Agencies-Gaza post
Mojang: Minecraft shouldn’t ever feel clingy
Right before the most latest Minecraft 1.19 update launched, after we asked Mojang what the future of Minecraft looks like.
Game director Agnes Larsson and developer Nir “Ulraf” Vaknin weren’t willing to be feature-specific of the next basic update—no surprise, they’re likely keeping that for the next Minecraft Live showcase.
Instead of that we talked about how they’re still learning from other crafting players and how they want to “keep the magic of Minecraft” for another 10 years and more.
When Minecraft’s alpha launched in 2010, it put survival and crafting on the way.
A thousand other crafting games after many also made from voxels Minecraft still the gold standard for sandbox creativity.
It would be easy enough for Mojang to have complacent after wearing the crown for so long, I imagine, becoming insular and sourcing ideas only from its own developers and competitors.
Larsson and Vaknin both asserted they wouldn’t call Minecraft better than all the rest. (I would, though. It doesn’t risk sounding boastful coming from me).
However, they do say that knowing what sets Minecraft apart means they can keep it.
Larsson called it intrinsic motivation, “We should inspire and enable the competitors to be creative in their own way,” she reported, “but never dictate, never force anything.”
“So many other games you play and feel like they try to pull you a bit too much and then when it’s run its course you don’t want to come back. I love that Minecraft doesn’t do that. It’s so important to me to keep that.”
“One thing recently added to our guiding principles is: you play Minecraft because you want to, not because you feel forced to,” Larsson added.
As I began looking ahead to the inevitable announcement of Minecraft version 1.20, it’s good to hear that the people in charge are confident enough to maintain up with all the latest crafting and survival trends without necessarily chasing them.
