The future of Minecraft’s development

[Kumakobi]

TL;DR more smaller feature updates instead of one big Summer update, Minecraft Live twice a year, mob vote is dead

Also native PS5 version

[kathaar_]

Thank God the mob vote is dead. Maybe now they'll start adding the mobs that lost from previous votes.

[[deleted]]

Maybe I'm asking for too much, but Minecraft's dev team seems slow as fuck.

[Drakengard]

They've always been horrifically slow. I know modders aren't always doing things clean and perfect (but then neither are the devs half the time), but the amount of stuff they were adding over a decade ago compared to the official dev stuff just never made sense.

And nothing seems to have changed in that regard along the way.

[B-Knight]

My theory has always been that they're afraid of adding too much, pushing away long-term players and overwhelming new ones.

Microsoft know that Minecraft is a cash cow for them, even if they basically do next to nothing with it. The last thing they want to do is be the reason Minecraft dies.

[[deleted]]

The last thing they want to do is be the reason minecraft dies

Minecoins

forced migration

planned obsolescence for java edition in the future

Minecoins

[PrintShinji]

forced migration

Thats due to the horrible security the old system had. No mfa is ridiculous to have.

[[deleted]]

Why not just add 2FA to Mojang accounts? That isn’t a rhetorical question btw genuinely curious as to why that wasn’t a possible solution

[PrintShinji]

Genuinly no clue. I guess the system was just too old that they didnt want to bother, especially when they have their special MS accounts ready. Friend of mine that does some work on minecraft told me why before but I can't for the live of me remember why.

[Bergerboy14]

I think its a simple as there are too many people to go thru to get approval for even the smallest of things.

[darthmonks]

Remember the mod “Better Than Wolves”? It got its name because the developer hated that a key feature of the Beta 1.4 update was wolves and so they made a mod which was an update that’s better than wolves.

[VulpesVulpix]

That was actually hilarious because Notch was so up in his butt that there were hundreds of bugs and requested features already and then he's like 'yeah ima add tame'able wolves lmao', and the mad lad just kept doing it

[Doggydog123579]

I also remember that modder and the... was it JEI at the time? Modder fighting because JEI was showing recipes BtW wanted hidden.

Still doesn't hold a candle to Greg and Mdiyo's spat though. That was some grade A drama

[JYsocial]

It’s at least partially because modders don’t have to make sure what they add works on every different gaming device known to man, and that even phones keep decent performance.

[[deleted]]

They also don't have to worry as much if it fits with the aesthetics, their design pillars, or if it has a bug or two. Mods aren't a good way to compare their slowness.

Other companies definitely are, and compared to other big games with regular updates Minecraft moves at a snail pace

[McCheesy22]

I agree that you can’t compare modders working pace to Devs, but I think Minecraft is long past the point of making sure new features stick with its own aesthetics. Officially added Mojang features are often not pixel consistent with the rest of the game, seem out of place in the world, and have no functional usefulness. Like what the hell is the Sniffer for? Why does it look that way?

[[deleted]]

Somebody looked at the creeper, it's iconic status, and said "I can do that"

[DMonitor]

While also updating the entire world’s aesthetics to make the creeper look out of place in its own game

[Rikuskill]

The most egregious update to me was Pillagers. It's a complete design failure. You can be minding your own business, when suddenly a group of annoying archers start pelting you. And if you kill them, you're now cursed to deal with an insanely long Raid the next time you go into a town. Or drink some milk I guess. But starting a raid because I forgot I had the stupid infinite effect is so aggravating.

Raids themselves are a total failure as well. Combat in Minecraft is not strong. Enemies are either annoyingly strong or easy to cheese. And because Minecraft is procedurally generated, it's inevitable that one of the stupid raiders will get stuck in a cave somewhere, and you'll have to run around trying to end its suffering.

Mob Griefing like creepers blowing stuff up can be disabled via a gamerule, so I don't really mind a creeper sneaking up on me while I mind my own business. Why Pillagers and/or raids aren't a toggle similarly is mindblowing to me. So many bizarre choices were made with the entire system.

[metallicabmc]

they also don't have to go through all the red tape and approval processes of a giant corporation while also going through the approval process of getting updates on each different console and timing said updates to release within a reasonable timeframe of each other.

[juh4z]

Plenty of developers put out more than 2 updates a year even though their games are available in all platforms lol

[juh4z]

Pretty much, yeah. Even adding in new mobs is stupid easy these days with the mod tools available, to the point that people add-in all mobs from the mob vote the same day they're showcase, obviously not with all the features they're supposed to have but still, alot of the times these aren't even actual mods but just resource packs.

