Mojang launches Minecraft Realms subscription service

With a new subscription service for Mojang’s craft-em-up, Minecraft, it would seem the hit game’s popularity is far from stalling just yet. Minecraft Realms, a new subscription service for the game, aims to provide customers of the game with online play, but free from the tyranny and vulgarity of the anonymous internet.

For a monthly free, a Minecraft server can be leased that is tailored to the subscriber and free of random people making a mess of things. The initiative is more focused on providing parents with a worry-free PG experience than it is focused on preventing griefers from logging on and destroying intricate build projects. The subscriber will have complete control over who can access the world and friends list. Only one person will need to subscribe, and regular, non-subscription users will be able to log on so long as the owner of the server allows it.

Though Realms is intended to be self-contained, Mojang is open to the idea of allowing portals between different Minecraft worlds, so friends can play on each others’ servers.

Currently, Realms is in closed alpha, and Mojang plans to launch a beta in May. Mojang is also working on a version of Realms for the mobile Minecraft. At the moment, there isn’t a price set for the subscription, but Mojang feels it’ll fall somewhere around $10 to $15 per month. If Realms takes off, then it could be a new way to generate revenue for the game as it grows older and the hype eventually dissipates. As it stands, some of us have been playing the game for a few years, so interest is bound to die down at some point. If Mojang can use Realms to turn Minecraft into a pseudo-MMO, then that could heavily reinvigorate player activity. If player activity ever dwindles to dangerous levels, that is.