Inter-console networks created in Minecraft
Link: https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/all-news-e3
This article announced the release of Minecraft’s “Better Together Update” which will enable cross platform gameplay across mobile, PC, Nintendo, Xbox, and Virtual Reality devices. It was an old article first announce publicly during the 2017 E3 conference. Although it was intended to be released during the summer of 2017, there has been some delay for the release of this update since the mobile version seems not to be connected yet (at least not mine). Mojang and Microsoft have negotiated successfully with Nintendo and Steam to make this update available on these platforms. However, Sony has been more resistant, meaning that Minecraft on Playstation platforms will not be connected. This pertains to ECON 2040 since there is the explicit creation of networks between components in order to increase social interaction.
Figure 1 shows the networks of Minecraft users before the update. There are six distinct components, each consisting of the set of players of each platform. These are closed sets, where each element can be connected to another in the same set but not to the element of a different set. No local bridges exist since the platforms are incompatible with each other.
Figure 2 shows the would be networks of Minecraft users after the update. This then creates two giant components, one of which consists of 5 out of 6 of all platforms. The cross platform compatibility makes players in the giant component more social since they could and would make new connections to other platform sets within the giant component. However, this would create an isolating effect on the Sony enthusiasts since they are excluded from the giant component and continue to not share any connections outside itself.
I believe that Sony could potentially benefit from this networking since Minecraft is among one of the most popular games in the world. However, seeing the situation realistically, most of Minecraft gaming is done on mobile and PC versions of the game (https://www.statista.com/statistics/556664/share-minecraft-sales-region-platform/), therefore the effects on the specific console are less significant.