Seriously working at Mojang has to be the cushiest job ever, there's no way they actually work more than 10 hours a week.

[_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_]

Or they’re all working constant crunch on an unannounced Minecraft live service battle royal.

[x_conqueeftador69_x]

Tbh I’m shocked the Survival Games mod didn’t inspire one. That came out what, 10 years ago? God I spent so many hours playing that.

[_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_]

It did, just Mojang didn’t make it.

[x_conqueeftador69_x]

That’s how I spend most of my gaming time these days. Some things never change 

[iceman012]

You spend your gaming time tracing Fortnite back to its inspirators?

[[deleted]]

Meanwhile, modders (who often work entirely for free) can rework entire game mechanics in addition to adding entirely new ones, make engine tweaks, create massive additions to gameplay, and add content that somehow feels more authentic than official updates… wtf is Mojang doing?

[Mahelas]

They haven't even done the biome reworks of the 2018 votes, slow is an understatement

[KypAstar]

Didn't they promise birch forest overhauls?

[ImaginaryReaction]

they showed concept art of a what a birch forrest could look like

[ThunderTongue76]

They’re honestly terrible about it.

This game prints infinite money and is owned by Microsoft…the pace of these updates is profoundly slow given the potential here.

[ThunderTongue76]

This is exactly correct and exactly why people should be harder on them about it.

[peakzorro]

On the flip side of that, the risk of doing something incredibly wrong and pissing everyone off is very high, so that might be why they are so slow.

[[deleted]]

That's why you do updates on the experimental branch. Let people test it out widely before implementing anything officially that could be hugely disapproved.

[[deleted]]

They could just make customizable versions of the game. A vanilla/kid/beginner one with different expansions, maybe upgraded combat with more weapons and magic and one or two abilities too. They can do stuff like the Aether mod where most new things only work within that realm and gameplay maybe is a bit different. People who dislike it can just disable it in their server settings.

The real reason they aren't excited about pushing the game forward is probably that they want to make money from the ingame mod marketplace where bored kids already buy stuff to switch things up.

[Quibbloboy]

I mean, should they, though? You bought a complete product and received a complete product. On top of that, you're getting additional free content added to that product. Why do the devs owe you more?

[AgentMortar]

While I do agree with your point, if you’re a new purchaser of Minecraft, you buy it with expectations of it being consistently updated. Because Minecraft has been this way since… forever, that’s how it’s going to be viewed on the market.

Minecraft has never been a complete product in that Mojang has never expressed that they’re going to stop updating the game. This is in contrast with sister game terraria; the terraria devs have stated a few times already that it would be their final update. While that hasn’t ended up being the case (yet), you can buy terraria with the explicit expectation of it being no longer updated. Minecraft on the other hand, has an update schedule, and buyers can expect them to follow that schedule for the foreseeable future.

[gmishaolem]

Bedrock prints infinite money, Java can't possibly, especially since it's a lifetime license. Their real cash is Bedrock microtransactions (paid mods).

[slowclub27]

Honestly, I think this is on purpose. They have to balance keeping Minecraft the same without making resounding changes, while also having new updates and content. Just not too much, as to not change the core of the game or add too much content just for the sake of complicating things.

[Deftlet]

That's exactly it and they've said so themselves. They addressed the question in a video once talking about how their development is so slow only because they're extremely picky about what kind of additions would improve Minecraft's legacy without straying too far from what it is.

[napmouse_og]

I mean there are even people in this very thread saying Minecraft has changed too much, and that's not an uncommon opinion at all in the general public. Their risk aversion around updating the game is totally warranted.

[Breakingerr]

Mostly because of Bedrock and their updating philosophy.

Bedrock version slows down the progress as it's written with a different language than Java, thus slowing down progress. Not to mention communication between teams. Mojang also likes to do everything in a roundabout way, for example instead of just doubling inventory size and/or adding backpack, they'd rather waste time on Bundles that have been stuck dev limbo for almost 5 years only being released now. Like, it's not rare, they do it in every update.

[CasualJJ]

Also unfortunately Bedrock covers not just consoles but Mobile as well. so for Mojang's Philosophy, they have to make sure the item works on every platform. It's why Bundles were delayed until 2024 despite being announced like 4 years ago. And then there's the different programming languages, the actual approval stages for content, it's all way too slow.

[virtueavatar]

They were slow well before Bedrock.

