Although Minecraft fans have various means to play Java Edition for free, including the game's demo as well as Minecraft Classic, these options are limited.

You'll need a Microsoft account to download Minecraft but that's no sweat to do. Choosing between the two versions, Java and ...

Players who have not played Minecraft for a while, but have the game downloaded, can simply update the game to get the latest version (1.16) through the Minecraft Java Edition Launcher.

To be more specific, the two versions are Java Edition and Bedrock Edition, and they'll both be available via Xbox's Game Pass for PC service from November 2, 2021.

It offers paid skins, worlds, and even ray-tracing – you can get similar content in Minecraft's Java edition, but it usually requires some extra effort from the user.

With Windows 10 launching today, Mojang has detailed how existing Minecraft players can get the Windows 10 Edition beta for free.

Minecraft Java Edition players can only cross-play with people on the same version, which is relegated to PC, Mac, and Linux.

A new Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot is here, which makes a ton of changes to recently added features from other snapshots, like to ore textures, names, and how ores generate in the world.

The new cave generation coming with the upcoming 'Caves and Cliffs Update' is finally here in the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot.