Recess could soon become a lot kids’ second-favorite subject at school.
Developer Mojang announced that Minecraft: Education Edition hits November 1 for computers running Windows 10 or OS X El Capitan. Minecraft has sold over 106 million copies across all of its platforms, with many of its fans being children. This builder encourages creativity with its building and crafting mechanics in a virtual world that players can share with friends. This could help encourage kids to learn by using a game world they’re familiar with in the classroom.
The Education Edition has been available for free in an early access version, which will continue to be available until November 1. The full release will cost $5 per user, per year. That’s a low price per student, but it could add up for Mojang and its parent Microsoft if enough schools take part in the program.
“Over 35,000 students and educators have participated in this program and provided feedback to help us fine-tune the experience across a diverse set of learning environments, including a STEM summer camp program in New York City and classrooms around the world,” Mojang noted on Minecraft’s website.
The Education Edition also has a companion app that allows educators to manage settings in the game and communicate with students. It will also include all of the latest updates Mojang has released for the Windows 10 version of Minecraft.