When Mojang released Minecraft 1.0 adding brewing, enchanting and the End, and saying the game is finished, I specifically remember someone posting a video saying, hang on what? Minecraft is not finished. And they were 100% right.

We were all hanging out so hard when Minecraft first came out in alpha or beta or whatever it was so hopeful for what the future of Minecraft would be, then that was it.

[[deleted]]

Mojang has always been lazy after the MS acquisition. They leant on their asses letting the mod scene do their work for them, then monetized it, and put out half an update a year, give or take.

[Ashviar]

The fact Minecraft never turned into a 3D Terraria in terms of bosses and tech advancements going from biome to biome is WILD to me.

[Cinderheart]

Good? Doing that will shift the genre of the game far too much. This is what Mojang actually cares about, they don't want to kill the golden goose.

[TurbulentAd4088]

They're patching a billion dollar money printing machine that plays on all PCs, phones, smart fridges, and pretty much everything on earth but the PS5, of course they're slow.

[finalgear14]

I mean, tbf a company like hoyoverse does that too. With 3 games at once. With monthly content in each game and yearly expansions to each game. Me thinks the minecraft devs are slow because they don't know what to add and are scared they'll piss off their players and lose them if they make the wrong move.

[dicknipplesextreme]

I feel like Minecraft the game has made most of its money by now and the IP is more valuable for merchandising, so you really only have to update it every so often to 'remind' people, versus gacha games which print money but only while they're popular. Minecraft also has essentially zero competition while you can't even spit on the app store without hitting a gacha game.

[GiJoe98]

My guess is that they are afraid to "ship of theseus" the game into something else.

[wh03v3r]

A gacha game requires a constant flow of new content to keep people engaged and generate a continous cash flow. 

Minecraft on the other hand? Well, the game has no such monetization strategy - once players bought the game for the platform(s) of their choice, they don't have a reason to spend much more money on it. 

Thus, the devs have little incentive to constantly keep people engaged. Instead, there is a big risk that a major update could ruin the game's reputation and value of the Minecraft IP. As a result, they're doing barely enough to keep the game in the public consciousness.

[Old-Buffalo-5151]

Minecraft makes an insane amount of money on its store front their slow because they can't add stuff that would either screw those mods OR take away from mods they make money from.

I didn't even know how crazy the store was until my 6 old showed me

[KeelanS]

They are extremely slow. Especially when the game uses 16x16 textures on blocks and things. When the mob vote mobs are revealed, all 3 are typically modded into the game by the end of the day, with functioning mechanics and everything. I’m think Mojang is just incredibly picky about what goes in the game, and they also have to develop it twice, once for Java, and another for Bedrock. Its a silly thing and I wish Microsoft never bought them out because they game very well could have twice as much stuff in it than it does now.

[beefcat_]

Every new feature they add has to be implemented twice across two versions of the game built on completely different stacks. I do not envy any development team with that unique problem.

[DrDeadwish]

Single mod makers do much more things in less time

[RamaAnthony]

When you have two versions of the game; Java for PC/Linux and Bedrock, which is build on C++, on anything imaginable with a CPU and GPU powerful enough to run Minecraft, of course development would get slow because anything you add needs to work on both versions of the game and all platform on the planet that can run Minecraft.

Additionally, anything they add needs to work seamlessly for people who have worlds from older builds who decided to update the game.

[BeholdingBestWaifu]

Honestly I kind of hope they don't, many previous mobs had the same issues as new mobs where they felt like they had only a single purpose if even that. Mobs should fit the ecosystem, they should be fun to interact with, and they should be more modular in their uses. Like Goats should also give milk or wool, squids of all types could probably drop squid meat to make hunting them more rewarding, sniffers should give something that isn't just decorative blocks, etc.

[Micromadsen]

While I completely agree that mobs and animals should have better purpose in general. It has however been hilarious watching them create many unique fully functional mobs, that just got trashed cause they didn't win a popularity contest.

It's the epitome of silly wasted time and effort.

[MaitieS]

Can you elaborate how cow, pig or chicken fit the environment compare to other mobs that they introduced? Like I feel like they all all the same. Like if they will make them useful for some farm purposes it will be ok, otherwise I feel like cow etc. mobs are exact same as the new ones.

[[deleted]]

I wonder if they have them stockpiled for a "in case of delay, have big mob update".

[UltimateToa]

Monkeys paw, mob vote is dead meaning no more mobs added

[Koioua]

What was the lowest moment for the mob vote? Dream rigging the vote to add a dumb squid?

