The development team from Mojang is well known for being visionary, constantly pushing out new and exciting features that keep many players bound to the blocky game. That’s probably one of the reasons Microsoft acquired the game for such a high price back in 2014—Satya Nadella knows a good investment when he sees one.
Mojang just celebrated its iconic title’s tenth anniversary back in May, and the developers expect to be able celebrate the game’s 20th or even 30th anniversary as they continue work on new features for many years to come. The idea, though, is not to eventually change the game into something else, but to continue expanding it. The development company’s design and development lead, Jens “Jeb” Bergensten, told Eurogamer that the “goal is to make sure that even ten or twenty years from now, the experience of starting to play the game should feel similar, or close to what it is today.” He further noted:
“We still want to leave the game open for the player’s interpretation, but of course we want to help people get started. Some things are really hard to figure out on your own in Minecraft and we will help people get into the game better, but it’s still important to us that it’s up to the player to create the story and discover what they want to do.”
One of the great things about Minecraft is that it continues to receive free updates, as opposed to pushing DLC expansion packs that many AAA developers are known for charging users extra for. Jeb also mentioned that “there’s no real need for a Minecraft 2,” while further noting he “would love to explore like different styles, staying within Minecraft but offering… maybe like a different planet if you might imagine, but still staying inside Minecraft 1, so not a sequel,” he laughed.
But the company is still able to experiment with other concepts, as well, while making sure the classic blocky title remains the same game. “That’s why it’s so great to have these other games like Minecraft Earth and Minecraft Dungeons where we can explore different kinds of gameplay within the Minecraft universe,” Jeb explained.
Mojang announced the next major update of the game, the “Nether Update”, at MineCon Live 2019 late last week. It’s set to offer new biomes, mobs, and trading to the Nether to make it potentially more habitable, even if more challenging.
Do you see yourself playing Minecraft ten or twenty years down the road? What are your favorite features so far?
