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The Java account migration[1][note 1] was the process of moving ownership of Java Edition from Mojang accounts, including legacy Minecraft accounts, to Microsoft accounts. It took place from June 2021 to September 19, 2023.
The Java account migration was announced on October 21, 2020 with a YouTube video, a Minecraft.net article, and an official FAQ.[1][2][3] The migration was described as a way to increase security through the addition of two-factor authentication, connect all Mojang games to the same account, improve parental controls, and add features such as chat and invitation blocking. It was stated to take place early 2021 and to be mandatory in order to continue being able to log in and play the game. Additionally, it was announced that players who completed the migration would receive a cape as a reward.
The official FAQ stated that the migration would roll out gradually, with each phase including only a limited number of eligible players that would be notified on their Minecraft.net profile pages as well as through the Minecraft Launcher.
On November 27, 2020, the launcher was updated to version 2.2.74, introducing support for Microsoft accounts.
On December 1, 2020, the creation of new Mojang accounts was discontinued, and all new copies of Java Edition from that date onward required a Microsoft account.[4]
On February 28, 2021, the FAQ was edited to confirm that third-party launchers can now support Microsoft accounts.[5]
On December 2020, the minecraft.net/mojang-account-move page and its redirect minecraft.net/move were created.[6]
On February 19, 2021, a new YouTube video promoting the migration process was released. The video was initially unlisted and only included on Minecraft.net.[7] The video was made public on November 24, 2021.[8]
Starting June 24, 2021, players were able to migrate. Players eligible for migration received a notification on the Minecraft Launcher leading to their Minecraft.net profile page. Once on their Minecraft.net profile page, players had to:
As initially announced, the migration was rolled out gradually, with each phase including only a limited number of eligible players. The following table lists all known phases.
| Date | Ref. | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mojang accounts (closed migration) | ||
| April 2021 | [9] | This phase was an internal test. |
| May 2021 | [10][11] | This phase was an early migration test. |
| Mojang accounts | ||
| June 24, 2021 | [12] | |
| June 29, 2021 | [13] | |
| August 3, 2021 | [14] | This phase included about half a million accounts. |
| August 10, 2021 | [15] | This phase allegedly included about a million accounts. |
| August 17, 2021 | [16] | |
| August 24, 2021 | [17] | This phase doubled the number of eligible accounts. |
| September 1, 2021 | [18] | |
| September 2, 2021 | [19] | |
| September 8, 2021 | [20] | |
| October 12, 2021 | [21] | |
| October 20, 2021 | [22] | This phase included all remaining Mojang accounts. |
| Legacy Minecraft accounts | ||
| November 23, 2021 | [23] | This phase only included "a small batch" of legacy Minecraft accounts. |
| November 24, 2021 | [24] | This phase included all remaining legacy Minecraft accounts. |
On February 4, 2022, it was announced that players who did not migrate would be unable to play Java Edition starting March 10, 2022.[25] Mojang accounts were blocked gradually, with only 1% of remaining Mojang accounts being restricted on March 10.[26]
On May 8, 2023, it was announced that the migration deadline would be September 19, 2023. After this date, unmigrated accounts would no longer be able to sign in to Minecraft.net or the Minecraft Launcher, therefore making migration impossible. Additionally, it was stated that beginning September 5, 2023, Mojang's support would no longer assist with migration-related issues.[27]
The migration period ended on September 19, 2023, as announced.
On September 19, 2023, a post-migration period was opened. This gave players who did not migrate one last chance to retain access to the game by going through a post-migration process. However, this process did not actually involve migrating accounts; instead, it simply granted players who had missed the deadline the chance to obtain an entirely new account free of charge. Apart from being free, these new accounts were identical to new ones purchased normally; they did not retain the Java profile name, capes, or server progress of the original accounts. In addition, as these accounts were never actually migrated, they were not eligible for the migrator cape.[28] The post-migration period ended on December 18, 2023, as announced.[29]
On March 10, 2024, Mojang deleted some unmigrated accounts.[30] Originally, the FAQ page mentioned that the usernames of deleted accounts would be released at some point.[31] However, this was later changed to say that such usernames "may or may not be available".[32] This remains on the current version of the page, leaving it unknown if any more usernames will be released.
On January 29, 2021, a file named accountMigration.json was discovered on Mojang's website. Its contents was speculated to be a detailed migration timeline:[33]
{"version":1,"data":{"migrationStarts":"2021-04-12T00:00:00.000Z","forcedMigrationStarts":"2022-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","forcedMigrationEnds":"2022-07-05T00:00:00.000Z","id":"lucwxMX4cMboBEK4MWu9S"}}
According to the file, migration would begin on April 12, 2021, become mandatory for playing Minecraft starting May 12, 2022, and conclude on July 5, 2022.
However, on February 1, 2021, the file was updated with placeholder dates:[34]
{"version":1,"data":{"migrationStarts":"2099-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","forcedMigrationStarts":"2099-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","forcedMigrationEnds":"2099-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","id":"lucwxMX4cMboBEK4MWu9S"}}
Mojang did not comment on the discovery until April 12, 2022 to confirm that the migration would not begin that day.[35] An internal migration however did happen on the week of April 12.[9]
Somewhere between April and May, the migrationStarts value was changed to May 23, 2021.[36] Then, somewhere between January and December, the forcedMigrationStarts value was changed to February 24, 2022.[37]
{"version":1,"data":{"migrationStarts":"2021-05-23T00:00:00.000Z","forcedMigrationStarts":"2022-02-24T00:00:00.000Z","forcedMigrationEnds":"2099-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","id":"lucwxMX4cMboBEK4MWu9S"}}
None of these timelines matched the one that actually happened.
