The big Minecraft Live event took place on Sunday, October 15, and it delivered some major news about the future of the popular sandbox game. Here’s everything you need to know.
300 million in sales
Minecraft has now surpassed 300 million copies sold, which Microsoft says makes it the best-selling video game of all time. This is up from 238 million in 2021. Tetris might have something to say about Microsoft’s claim that Minecraft is the best-selling game, considering Tetris has sold more than 500 million copies. But 300 million copies sold for Minecraft is still a huge number.
“As we approach the 15th anniversary, Minecraft remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks,” Minecraft CVP Helen Chiang said. “Our incredible community has built Minecraft into what it is today and what it will become in the future. We can’t wait to share new Minecraft content and experiences in the years ahead.”
Star Wars DLC
Coming to the Minecraft Marketplace on November 7 is the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC. A trailer released during the event showed lightsaber combat and Force powers. Some iconic Star Wars characters will appear in the DLC as well.
Planet Earth III DLC
The new TV series Planet Earth III is debuting this fall, and to celebrate that, Minecraft Education is working with the BBC on DLC for the Minecraft Marketplace in 2024. The companies previously worked together on Frozen Planet II DLC for Minecraft. The message for the new Planet Earth DLC in Minecraft is that we are all connected and must work together to take care of the planet.
Minecraft Legends
During Minecraft Live, Minecraft Legends principal design director Craig Leigh ran through some of the community-requested changes for the game. These include “the ability to pet animals, custom campaign and PVP modes, controls and UI shown on screen, pillars of light for waypoints, and improved path finding.”
Additionally, the next Lost Legend for Legends, “Creeper Clash,” is coming to the game on October 19 for Halloween. Another one, “Snow vs. Snout,” is launching in December. What’s more, frogs are coming to Legends in December, so that’s great.
“It’s been a busy year for the Minecraft Legends team! After a successful launch in April, we turned to our fantastic community to understand what they were enjoying, what needed to be improved, and what we could add to make the game better,” Leigh said. “Over the last 6 months the team have focused on greatly improving key systems and adding brand new features. We’re excited to see the community’s reaction to the new content announced at Minecraft Live.”
15th Anniversary Plans
Minecraft celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2024, and Mojang’s Lydia Winters announced that there will be “exciting” plans in store to mark the occasion. Keep checking back for more.
“As we mark our 15th year, we at Minecraft want to express our gratitude to our passionate Minecraft community,” Mojang’s Kayleen Walters said. “It is our community’s creativity and dedication that has helped shape this world into something extraordinary. As we kick off this milestone year, we eagerly look forward to honoring and celebrating your contributions, stories and adventures. Thank you for 15 amazing years of crafting, building and exploring together. Stay tuned for more updates and surprises in 2024!”
Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21
A number of features are coming to the OG Minecraft in mid-2024, including “The Crafter.” This allows players to conduct automatic crafting, a first for Minecraft vanilla. Also new for Minecraft vanilla in 2024 are trial chambers, which are procedurally generated underground structures for players to tackle, as well as light-emitting blocks called Copper Bulbs. What’s more, Minecraft vanilla is adding “The Breeze,” which is the game’s newest hostile mob.
“The Breeze moves by jumping and shoots projectiles of wind energy that explode on impact, like how Blazes shoot fireballs,” Mojang said. If it collides with a player or entity, it explodes immediately. These explosions cover a blast radius of a few cubic blocks, deal a small amount of damage, and knock back all entities in the area.”
“We’re excited to see our community’s reaction to the new features announced at Minecraft Live. This update is a precious mix of exciting adventures, combat trials and tinkering–we believe it adds something delightful for lots of different kinds of play styles! Long-term we want to evolve Minecraft for every play style and we’re looking forward to continue creating update 1.21 together with our community,” game director Agnes Larsson said.
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