The next big Minecraft update will bring Add-Ons to Windows 10 and Pocket Edition

By Jez Corden
last updated

Minecon is currently taking place in California, and as usual, the team at Mojang have big updates to share.

As announced at E3 2016, Minecraft will expose its code using text files for players to access, edit and customize their Minecraft experience. The first iteration of Minecraft's Add-Ons feature will arrive on October 18th for the Windows 10 Beta and Pocket Editions of the game across Windows Phone, Android and iOS.

Minecraft Aliens!

As part of the Boss Update, the first version of Add-Ons will allow players to download examples from Minecraft.net, including the previously teased UFO Invasion feature and all-new Castle Siege gameplay, created by members of Minecraft's community.

As we detailed back in June, players will be able to use tools as simple as Notepad and MS Paint to customize Minecraft's mobs, and even create completely new ones. One of the demonstrations we saw behind closed doors at E3 was a super exploding cow, that caused gigantic 50-block radius bovine nuclear blasts. That would've helped us on the Minecraft stream this past Friday...

This weeks highlight from last nights stream is... well. pic.twitter.com/qWuXVfTP2c— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) 24 September 2016

The Boss Update will also add the Wither Boss battle, Guardians and Ocean Monuments, and console slash commands from the PC version of the game. Additionally, Minecraft for Windows 10 and Gear VR will bring updates for the latest Xbox One controller's Bluetooth stack, which eliminates the need for USB cables or USB wireless adapters when playing on your shiny Surface.

Minecraft continues to be a force to be reckoned with, and as Microsoft moves to converge each version across Xbox One, Windows 10 and beyond, it opens up a huge subscription opportunity for the company, thanks to the dedicated servers of Minecraft Realms.

Join us every Friday on Beam where Daniel Rubino, Zac Bowden and myself host a live podcast during epic Minecraft sessions!

Stay tuned to Windows Central for further Minecon announcements.

See Minecraft on the Windows Store (opens in new tab)

Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

22 Comments
  • I was about to bring in the biggest firestorm of down votes there probably ever was on this site by asking something to the effect of, "More of this crap? When in the hell will this obsession ever end? What is the point of this anyway?" Or one of the many comments I always think. Then I realized, I just spent 3 hours this morning walking in circles in Fallout 4 collecting what the game actually refers to as 'junk' for no reason and not actually progressing the game forward. So I really have no room to talk. =P
  • The beauty of gaming... There's one for everyone. :) Edit:
    My girlfriend would never play a game in her life she said... That changed after Sherlock Holmes entered her life on the XO. ;)
  • Big update to the game is pretty nice news yo. Also includes the WINDOWS PHONE version ___
  • I hate the way I game. I'm such a completionist. On skyrim for pc even though I know they automatically generate random side quests so you can "never complete it", but I keep on trying to do the sidequests before going on to the main quest haha. I still haven't finished fall out 3, because I waited until the GOTY edition came out and I'm working on doing all the DLC content first then finishing the main quest... Haven't even gotten to fall out new vegas yet. I have such a huge back log of games and less and less time to dedicate time to games any more. So sad.
  • Well considering DLC should be an addition to a game, rather than part of the game (look at your completions on Trueachievements.com), you can feel free to 100% the main game and the complete the DLC. I can tell you as a FO fan 3 was good, but New Vegas was a much better game (despite the bugs) for a fan of the series. On top of that, you are missing 4! By the time that you put in your 1000 or so hours to catch up to 4 I will be playing 5. =P
  • You have a good point. Haha, I'm pretty sure they'll be on the 6th one by the time I catch up
  • Are add-on's essentially mods? Resource packs? Or something completely different?
  • Mods! You can edit mob behaviour, skins, all sorts.
  • Its interesting that they're also adding it to Mobile (the mods). Although as it uses paint/notepad etc to create the mods, I'd assume you still would need to use your computer to implement them onto your mobile client. Could be wrong though. Interesting though
  • You just stick them in a folder apparently, I'm not 100% sure how this is gonna work, but we'll soon find out and have guides up too.
  • Yeah. Or maybe put them on the phone in a location of your choosing, then just select them through MC. Who knows :P
  • You add them to a realms server, afaik you can't run them purely local ;)
  • Kind of in-between, based on the decription. Full mod support in the desktop Minecraft is done via Java, so I expect that full mods for pocket will happen via some new technology.
  • It's just .txt files in your file directory. :)
  • What I mean is that if they wanted full mod support (adding new types of mobs, radical changes to funamental rules of the game) it doesn't seem like it can be done via JSON files alone, and likely would involve actual code blocks, either pre-compiled and loaded as binaries, or compiled by the game itself. In any case, it's a "new" technology compared to what is in the game right now.
  • Check out our preview from E3. I saw a lot of the things you're describing achieved with JSON files edited in Notepad, and skins created in MS Paint. They created completely new mobs.
  •   The video only claims that you can "completely change mobs" not add new ones to the game, nor add completely new behavior types. For example, can you add a new biome, or change the world generation parameters to create an entirely new type of structure (say, and undergrown town in a cave)? I haven't seen anything that would encompass that type of mod, which is available in the Java version. Nor could you fundamentally change the game by, for example, adding seasons, by which the day/night cycle and temperature ranges fluctuate over time, affecting rates at which crops grow, and so on. A "full mod" architecture allows a mod to change almost anything about the game by replacing actual bits of code, not just tweaking a few parameters chosen by the devs. I say this as a game developer, so my definition of "full mod" may be different than a casual player.
  • That UFO invasion picture reminded me of Duke Nukem 3d...
  • Didn't play Minecraft FOR YEARS. I bought it when it was still on Alpha phase, and it's pretty interesting to see where I left the game (stopped playing) and where it got to now...
  • I want Tinkers and thermal expansion as well as iron chests on xone... They care only about mobile minecraft.
  • Second video is very funny
  • Considering the W10M version STILL lacks Realms and Xbox Achievements then I seriously doubt that we will get addons support at all!!!!