MINECRAFT ON XBOX ONE GETS A RELEASE DATE

It’s official: Minecraft on Xbox One has a release date. Minecraft: Xbox One Edition will launch on Friday, September 5th and will cost $19.99.

Better yet, if you already own Minecraft on Xbox 360, you'll get a significant discount. The game will only cost $4.99 for those who already purchased it on Microsoft's last-gen console. (According to Microsoft, "To qualify for the $4.99 USD upgrade offer, players must own the retail disc or digital version of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition and connect to Xbox Live with their account.")
Minecraft on Xbox One allows for worlds to be created that are up to 36 times bigger than the worlds possible on Xbox 360. The game will support four player split-screen for local play, and can accommodate up to eight players at a time via Xbox Live.

Xbox One's iteration of Minecraft was originally announced at E3 in 2013, and it seems that Microsoft expected it would be done a lot sooner than it was; Microsoft's Phil Spencer told IGN that it would be ready "really soon" way back in late March. However, it appears that porting studio 4J Studios may have had some issues getting the game finished and ready for certification. Indeed, they were fairly public about the game failing certification on PlayStation 4.
Minecraft has been a smash-hit for its developer Mojang, and has experienced commercial, mainstream success the likes of which few studios could imagine. As of late June, the game had sold over 54 million copies, a majority of them on console, an interesting statistic considering Minecraft's heritage on PC, where it's managed to sell 16 million copies as of July.
As for Minecraft on PlayStation 4 (as well as PlayStation Vita)? We continue to wait, though there are signs that the launch is close. Indeed, it may launch as soon as tomorrow (Wednesday, September 3rd), at least in Europe.
For more on Minecraft, watch our video review for the Xbox 360 iteration, embedded above, and read our reviews for the PC version, Xbox 360 version, and PlayStation 3 version.