Can I play Minecraft on Windows 8?

There are a lot of rumors floating around that Minecraft doesn't work on Windows 8 and you should wait at least a year before using the new OS. All of these theories are complete lies, written by people who don't even own Windows 8. We're going to tell you some of the truths instead.

There is no Minecraft app for Windows 8, but that doesn't matter

Windows 8 is the first OS from Microsoft to work seamlessly with apps and it tries very hard to push you towards it's new app store. Minecraft doesn't come as a downloadable app for Windows yet and Notch has protested at the idea of having Microsoft control games via it's store. Even though he loves the xbox and so this makes no sense.

Here's the main point though - even though Minecraft isn't in the Microsoft app store there's still an exe and there's nothing stopping you running any exe you want on Windows 8.

Windows 8 has a desktop mode

Even though Windows 8 promotes the new Metro mode (whoops! I mean modern UI, sorry Bill), it still comes with a desktop mode included. It's easy to switch to desktop mode any time you want and then Windows 8 looks very similar to Windows 7. Ok so there's no start button or programs list but it's all there, it's just harder to find.

Since we've got a desktop, we've got folders, files and shortcuts. The app data folder is still there and so are your program files. Minecraft is still going to use the .minecraft folder and behave in the same way.

Windows 8 loves 64 bit but so does Java

Many people believe that 64 bit Windows is going to stop them playing Minecraft because Java doesn't support it. Wrong! Java comes in 32 or 64 bit versions and since we don't care about playing Minecraft through our browser (Firefox, Chrome or IE), we can choose the 64 bit version of Java and enjoy some extra memory limits while we play the Minecraft client.

64 bit is the future and you'd be a fool not to use it.

Graphics drivers are not stable

Again, it's a common misconception that Windows 8 has bad video card drivers. All the major players (NVidia, Radeon, Sapphire) have stable drivers for Windows 8. It's easy to download the latest updates and switch from the Windows versions of your graphics drivers.

Minecraft is very fussy when it comes to graphics drivers but that's the case on any version of Windows not just Windows 8.

Windows 8 isn't that bad..

Hopefully that gives you some idea about Windows 8 and why it's not as bad as some people would have you believe. If you're a PC gamer then you've got nothing to fear by upgrading to Windows 8.