Markus “Notch” Persson, creator of the original sandbox-building game Minecraft, has taken to social media and suggested that he is spending the year working on a “spiritual successor” to the game.
In a poll posted on X/Twitter, Notch asked what fans would like him to work on next, subsequently revealing in a later post that he “basically announced” Minecraft 2, explaining his plans to do so interfering with the work done by Mojang and Microsoft.
I basically announced minecraft 2.
— notch (@notch) January 3, 2025
I thought that maybe people ACTUALLY do want me to make another game that's super similar to the first one, and I'm loving working on games again.
I don't super duper care exactly which game I make first (or even if I make more), but I do know…
“I don’t super duper care exactly which game I make first, but I do know I’m making one, so I figured I’d absolutely be willing to give it an honest shot in the form of a spiritual successor to Minecraft and put up a poll about it.” Notch wrote, “Oh and I also very much value being a man of my word, so I also intend to do this in a way that in no way tried to sneakily infringe on the incredible work the Mojang team is doing.”
Minecraft was originally created by Notch, founder of Mojang Studios, using the Java programming language, with its first public beta build released in 2009. As the game became popular, a full 1.0 version dubbed the “Adventure Update” was released in 2011, with Notch quitting development shortly afterwards and handing over the project lead to designer and creative director Jens “Jeb” Bergensten.
In 2014, Microsoft announced a US$2.5 billion deal to buy Mojang and with it, the ownership of the Minecraft IP. Over the years, the title has become an icon in the video game landscape, dubbed by The Guardian as the best video game of the 21st century, and even being inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2020.
The Minecraft IP has steadily grown throughout the years, constantly receiving not only content updates to the main game but also several spin-offs across other game genres, such as the 2020 isometric dungeon crawler Minecraft Dungeons and 2023’s real-time action-strategy game Minecraft Legends. Outside of gaming, the title has also significantly impacted other forms of media, with rights to two planned theme parks based on the IP acquired by Merlin Entertainments, alongside a live-action film, A Minecraft Movie, due for April this year.
As for the future of the IP, Notch will not be able to use the Minecraft name in his next project due to the rights being owned by Microsoft, so it remains to be seen what form his “spiritual successor” will eventually adopt.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Trinity Sun
