Minecraft: Education Edition Will Launch This Summer

Well, I really wish I had access to something like Minecraft: Education Edition when I was in school, but I’m very glad to see that video games are actually making their way into the education system. MinecraftEdu was recently purchased by Microsoft, whose experts plan to expand it by implementing a fresh set of features aimed at helping teachers and students alike. Minecraft: Education Edition will launch officially this summer as part of a trial version, and while this is definitely good news, there is a slight catch related to the service’s pricing. You see, the original MinecraftEdu platform retailed at $41 for the server software and $18 per licence or $14 per licence if more than 25 were purchased. Considering the fact that each student needed his own licence and the teacher was required to have one as well, the total cost added up to $391 for a classroom of 25 students.

After Microsoft’s acquisition, Minecraft: Education Edition costs $5 per licence, per year for each student, which amounts to $130 per year for a classroom of 25 students and a teacher. It doesn’t take much to realize that educators are required to pay more in the long run, but we’ll just have to wait and see if the new pricing is actually justified. Just in case you want to learn more about this special Minecraft version, a new FAQ clarifies a few things about the Education Edition and its ties to MinecraftEdu.

“MinecraftEdu is a modified version of Minecraft developed for schools and sold by a company called TeacherGaming. Minecraft: Education Edition builds on the early learnings from MinecraftEdu, while growing and expanding its feature set. Working with the MinecraftEdu creators Joel Levin and Santeri Koivisto, we started with all the learnings from the EDU edition, and built its key features into the Minecraft: Education Edition. We also added new features including login and personalization, the student portfolio feature, a second screen experience for teachers, and the ability to save student progress.”