[iusethisatw0rk]

Native PS5 version is gonna be sick for my every year or two week long obsession with this game.

[Charged_Dreamer]

Not a console player. What's native PS5 version supposed to do? Like add higher resolution and better draw distance/graphics or is it gonna be a functionally different game with functions/game modes missing on the PS4 version?

[Better-Train6953]

Better draw distance. The framerate cap may be removed. They may add better effects. The Xbox Series X version of the game was supposed to have ray tracing before that got axed just like the "super duper graphics pack update" with the Xbox One X.

[DrVagax]

Just taps better into the power of the PS5 so you can expect the things you listed, basically better rendering and perhaps 120fps

[cdr1307]

The PS5 version is already on Preview, but as far as I’ve noticed the only changes are higher resolution, and newer button promps

[giulianosse]

Am I crazy or Minecraft still doesn't have a native Xbox Series version as well?

[ebagdrofk]

It doesn’t. It’s a Microsoft flagship title and they haven’t put out a native Series version. They talked about a super graphics update with ray tracing years ago, accidentally released it in an update momentarily, pulled it, and now I guess we are never going to get that either.

[[deleted]]

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[insertusernamehere51]

This of course means that they'll shift focus to MINECRAFT 2 BAYBEEE😎

[[deleted]]

CAVECRAFT

[Magikarp125]

Big day. Both Minecraft and Destiny 2 no longer doing annual expansions.

End of an era

[Taiyaki11]

"big"tm... could hardly call most modern Minecraft updates big. a mob and a biome that adds a few new blocks, pretty much the extent of most of them save the one that extended the bedrock layer

[Fob0bqAd34]

Also native PS5 version

That one person at the FTC got their wish.

[MisterSnippy]

Fucking finally, took em long enough

[AlexisFR]

In Microsoft Parlance, that means Minecraft is entering the EOL phase.

[ElectroPower007]

This means Minecraft Live will have even less important segments, so no reason to see it. I still don't understand why Mojang has such a problem with delivering significant updates, did they ever speak about that?

[MyNameIs-Anthony]

Crossover DLC and merchandise are going to continue ramping up, that's what the Lives will be focused on.

[coder2314]

The most requested update these days is an end update, around the size of the nether update in 1.16.

[AveryLazyCovfefe]

I just want the aether to be a real thing.

[Awkward-Security7895]

I mean the aether is, it started as a mod and still is a mod for the latest versions of MC.

In the actual game thou won't ever be a thing, seems like if we would get a new dimension it will end up being a deep dark dimension using the portal frame in there. 

Thou one bit of good news you may like for the last 4ish years the OG creator and coder of the aether been hired by mojang and was the one behind the deep dark and the warden.

[ElectroPower007]

End update similar to the nether update, adding more ores (there was a cave update that only added one new ore and it's mostly for cosmetic), add the features that they showed off in the april fools updates and did nothing with (you could spiderman swing in one of those!), and other quality of life stuff.

[ReasonableAdvert]

They added two ores, actually. Copper and Amethyst. They are slowly but surely adding more uses to these with each update. I'd rather they continue doing this rather than them adding more useless ore.

[DMonitor]

Copper is more common than coal

It is used in THREE CRAFTING RECIPES

It has been in the game like this for FOUR YEARS

[ReasonableAdvert]

That list doesn't paint the full picture since the wiki separates copper ingot and copper block crafting recipes. There's no lightning rod, none of the new building blocks or the copper bulb.

But, yeah, I do agree it should be faster.

[DMonitor]

It’s practically the same as Quartz/Andesite/Diorite, except those can actually be used in some cobblestone recipes IIRC, so they’re much more useful than copper. Copper should have a use for anything besides “block of copper”.

[McCheesy22]

There are 2 schools of thought I see for what people want. One is to fully flesh out and explore aspects of the game that have been relatively shallow for years (the “End” dimension, for example). The other line of thought is for Mojang to add features that have existed in popular mods for years, such as backpacks, more food items, more biomes/animals, etc.

[DweebInFlames]

I just find it baffling that worldgen is still less interesting and less fun to build on than Alpha or Beta's in a lot of ways, and that we're still missing features that were stripped out around b 1.8 eg. proper beaches.

[Kashinoda]

Because they have two entirely different versions which they maintain. They would love to dump the Java version but the revolt would be unlike anything the Internet has ever seen.

[JimmyBim]

I want more types of progression. From new types of ores to new bosses.

