Mojang AB, the developer of popular sandbox video game 'Minecraft', today issued a statement on the blog of Chief Word Officer, Owen Hill, saying the open-ended video game will receive a PlayStation 3 (PS3) version release this week.

The PS3 version will be released on two different dates, on December 17 in North America, and December 18 in Europe. The game will be available for purchase on the PlayStation Network (PSN) Store.

According to Hill, the PS3 version will feature everything present in previous console versions, and will feature an almost identical experience regardless of platform. Additional downloadable content (DLC), such as skins and texture packs, will be available on the PSN Store soon after release.

The PS3 release comes late, almost a year and a half after it was released on competing platform Xbox 360. However, Hill suggests that a PlayStation 4 (PS4) version and PS Vita version are also under development, and should be expected sometime in 2014.

Since its launch in 2011, Minecraft has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, including over 13 million sales on PC, and approximately 10 million sales on Microsoft's Xbox 360. With new versions coming out on several new platforms, Mojang believes accessibility of the game will help attract more players to try the open-ended, build-anything-you-like, sandbox game.

Mojang is a Swedish independent video game developer founded in May 2009 by Markus Persson, who is also the creator of Minecraft. The company's current Chief Executive Officer is Carl Manneh, who helped release Minecraft in 2011, along with Persson and Jakob Porser. Current lead designer and lead developer of Minecraft is Jens Bergensten, after Persson stepped down following the game's release.