Minecraft may hit PS4 and PS Vita Q2/Q3 this year

Mojang aims to launch Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition and Minecraft: PS Vita Edition in either Q2 or Q3 of this year, Mojang's Owen Hill told Polygon.

"Yes — we are planning to release on PS4 and Vita at around Q2-Q3 this year," Hill wrote. "We're not able to share more specific dates yet though, sorry. We'd rather be vague than disappoint people! They probably won't be released simultaneously. We're going to release on each format as soon as it's ready."

Mojang is still working out the details of cross-buy/upgrade options for the PlayStation editions, Hill added, mentioning that more news about it is forthcoming. Hill wrote in the comments section of the European PlayStation blog that it may be possible for owners of the digital version to receive a discount for the Vita release.

He did confirm that users will be able to transfer data from the PS3 to PS4 but the development team is "still working out how it'll work" with the handheld version. "We're still testing PS3-Vita save compatibility, along with a lot of other things," Hill told Polygon. "It's too early to confirm what will or won't make it in."

Sony Computer Entertainment initially announced at Gamescom last year that Minecraft will come to PS4 as a launch title. Last December, the world-building game's release on the console was pushed back to 2014. The PlayStation ports are being developed by 4J Studios, the studio responsible for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, which launched last May and recently surpassed 10 million copies sold.

Minecraft: PS3 Edition will be available on disc at retail May 16 in North America and May 14 in Europe, while the digital version launched Dec. 17 on PlayStation Network. The PS4 and PS3 versions include all content featured in the Xbox 360 Edition.

Update: This article has been updated with Mojang's responses.