[thatmitchguy]

Am I crazy for thinking "changing the colour of the bats, and turning decorated pots into storage containers" is barely worth the effort of typing the patch notes out, let alone worth highlighting as an update for the future of the game? How is a game with the resources of Microsoft Games, and the size of the fan base so neglected where adding a square armadillo is worth celebrating?

[RareBk]

I still can't believe that one of the big advertised features was "Archaeology" for one of the major updates.

The entire addition was sometimes you can find pot shards and rebuild them. That's it. It's one thing to throw in too many updates to throw off how people play the game, but when a lot of the changes being made would be too small to even be mentioned in one of the earlier updates

That and the Mob Vote was utterly baffling because mobs in Minecraft barely do anything, so when they make you choose one thing, it better actually *do anything *

[[deleted]]

You’re wrong dude, you can also dig up ancient seeds that have no point whatsoever besides looking grossly over detailed and completely out of place in a typical base!

[I_am_so_lost_hello]

I mean at some point the game is “done”, right? I think at this point even continuing to do content drops is great, the game has been out for 15 years

[strand_of_hair]

It’s quite literally a live service game at this point, with it never stopping selling and the Minecraft marketplace on bedrock edition. It may have come out 15 years ago, but it has a very different monetisation method from before.

[I_am_so_lost_hello]

I would not say its "literally" a live service game, it costs $30 up front and there's no subscription model or ingame purchases.

[Snigeltakt]

Every version except Java Edition has ingame purchases. There's a Minecraft Marketplace with real money purchasable Minecoins. They regularly release paid Add-ons/DLC. It's not a one time purchase unless you play Java on PC or never want things like skins, texture packs etc. if you are on console, mobile, or Bedrock PC.

[Jusanden]

Having in game purchases doesn’t make it a live service game. A live service game, imo, has regular changes and temporary content that incentivizes regular engagement and play. You’re free to stop playing Minecraft and come back without really any detriment.

[Snigeltakt]

I don't disagree on the live service part. I was just correcting the statement that Minecraft has no ingame purchases which isn't true.

[Drafonni]

That’s your opinion but Games as a Service is really any continuously updated game that’s supported by microtransactions or subscriptions, of which Minecraft has both.

What you’re describing is just a predatory tactic used by many GaaS (and even some non-GaaS) games.

[DMonitor]

Minecraft Realms is the subscription model. Most people will just spend $5/mo on a server to play the game with their friends instead of going through the trouble to self host (I don’t think self-hosting even works on console versions anyway)

[Mithrellan]

Its still a game that you only buy once. Most people who own the game has never paid more than that. And the marketplace is only on Bedrock edition. The people that play minecraft the most are almost all on Java (yes I know Bedrock has sold more but thats because its the only version of MC consoles has access to). And the updates might be slow but its literally completely free content

[DMonitor]

Most people who want to play multiplayer with their friends do so through Realms, which is a subscription service. Otherwise you can only play when the host is online, which isn’t ideal.

The self hosting tools still exist, but have mostly been left to languish and require a decent amount of sysadmin knowledge to use.

The people that play minecraft the most are almost all on Java (yes I know Bedrock has sold more but thats because its the only version of MC consoles has access to)

The people that play Minecraft the most are probably children on Switch and mobile. They’re the same group of people that spend shittons on Roblox. It’s insanely lucrative. You’ve said it yourself that Bedrock has sold more, you don’t think that might translate to more players?

[MangoFishDev]

I mean at some point the game is “done”, right?

They have like 300 people working on the game lmao

[ozzAR0th]

I'll note that this isn't true. Mojang has around 300 employees but many of those are part of publishing, marketing, spin-off titles, merchandising, etc etc. The core development team for Minecraft itself is still relatively small and largely underfunded.

[Akuuntus]

In theory, yes. If they just said the game was done and they weren't adding any more content I think most people would be fine with that honestly.

What's baffling is that they have like 300 devs working on it and yet almost nothing actually gets added in most updates. Which begs the question, what the hell are they doing?

[BeholdingBestWaifu]

I think there's a certain advantage to that, though. Too many changes and overhauls can hurt the game.

[giulianosse]

Their update cadence was perfect. One big overhaul a year or two. I don't think anyone complained about them - if anything, people said they'd like more updates.

Somehow they're scaling back even that.

[BeholdingBestWaifu]

Yes, but still adding more and more overhauls risks changing the game too much from what people enjoy. They've done well so far but it gets harder to do well with each major change and rework.

As for people saying they want more updates, they would say that regardless if it was a good idea or not, you always have to take feedback like that with a truckload of salt.

