Minecraft on consoles is incredibly successful and popular, but it’s also a bit of a backwater. The various Console Editions of Minecraft are always a few updates behind the PC version of the game, which remains the flagship. The PC version has extra features, mods and lots of other bells and whistles. One really stands out: Minecraft Realms, the game’s service that supports dedicated servers. Despite long demand, persistent server support has yet to come to consoles. Is it ever possible?

Will Console Edition Ever Get Dedicated Servers Like Minecraft Realms?

Console Minecraft supports both local and online multiplayer, but the latter has an issue: You can only play on a friend’s Minecraft world while your friend is actually playing. It is still very much the host’s world. On PC Minecraft, Mojang offers the Minecraft Realms service for a monthly fee, which lets players host their worlds serverside, so that anyone on their whitelist can join the world at any time… even when the host isn’t playing. It’s a total paradigm shift. On the PC version, a world can be truly shared. On consoles, you can only play according to your host’s schedule.

The great masses of the people have been clamoring for a service like Minecraft Realms on the consoles for years… and, shockingly, console version developer 4J Studios actually commented on it, way back in 2014. Their response: They were looking into it. Well, it’s not a no. Bear in mind that was before the PS4 and Xbox One versions even released, and those are the versions with the most potential for a persistent online component.

4J Studios has, as far as we can tell, largely been focusing on bringing Minecraft on consoles closer to parity with the PC edition. This has succeeded. But we have no way of knowing what else the company’s Minecraft team has been working on. Persistent servers clearly aren’t an insurmountable technical challenge, or even a particularly difficult one—lots of other games have them. It’s just a matter of resources and logistics.

It’s telling that Mojang, 4J Studios and Microsoft have never ruled out bringing Minecraft Realms to the consoles. That alone keeps hope alive. And, with Minecraft still selling a hearty 10,000 copies a day, further support for the Console Edition makes good business sense. Don’t be surprised if we see persistent server support eventually. And that’s great news. Although enterprising superfans have created lots of servers that are on loosely 24/7 already, it’s just not the same as just being able to pop on and play with your friends in a single world you all share.