Nintendo Switch to get Xbox Live achievements with Minecraft update

By Matt Brown
published

Minecraft looks to be receiving Xbox Live achievements on Nintendo Switch via an impending update.

Minecraft Nintendo Switch
Minecraft Nintendo Switch (Image credit: Windows Central)

Minecraft continues to expand across a variety of gaming platforms, bound together with cross-platform features, multiplayer and purchases. Following the Better Together update, Xbox One, Windows 10, mobile and VR users were unified, standardizing the experience under the game's "Bedrock" versions. While Nintendo Switch was announced among the platforms receiving the update too, the merge is yet to be seen six months later.

It now appears that Xbox Live achievements are on their way to the Nintendo Switch, as a part of an upcoming update for Minecraft. Listings for 79 achievements have surfaced on Xbox Live servers (via TrueAchievements), totaling 1,750 Gamerscore for those on the system. Although these achievements are yet to be reflected on the current Nintendo Switch version, this likely signals an impending update.

Minecraft 'Super Duper Graphics Pack'

Minecraft 'Super Duper Graphics Pack' (Image credit: Mojang Studios)

The upcoming arrival of achievements is especially notable, marking the first time Xbox Live achievements will be available on a rival console platform. Although Nintendo maintains its own online gaming network for Switch owners, the company appears to be willing to allow Xbox Live achievement integration on its platform.

Despite Microsoft and Nintendo fostering a strong relationship between multiple cross-platform titles, Sony continues to remain averse to cross-console engagement. Although far from the norm, more games than ever are now offering multiplayer between systems. Seeing the early stages of cross-platform networks is a promising development, further blurring the lines between systems as we know them today.

What are your thoughts on Xbox Live achievements for Nintendo Switch? Drop into the comments below and let us know.

How to use Xbox One and Nintendo Switch cross-play

Matt Brown
Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.

