Minecraft was launched in 2009, and 15 years later, it has become one of the best-selling video game franchises ever.
Though the game has been getting all kinds of expansions and tweaks over the years, a sequel for it had never really happened, but that’s about to change thanks to original creator Markus “Notch” Persson.
Has Minecraft 2 been Announced?
In a recent Twitter post, Notch announced Minecraft 2 after a fan asked him about a vague post.
“I basically announced Minecraft 2… I don't super duper care exactly which game I make first (or even if I make more), 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.”
It’s worth noting that Mojang Studios and Minecraft were sold to Microsoft back in 2014, that’s why whatever game Notch is working on, it’s said he may not be able to even call it Minecraft 2; at best, he can just claim that it’s the spiritual successor of his hit sandbox game.
Even if that is the case, Notch has also been very clear that he thinks spiritual successor games can end up “washed up.” Tragic. A more recent example is The Callisto Protocol, which was expected to be a spiritual successor to Dead Space but received middling reviews.
Spiritual Successors Aren’t Always That Bad
Despite Notch’s opinions on spiritual successors and how they live up to the original games, there have been some great follow-ups that weren’t just straight-up sequels.
One of the best examples can probably be seen with PlayStation studio Naughty Dog. They had originally cut their teeth on the highly successful Crash Bandicoot games, and the franchise they worked on after that—Jak and Daxter—was considered the spiritual successor to Crash and was also a massive hit for the PS2 era.
It’s unclear if some consider Uncharted the successor to Jak and Daxter, but the game has been compared to the earlier shooter/platformer Tomb Raider.
The Children Yearn for the Mines
While Minecraft hasn’t been making as much noise publicly, the game is still considered a classic and is set to have a huge boost in visibility thanks to the upcoming Minecraft movie starring Jack Black.
We don’t know exactly what to expect with a sequel, but seeing as the game has managed to provide a big sandbox full of potential for players to create whatever they want, maybe its spiritual successor could allow players to do that in an even larger capacity.
It’s been a long time since 2009, and we should expect some technological advancements to allow for even bigger things to happen in Minecraft. Besides being something fans of the original could enjoy, hopefully, this sequel can be something that even newcomers can jump into immediately.
No release date has been announced for Minecraft 2.