Mojang Studios has rolled out a new native Minecraft preview build for the PlayStation 5 to take advantage of its hardware better. Fans of the 15-year-old game have been asking for a native version for Sony’s ninth-generation console for some years now and it looks like the wait might be ending. PlayStation 5 owners have been able to play the PS4 version of the game but its developers are now working to optimize it for the more powerful hardware of the PS5. Better late than never, eh? It’s already been reported that some sought-out features are absent in the preview build but hopefully, they’ll get added soon.
Per KitGuru:
“The long-teased super duper graphics pack is nowhere to be found, nor are there any ray-tracing features. That said, the PS5 version of the game does come in at a smaller file size compared to the PS4 version and also increased the overall render distance from 28 to 36 chunks.”
Mojang Studios has made it very clear that the Minecraft preview build is an early version intended for testing and is asking for the community to report bugs and feedback. Players must own the PS4 version on the PS5 to access it and it is not available separately through the Minecraft store. Multiplayer functionality is presently limited to PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles except for those playing on Realms which supports crossplay among other devices.
Per the Official Announcement Page:
“We believe that Minecraft is better when more friends can play together, however they want, on whichever device they like. We even welcome players who like to dig straight down into the nearest lava block!”
“Currently, however, the only way to play Minecraft on a PlayStation®5 is by purchasing the PlayStation®4 version of the game. By developing a native version of Minecraft for PS5® we’ll be able to make the game run more effectively on the PS5®’s hardware. So you can lose your inventory in lava in the smoothest possible way!”