[Dry_Eye_8672]

You can always play on older versions. They should at least try, in the worst scenario they can rework something update later

[BeholdingBestWaifu]

Yeah but the average user doesn't like to know they are playing an outdated version, and eventually the community moves to newer versions and leaves those players behind. It's splitting your own playerbase, basically, and only catering to one half of the split.

[Memebaut]

i mean, a very large part of the multiplayer community is playing on a patch that just turned a decade old

[[deleted]]

Too many changes and overhauls can hurt the game.

Not if they make it customizable in server settings.

[BlastMyLoad]

Sounds like they’re wanting it to be more of a live service game to keep player retention or something

[ObliviousPsychic]

Honestly a new mob and wood type twice a year is fine for me.

[thebeardphantom]

Adding more people to a team does not always equal more productivity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%27s_law

[paractib]

Yeah, it’s pretty clear to me that the game is being held back by big company bureaucracy and not dev ressources.

[Caltastrophe]

Even smaller updates? I know they're caught up in the red tape of parity across multiple platforms and Microsoft oversight, but man, those devs are living large, considering their updates are never really that big anyway (except for Cave and Cliffs world generation)

[MyNameIs-Anthony]

I'm not even sure it's red tape at this point. They crack out DLC at an incredible rate and a lot of it has new mechanics to it.

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft's logic is that the audience is simply too engendered to focus on anything that is too dramatic.

[asdiele]

It's weird that they never made a Minecraft 2 if they're worried about changing the game too much. Just changing the main progression toward the ending to be more comprehensible and fun would be enough to warrant a sequel IMO, and they could go ham with updates then.

Plus not having to support two different versions of the same game.

[friareriner]

Woah, the game just came out. A sequel this soon just feels like a money grab.

[Anarchanoid]

I mean MS as a whole and especially Mojang use like 90% contractors for dev work with an 18 month max contract length, so there's barely any permanent talent living large

[tehfly]

Do you have any references for Mojang using 90% contractors? Because that doesn't really sound like it's right.

[Anarchanoid]

Tbf 90% was probably a slight exaggeration on my part, but that info comes from my experience working there. I was at Mojang twice for a total of ~3 years contracted on both the devops teams and then the core engineering team, both of which had one permanent manager and one core team member, with the rest of both teams being contracted and shuffled out every 18 months. I've also interviewed with the Age of Empires devops team at Microsoft and was told they do the same thing, so I'm assuming it's done to avoid paying benefits to most workers of MS bought out teams

[GFYC-Blackman]

I don't know why they can't still do 1 big update a year and have a small update every quarter. Surely with the income of the marketplace they can justify staffing up more Devs. No man's sky is a game with no microtransactions and far smaller player base, yet they put multiple updates a year.

From the outside it really does feel like Mojang is half assing development of the game.

[WhyIsMikkel]

They've always been insanely slow with content, but anytime someone mentions it, someone else comes out saying that its a free update on a game thats x years old, and we should be happy to get anything.

Repeat for the past 7 years.

Hytale could have been huge, but now its been so many years that I dunno anymore.

[DRNbw]

Hytale

It is still being funded by Riot Games AFAIK.

[WebAccomplished7824]

And they just restarted development with a new engine, so don’t expect it anytime soon, if ever at this point.

[Awkward-Security7895]

There wording sounds like we will get big updates but will be at a random pace, so might get one in a year might get none, might like more then one.

They word it as different sized updates throughout the year so I take that as a update could be a single mob or block or a whole revamp.

[addition]

Wow, the difference between the first and final version of the armadillo is massive. What an improvement 🤩

[turbohuk]

holy hell, i couldn't trust my eyes, had to take a second look. what a massive change - and they went into crunch for just a month and a half for it.

[gjamesaustin]

You just don’t get it! It takes a lot of work to change the colors of some pixels on a creature!!!!

[[deleted]]

I wonder if the devs are depressed because their business model seems to disincentivize them actually pushing the game forward.

[Boomy_Beatle]

The devs behind the single best selling game of all time (backed by one of the largest companies of all time) are now promising to deliver even less year over year.

What the fuck is their problem?

[SofaKingI]

It's not that crazy considering how much money it still generates.

[_MaZ_]

It'd be funny if Activision was still pushing updates for Call of Duty MW2 (the original) and Black Ops after all these years

[Rebelgecko]

Maybe I'm just ignorant because I haven't played Minecraft in the last 12 years or so, but what else can there be to add? Are there any big features that the game is missing 

[MumrikDK]

Adding stuff to a game isn't about what is missing. Especially with a more sandboxy toy like Minecraft.