On October 21, 2020, when the migration was first announced, the Minecraft.net article alluded to the possibility of multiple capes being given out:[2]
And who knows? You might even have more than one outfit to show off – but we’ll tell you more about that later down the road.
[...] you'll get an opportunity to participate and receive your cape! Or is that capes? Hmm.
On December 2, 2020,[38] after the launcher was updated to version 2.2.74, the following string was found in the API:[39]
And... a special Veteran cape for each year you’ve played Java Edition!
On June 9, 2021, this text appeared in a screenshot used in the "Migration Eligibility Email" help page.[40] The same text appeared on player's profile pages on Minecraft.net for a short time after being removed.[citation needed]
On September 2021, while streaming on Twitch, Dinnerbone was asked about veteran capes:[41][42]
"Are veteran capes real?" As far as I know yes, I've seen a few of them.
On February 25, 2022, Ined, a Mojang employee working on Mojang accounts and their migration, acknowledged the discovery while stating that veteran capes were "a lie":[43]
Fun fact Friday! The cake is a lie - so are veteran capes
On May 18, 2025, Marc Watson explained that veteran capes were scrapped due to Mojang being unable to make it "fair and accurate for every player across platforms".[44]
These tables show the different revisions of the official migration pages. Some revisions may be missing from these tables if they were not archived on the Wayback Machine.
| Archive date | Update date | Link | Difference with previous revision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-10-21 | 2020-10-21 20:07:44 UTC | Link | - |
| 2020-10-23 | 2020-10-23 06:37:22 UTC | Link | Various rewordings |
| 2020-10-31 | 2020-10-31 04:15:24 UTC | Link | Various rewordings Added a line about picking n Xbox gamertag Added a line about third party launchers |
| 2020-11-06 | 2020-11-06 18:06:37 UTC | Link | Various rewordings Added a warning stating migration had not begun Added a line about the migration being mandatory Added a line about Java Edition not being discontinued Added a line about migration not allowing Java and Bedrock players playing together Added a line about username, worlds, content, and capes being transferred Added a line about reports being "carefully reviewed and considered appropriately" by Mojang's team Added a line about players only playing single player or on a local network Added a line about data collected by Microsoft Added a line about transferring an account's ownership being prohibited by Mojang's Terms of Service |
| 2020-11-08 | 2020-11-08 00:01:37 UTC | Link | Fixing typos |
| 2020-11-17 | 2020-11-17 17:18:37 UTC | Link | Fixing typos |
| 2020-12-02 | 2020-12-02 16:08:21 UTC | Link | Various rewordings Added a line about Legacy Minecraft accounts not being able to migrate yet |
| 2021-02-28 | 2021-02-28 18:27:58 UTC | Link | Changed from saying "you'll need to move your account or risk having it closed" to "you'll need to move your account or risk not being able to play the game" Changed from saying Mojang is working on a solution for third-party launchers to a state that they now support MSA authentication but must be used "at your own risk" |
| 2021-05-12 | 2021-05-12 12:43:40 UTC | Link | Added a line linking to the minecraft.net/mojang-account-move page for more information |
| 2021-06-24 | 2021-06-24 10:06:23 UTC | Link | Added a warning stating migration had begun for some players Removed the instructions on how to migrate |
| 2021-08-04 | 2021-08-04 02:22:25 UTC | Link | Various rewordings Added a line about the migrator cape being initially slowly rolled out starting mid-July but soon being delivered instantly after migrating |
| 2021-12-04 | 2021-12-04 04:16:57 UTC | Link | Added a line about the Legacy Minecraft accounts now being able to migrate |
| 2022-02-08 | 2022-02-28 19:07:57 UTC | Link | Fixing typos Removed the notice about migration being limited to a certain amount of players |
| 2022-04-21 | 2022-04-21 01:39:14 UTC | Link | Added a line stating players who do not migrate won't be able to access the game until they migrate Added a line stating migration will roll out to players in waves starting on March 10, 2022[note 2] |
| 2022-10-06 | 2022-10-05 18:32:34 UTC | Link | Fixing typos Added a table of contents Added a line stating that, as of June 28, 2022, Java Edition Realms subscription have been canceled for players who did not migrate |
| 2023-05-16 | N/A | Link | Removed the update date Added a notice about September 19th, 2023 being the migration deadline Added a notice about Mojang's support no longer assisting with migration-related issues beginning September 5, 2023 Added a notice stating that unmigrated accounts will be deleted at a future date Added a line about the migrator cape taking a few days to appear |
| 2023-05-16 | N/A | Link | Removed the notice about Mojang's support no longer assisting with migration-related issues beginning September 5, 2023 Renamed every instances of "username" to "Java profile name" |
| 2023-09-18 | N/A | Link | Added a line about having to create a Microsoft outside of the migration process first in case of troubles |
| 2023-09-18 | N/A | Link | Added a notice about the migration having ended and linking to the "Post-Migration Process FAQ" article. The notice also states the article would be deleted on October 19, 2023 |
| 2023-09-20 | N/A | Link | Removed every mentions of capes |
| 2023-12-12 | N/A | Link | The page now redirects to an error 404 page |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | The page now redirects to the "Information about Mojang Accounts and Microsoft Account Migration" article. |
| Archive date | Update date | Link | Difference with previous revision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-09-18 | N/A | Link | - |
| 2023-09-20 | N/A | Link | Added a notice stating migration has ended. The notice also states the article would be deleted on October 19, 2023 |
| 2024-10-05 | N/A | Link | The page now redirects to an error 404 page |
