Minecraft enters beta, gets price hike, on December 20

Minecraft developer Marcus "Notch" Persson has confirmed that the open-ended indie smash will enter beta on December 20, meaning both a price rise and the addition of narrative elements.

The game is currently in alpha at a cost of €10. "When the game enters beta, the price will rise to €14.95," Notch said today.

And what does "beta" mean?

"With beta comes a larger focus on polish and content, and we’ll start early on with adding proper modding support with a stable API, and we’d love all input we can get on this from the modders out there," the developer added.

"We’ll also add some kind of non-intrusive narrative to the game to help drive the game experience early on, and to provide some kind of late game goal. There will be a bigger focus on testing and stability as well, with more time between updates."

Notch also said today that a promise that all future updates to the game will be free is to be removed when it enters beta. Only those that buy Minecraft before December 20 will be entitled to all upcoming content for nothing: "A promise is a promise," he said.

"Free updates"? Sort of

Gift codes are now available for the title, and will include the free updates associated with alpha account if bought before December 20.

The game's next update is coming next week.

Minecraft sees the player doing pretty much whatever they like in a rocky, grassy, snowy world. You can punch trees for sticks. More than 1 million people have paid to do so up to now.