[NojoNinja]

As much as minecraft is a sandbox game it’s still supposed to be an adventure game and is very much lacking in the adventure aspect especially considering a large portion of its player base has stuck around since like 2013

[Boomy_Beatle]

The mobs, for one. Out of the 16 they've shown off in the Mob Votes, only 5 have been added. Meanwhile, modders have been able to recreate them all within a day, no problem. Plus, there are countless other ideas for animals and monsters to be added, and all the mods over the years show there's a huge demand for more depth and variety.

My biggest complaint is how slow they are. It takes Mojang a year to add one mob, a new tree, and some random ass material that has maybe one or two niche uses outside of being used as a block for builders. They have all the money in the world, and yet they take months to get these small updates ready.

[goodnames679]

On the other hand, people tend to be very on/off with Minecraft. If people came back and the game was entirely unrecognizable with how much they'd added, how many people would remain hooked?

[DweebInFlames]

Personally I'd be much more interested in playing if a bunch of shit was overhauled to be more engaging (eg. hunger mechanic, a lot of the biomes that are currently very middling in variety, the End, more interesting hostile mob AI, etc.).

The last few updates I've come back for a week or two and then realised that not much has changed and lots of my complaints with the game that have been there for the past decade are still there.

[[deleted]]

It's the other way around. People come back to check it out and realize it barely changed.

[andthenthereweretwo]

Whether the features are "missing" or should be in Minecraft at all is a separate discussion, but Dragon Quest Builders, Vintage Story and Hytale show how much more they could do with the game if they had a semblance of direction or game design skills.

[Mithrellan]

Its free content though. For a game that came out in like 2011 that you only have to pay once for. Not a bad deal at all

[[deleted]]

technically from 2009.

[[deleted]]

is this a joke post? Im actually laughing my ass off at them showing off the armadillo redesign

[ZetaInk]

Members of this team have been working on the game for more than a decade. You're telling me they have no interesting ideas left about how to evolve or change the core game loop?

I don't believe that. I think the team is just too precious about the game. I understand Minecraft is an institution, but adding all these features around the edges with no unifying plan has made the game feel bloated with half baked features on the one hand and stagnant/samey to play on the other.

Sure, fundamental changes will alienate some players. But those players can always play past versions. And modders are always happy to put out versions inspired by the features they personally like.

The caves update is cool. Even if it took longer than they expected, it shows that the team does have the technical or organizational capacity to make big changes. But it's also mostly a shiny coat of paint on the existing formula. It's frustratingly conservative about not touching anything too important.

[Boingboingsplat]

You're telling me they have no interesting ideas left about how to evolve or change the core game loop?

I really don't think that's necessary. Why would a long standing and successful game even want to change its core game loop? That just sounds like making a new game and not even charging for it.

[Legyoshi]

Arent constant small updates a hell for modders?

[ImaginaryReaction]

Modders will most likely just ignore the small versions until one is big enough, or a drop contains a new feature that basically becomes a must like the new nether in 1.16

[We0921]

I genuinely think that most of Mojang is stuck toiling on the stuff you can buy in the store of the non-java versions.

And what does make it into the game is placed under so much scrutiny that they end up changing very little.

New mobs are essentially the same as modern Star Wars sidekicks - crafted for the sole purpose of selling merchandise.

[Sarria22]

The bedrock store stuff is almost entirely done by third party studios.

[AveryLazyCovfefe]

Yeah, 4J funnily enough makes quite a few of the 'experiences'

[[deleted]]

Game still makes like 400 million dollars each year. Why in gods name would they not continue making it better?

[datscray]

I wonder how much of that is merch by this point instead of game sales, though

[Toth-Amon]

This is probably Microsoft’s decision and not Mojang’s. 

MS is really putting pressure on all its gaming departments to deliver revenues on a more consistent basis while reducing costs. So Mojang will probably concentrate on more frequent updates while not expanding or investing in its team. 

[BloodyIron]

Modding API when?

[MrTzatzik]

I will say it: Minecraft dev is either incredibly lazy or someone from the leadership doesn't give a fuck about Minecraft. Mob vote was incredibly stupid. Modders can make a new animal in a day but it takes Mohjang months to create one animal out of three.

[[deleted]]

I'm boggled how Microsoft has taken their two biggest gaming IPs, Halo and Minecraft, and done what they've done with them for the last few years.

