Split-screen multiplayer in the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft requires an HDTV connection, but the game's description on the Xbox Live Marketplace website fails to note this necessity. Minecraft's description on XBLA does list "HDTV 720p" under the "Local Capabilities" details, but that generally is taken to mean the title will support up to HD 720p, and not as a requirement. In-game, a screen prompts players to "play the game in High Definition mode" for split-screen multiplayer.

Other Arcade titles, such as The Behemoth's Castle Crashers, support split-screen without an HDTV requirement, even though Castle Crashers' description lists "HDTV 1080i" in the same manner that Minecraft's reads "HDTV 720p." Notch wasn't aware that local multiplayer wouldn't work with standard-definition TVs, he tweeted and apologized to a fan today.

Some fans want a refund from Microsoft, saying they wouldn't have bought Minecraft if the HD requirement was clearer, but Microsoft is holding out on a few of them, Kotaku reports.