Years after acquiring the bit-based phenomenon, Microsoft is finally shoring up Mojang and its title Minecraft by making Microsoft accounts mandatory to play.

Announced in a blog post on the official Minecraft site, the switch to Microsoft accounts is akin to "moving house" for developer Mojang. "When you outgrow one place, you move on to the next," reads the post.

So what benefits will players actually get from playing their games with Microsoft accounts attached? There are actually a few decent ones. Enhanced security for accounts that comes with two-factor authentication is at the top of that list. Players will also have all their PC Minecraft titles tied to the same account. So far, that's just regular ol' Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons, although the developer coyly adds "who knows what we'll do next?" The last two new features are also the most innocuous: improved parental controls and chat and invitation blocking, which are more of a standard requirement for games with massive online potential like Minecraft.

The shift to a Microsoft account is mandatory for all Mojang games, and if you don't like it and decide not to migrate your account, you could lose access to your games. "If you don't make the move, in several months you won't be able to log in anymore - which means you won't be able to play either" reads the blog post. While moving to a Microsoft account isn't mandatory yet, it will be be sometime early into 2021.

This change also only applies to players of Minecraft Java edition, not its cross-platform focused Bedrock edition. If you need an extra bit of encouragement to switch your account over sooner rather than later, players that get the change done and log in with their Microsoft account will get access to a special cape, a little bit of fashion to go with all the extra functionality.