29 Comments
  • Very interesting. Not surprising given you can earn achievements on the mobile version. But still interesting. Makes me wonder if Microsoft and Nintendo have some back room agreement. It would make sense given Microsoft is far more experienced at online gaming than Nintendo and due to the form factor of the Switch, you could argue they don't technically compete against each other.
  • The xbox one x SOC out classes the Tegra SOC in the switch. So really there isn't much of a competition in that regard. However when it comes to social gaming with friends and family, Nintendo owns that market hands down. Albeit they are heavily lacking when it comes to online gaming. Personally I'd rather see them continue focusing on fun, social experiences as online gaming is a rather siloed experience as there is little emphasis in team work. Sea of Thieves is not the norm for the current gen, I hope it's not the last. Never the less, Zelda - Breath of the wild has proven that Nintendo is still a master in story telling. It's own amazing game and it's huge. Then again the Zelda series have always been amazing games to play and with a really good story lines.
  • Although I'm interested in Mario and Zelda, I haven't bought my Switch.
    And I have XPA for out-door gaming. Switch has many flaws imo.
    e.g. charging port's at the bottom of the console and strap might stuck (same as Samsung's Galaxy Pen incident), but there's this one missing feature that I cannot live without, is the lack of cloud sync. I'm not investing my time on something I can lose forever.
    Big-N used to be the caring one but Switch feels like it's designed by amateurs. Despite that, I tried Zelda. And as a lead programmer (who likes experimenting new tech, new programming concepts in his free time)... I think the design of the animation controller is quite primitive, I had hard time... Anyway, no cloud sync or any viable backup methods, no Switch games for me. * If you wanna know if I'm qualified to say those things...
    I'm a lead programmer working in a major dev / publisher. I walked in this industry with no resume and interview. I've obtained my Japanese in a year, now working in Japan.
    C++ is my root, Havok & Dx took me a month to understand (cause I was a student and I had 0 3d programming knowledge, then I build my demo with active ragdoll and dynamic keyframe animation system) and I can start playing JAVA, JS, HTML5, Python, PHP, SQL, C#, Unity, Unreal, you name it, day 1, without books or someone's teaching.
    I've build a game engine using WebGL once for another company. Recently I helped building the framework and all projects in-house from now on will be using it.
    Unity users have been requesting "Nested Prefab" for years but it's not out yet. I designed mine in 2 days and it's in the framework.
    A new Unity project wants to use some "interesting" animation technique, I'm goona work with some lead designers to build the system, and management is asking my team lead if he can release me (cause I'm the lead programmer. I build the infrastructure). Right now I'm designing my own GameObject, Transform & Component (exchangeable with Unity's version).
  • @Hirox K. First of all you don't have to qualify your opinion, it's an open forum albeit comments and posts have to be within context and within the blog/forum community guidelines. Secondly, I do agree about the lack of cloud sync. Also a online messaging system, however apparently that was being misused for cyber bullying. So Nintendo simply opted to remove it and change it so you can message directly to a person within the same room apparently. That's what I heard but I don't have a second switch or access to one to verify it. However going back to your point, yes cloud sync is a massive issue. I did say Nintendo are heavily lacking when it comes to online gaming. This is one aspect of online gaming, which most people don't really think about. Cloud saving can get cost prohibitive if you don't have access to a data centre or a way to offset cost. Which is why cloud saving is a PS Plus feature, Sony unlike Microsoft don't have data centres all over the world. Nor are they able to offset losses through many divisions/departments. Cutting costs with the PS Pro is a primary example. I doubt they wanted to be the under dog when it came to the PS Pro but with no bottom line, the company will fall out. Hence they have to save money and can't continue making losses per console. Fortunately for gamers and developers we finally have someone in the SLT now who has completely focused xbox on gaming as result revitalised that department, after the xbox one launch fiasco. The xbox one when launched was a true multimedia console but only the TV features were highlighted. It wasn't gamer focused, if it was and the TV features were just additional features then it would have been better. In addition the issue about the always on connectivity, combined with paranoia about the kinect and the messaging afterwards created a fiasco. But thats neither here nor there as it's old news. What matters is where Xbox currently stands and the xbox one x is leaps and bounds better than anything in the current gen. Combined with true backwards compatibility and the amazing 4K remasters people are getting for free / very good prices i.e. Red Dead Redemption. In terms of animation in Zelda, I would say it's an evolved take on the cell shaded animation of Wind Walker on Gamecube. But it doesn't detract from the story line imo.
  • Since MS has exited the consumer space, and since Nintendo's online capabilities are terrible, I sense a marriage in the future. N makes the hardware and the games, and MS provides the back-end. /wishful thinking
  • Exited the consumer space since when? They own retail stores and have a senior exec in charge of gaming! How exactly does that mean leaving consumer space?
  • How do you continue GamePass business on Nintendo's consoles? How about open game API to mixer? Or BC, FC, UWP, Play Anywhere, cross-platform-cloud-sync with Switch or any future Nintendo consoles? But I guess... now that Win10 PC and IOT are also available on ARM... might as well suggest Nintendo to build a Win10 device.
    After all... most arcade games in the valley today, the new-gen-vending-machines in Japan, traffic light / water meter in some country, run Windows anyway. ps: We use MS's tech and tool to build Switch games too.
  • C'mon Microsoft!! Just buy them or their IP already. My X1X NEEDS Mario Kart in 4K at 60 frames!
  • Errr No. Neither Microsoft or Sony have ever gotten the magic of multiplayer amongst the family right, whereas Nintendo has been able to do so. The Mario franchise best stay at Nintendo, I don't mind seeing Mario or Link in other cross platform games. However the franchises stay at Nintendo. Perfect dark for instance was a dire experience and I don't want that happening to other franchises.
  • Fusion frenzy comes to mind in regards to fun family games on xbox
  • +1 for fusion frenzy! I installed it on my Xbox one x 😁
  • The only multiplayer game I recall playing alot of on the OG xbox was halo. Since Xbox was not the staple household console franchise unlike Nintendo. Although they were the only ones to outlast the competition such as Sega, Atari just to name two goaliths. It's a pity, that future generations won't remember their consoles unless I suppose there is a push for retro gaming to come back to the fore. I certainly hope there is as the games these day don't pose much of a challenge unlike the games of old.
  • Nope, I don't want to see MS buy Nintendo at all. Nintendo, despite everything, has done well in the mobile gaming business. Given MS's mindset on consumer market at this point, they would only make decisions that would ultimately kill the Switch. Now, I wouldn't mind MS working with Nintendo to port some older original Xbox or 360 games over, if that we possible. At least, a small library of them. That might help revive some older and forgotten about franchises.
  • You do know that Satya gave Phil a seat on the senior exec team right? Gaming last time I looked was a consumer market.
  • True point. However, I just see the ball being dropped once again, if something like that occurred. The Xbox makes money, which is why they focus on it. Moot point, I know. That's what any business would do, I get. Nintendo is doing what they do and they have survived doing so. If MS could buy them, i don't see it being a good thing. Their history with letting great ideas die off is long. Then mobile gaming would suffer and ultimately the consumer. So, my point stands.
  • Eww!! For me that would be horrible. That would be killing competition. Plus we all know what happened to Ensemble studio, Lionheart, Rare, Twisted Pixel...
  • Nintendo is worth around the same amount as Sony (the two fluctuate) so, while Microsoft's value is obviously a lot higher than both, any chance of them selling is ludicrous, it's simply not going to happen.
  • But still I can't unlock archievements playing an Xbox play anywhere game on my Windows 10 pc? lol
  • How about a merger Microsoft and Nintendo
  • Wonder if Xbox Live Achievements will come to the PS version too?
  • Unfortunately with Sony's aversion to cross-play that leaves them out. The PS4 edition (or Xbox edition) is no longer under development. They have all been merged into the Bedrock version known as just Minecraft. https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Bedrock_Edition
  • The PS4 Edition is still being updated, along with the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U Editions. The Xbox One Edition and Switch Editions were supposed to have stopped receiving updates, but actually they still are, despite Bedrock launching on Xbox One last year, and coming soon to Switch.
  • But ofc. The way I see it, MS's priority when it comes to gaming is boosting the XBL monthly active user. That's what they show investors. Even if it's switch players playing a switch game it doesn't really matter. It still adds up in the MAU.
  • and at the end of the day, the more people that utilize your platform the better.
  • hmm but aren't they misleading investors? People on switch aren't paying MS anything. So are MAU really that important for investors? Isn't actual sales numbers and profit more important for investors?
  • An article a week or two ago asked about MS making an Xbox portable. I commented that part of the cloud first, mobile first strategy probably looked closer to this than to dedicated hardware. Really cool to see it actually happening.
  • Maybe we'll see Banjo in super smash! Haha
  • This is for the Bedrock-based version (the one named just Minecraft) rather than an update for Nintendo Switch Edition :)
  • Maybe Metroid Prime 4 will be released on xb1x in 4k hdr.