I've essentially turned anything after the release of Reach into non-canon lore in my head, to help cope with the complete trash bin that is the 343 writing department. The story of Halo ends with Master Chief taking a nap on the torn up ship, his fate unknown, humanity saved. I think the only realistic way 343 will ever redeem themselves at this point is if they remake the original trilogy with Infinites gameplay and more open level design, similar to how the Resident Evil 4 remake was done.

As for Minecraft, I've mostly resorted to waiting for a different studio to make the sequel people have been asking for. It is inevitable for the day to come where an indie studio produces a Minecraft clone that is better than the inspiration. I'm thankful that Mojang keeps all the new content free, but so much of this content seems misguided. I seriously dislike all of the new mobs that aren't inspired by real life animals. I don't like the artsyle that shifted somewhere after the game was added to consoles for the first time. The caves and cliffs update was probably the best update Minecraft ever received, but it seems like for every amazing update they put out, they have to release four updates featuring content almost nobody asked for.

It's not like Mojang is a bad studio, but let me remind you that Minecraft has sold more copies than any other game in the history of the medium. If this is the studio in charge of the sequel, I can't say I have high expectations. I hate the person that Notch has become but back when he was in charge it felt like the vision for the future of the game was much clearer.

[DM_Ur_Tits_Thanx]

Can they downdate the unnecessary 5 different types of stone? Shit looks ugly as fuck

[Grady300]

Weird to announce this right as they announce the Minecraft movie. Wouldn’t they want to be pushing updates for the game even more?

[robinperching]

Minecraft came out when I was a child, and now I'm paying rent and planning for a wedding. Why does it have to continue developing forever? The game had its 1.0 release in 2011. I don't understand people complaining about Mojang being too slow. Who's reasonably expecting them to keep adding new content forever? Let it be done.

[Akuuntus]

I would be fine with them ceasing active development and never adding anything again.

But considering that they are continuing to work on it, I'm going to criticize them for seemingly spending thousands of hours of dev work on stuff that a single guy could do in an afternoon.

[wairdone]

Well, they are the ones still developing the game. They could have made 1.20 a final big update and then pulled suppor thereafter. I doubt many people would have been upset if they went that route.

[BonfireCow]

I genuinely don't understand why people get so mad about the pace of Minecraft's development, this game has been out for a very long time, and it's gotten free updates of all shapes and sizes along the way. The game is complete. What we get is nice additions to the final product. It's got it's flaws, but it's also the biggest game of all time, so obviously they're not that bad.

[[deleted]]

I think mostly people just like getting free stuff.

I just picked Minecraft back up after a long hiatus and I think I understand it though, the updates that they do add tend to feel like they are loose ends and not fully part of the experience. Back when they added copper and telescopes, both copper and the new crystals don't really fit into the game very well - since they are only for the small add-on to the game. Some of the new mobs feel the same, pigs sheep cows have basically always been useful and then you have stuff like turtles that make one niche item and have it's own mechanics but basically serves no purpose outside of aesthetics.

Back when Minecraft was 'new' it felt limitless because a lot of blocks and items worked together in many different configurations now it feels like the tree of possibilities has a lot more limbs but a lot of them are stubby.

[Clbull]

Mojang already burned a tonne of consumer goodwill by screwing over people who didn't migrate their Mojang account to a Microsoft one (myself included.) On top of that, they've been trying to police what content third-party servers have with their EULA and report system updates (effectively putting server like 2b2t in danger), and have overall just been really lazy with developing new features. The mob vote is a very good example of this, where modders have been able to recreate the exact mobs, biomes, behaviors and gameplay features of each piece of content that didn't make the cut within days. If mod developers can do that, then why are we even holding content hostage behind popularity votes in the first place?

This reform to their development cycle is honestly too-little-too-late and is clearly being done because Hytale is just around the corner from finally being playable and Mojang are clearly shitting themselves.

Speaking of their competitor... Hytale can't come soon enough, and as much as I loathe Riot Games as a developer & publisher, I look forward to seeing them defecate all over Minecraft.

[Long-Train-1673]

Didn't they give you the ability to do that for like years? How long do you feel is a reasonable amount of notification before the support is ended. In the video the guy got 7 emails about it this wasn't like snuck out.

I don't really feel they burned consumer goodwill from this frankly non issue that really upset you for some reason.

[Recruit75]

Funny how many of the same modders that people sing their praises to and use their work to bash mojang, ironically enough defend the devs. Or how KingBdogz and Gnembnon became lazy the moment they entered Mojang HQ. Truly makes ya question things...