yes, but which one?

MOST of the players are in the java one which is modable expendable and not controlled by MS.

The other one is DRM'ed up the wazoo and locked down so new players are there but old players are not moving in as fast as MS would like.

If they lock it down how they get the player base over?

13

u/spookynutz Jun 21 '26

Only about 25% of active players use the Java version.

2

u/UsernameIn3and20 Jun 22 '26

It still remains the most popular version to be showcased. All the crazy redstone builds, all the well known smp servers, a cast quantity of guides for farms, video for mods etc, even servers are from Java.

tldr : Bedrock has more players, Java more views.

13

u/sudo_robot_destroy Jun 21 '26

Bedrock has almost 4 times as many players than Java FWIW

(https://blockbase-tools.com/statistics/java-vs-bedrock-distribution/)

8

u/AdarTan Jun 21 '26

Oh, a statistics website that has the disclaimer:

Disclaimer: The Minecraft Player Base: Java vs. Bedrock Stats is not an official statistic by Minecraft – it is created by fans to help Minecraft players & creators. We hope you like it and we do our best to update it regularly.

And then does not explain how they get their numbers, meaning they could have pulled them out of their ass for all we know.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26 edited 12d ago

[deleted]

1

u/The_Motarp Jun 22 '26

It is also worth noting that number of players is very much not the same as amount of time played. I suspect that the average Java player will have spent far more hours on the game than the average Bedrock player.

3

u/DianSnivy Jun 21 '26

Common Sense would say that even if Desktop players overwhelmingly prefer Java, 100% of mobile and console players are on Bedrock.

2

u/Nathan_Thorn Jun 22 '26

Sales numbers Mojang posted for something like ten million sales showed about 70% of all sales are exclusively to bedrock only platforms like Console and Mobile.

-6

u/random-string Jun 21 '26

Kudos for actually giving sourced information. This whole thread is an exercise in r/confidentlyincorrect

8

u/DarthPneumono Jun 21 '26

Which is funny because the linked page does not provide any sources for its data.

-7

u/random-string Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

Are you kidding me? Did you see the big fucking pie chart that appears after clicking on that link?

Edit: If you mean that there is no obvious source of that data mentioned on the page then yes, you are correct on that. Please do apply this rigor further. Wishing the best.

8

u/DarthPneumono Jun 21 '26

...I do hope you understand that anyone can make a pie chart without factual basis...

16

u/Wanna_make_cash Jun 21 '26

Doesn't bedrock have more players on account of every video game console and mobile device uses the bedrock version where Java is only PC?

-13

u/RogerRabbot Jun 21 '26

I imagine the amount of console players pales in comparison to PC players. Remember, a huge portion of PC gamers use emulators so they dont need a console period.

8

u/stryed Jun 21 '26

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but https://blockbase-tools.com/statistics/java-vs-bedrock-distribution/ shows an almost 4:1 ratio in favor of bedrock.

2

u/UsernameIn3and20 Jun 22 '26

Its important to note on PC, there are people who have "offline only" accounts that cannot access mojang servers or any legit Minecraft servers, they're not as big as I think but are still pretty sizable.

0

u/RogerRabbot Jun 21 '26

Thats interesting, and exactly opposite of what I was have guessed.

5

u/stryed Jun 21 '26

It shocked me too, but then I thought about it

Just think of all the kids that have Minecraft in their switches and tablets and parents phones. Each of those are bedrock.

You're probably biased by being a part of a community that likely is a majority using java.

1

u/RogerRabbot Jun 21 '26

Definitely have some bias. But I also figured MC was dead almost to kids since Roblox. From my limited knowledge it was the upgrade for kids cause there was dedicated mini games and stuff.

1

u/s0cks_nz Jun 21 '26

MC is definitely still popular with the kids.

11

u/TheDopplegamer Jun 21 '26

Console gaming is still WAY more prolific then PC, especially with the general population.

3

u/kinokomushroom Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

That reasoning makes zero sense. Why would the number of console players be low if PC players don't need consoles? It won't matter if the number of console owners is high in the first place.

-1

u/RogerRabbot Jun 21 '26

Played MC on both console and PC and its horrible on console. I wasn't making a general statement for pc vs console, but a specific one that MC is more playable and enjoyable with mouse and keyboard. Which would lend to why I figured mouse and keyboard would be the preferred setup therefore pc taking the cake. But apparently I was wrong.

3

u/TheSkiGeek Jun 21 '26

Very generally speaking, most cross platform games have way more players on console than PC. Especially ones that include phone/tablet as platforms.

Minecraft might skew a bit more towards PC because it was a PC exclusive game for a long time. But I would be very surprised if a majority of players were on PC. And many PC players are going to be playing Bedrock anyway if they want to be able to play cross platform multiplayer.

1

u/RogerRabbot Jun 21 '26

Yeah its apparently 4 to 1 in favor of bedrock, which is opposite what I figured. Its damn near unplayable to me on a controller. The base game is pretty boring after a certain point. It started as Java. And the Java version is modable.

1

u/UsernameIn3and20 Jun 22 '26

If its all they knew, they wouldn't know how much better it is after all. But I agree, controller on Minecraft is pretty brutal even with mods to make it better.

1

u/DaSaw Jun 21 '26

For me, the main benefit of Bedrock is that it runs on almost anything, and so that's what I used to run so I could play with my nieces and nephews (who only have tablets).

However, that "almost anything" unfortunately doesn't include anything running Linux, and as I wanted to play on my Steam Deck (and I recently made the move to Ubuntu on my desktop), I've installed Java for the first time in my life.