Spiritual sequel to Minecraft teased by Markus ‘Notch’ Persson

A few hours ago, a spiritual sequel to the best-selling game of all time, Minecraft, was teased by creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson. As you may recall, Persson left Mojang after selling the studio he created to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in September 2014. The following year, he founded another development studio games called Rubberbrain, which however never released a game.

Persson relaunched it in 2024 under the new name Bitshift Entertainment. On January 1, the game designer spoke openly about Bitshift’s current project (a traditional roguelike mixed with a tile-based first-person dungeon crawler), but also polled his fans to see if they preferred it to make a spiritual successor to Minecraft. Which they did (78% voted for this option). Two days later, Persson shared the mindset behind the announcement:

Basically, I announced Minecraft 2. I thought maybe people REALLY wanted me to make another game very similar to the first one, and I love working on games again.

I don’t exactly care which game I make first (or even if I make more), but I know I’m making one, so I figured I’d absolutely be willing to give it an honest chance in the form of a spiritual successor to Minecraft and launched a poll about it.

My intentions are to be clear and honest about this, saying that spiritual successors are usually sort of…you know…failed. Tragic. The things I fear in my next match will be there anyway and I try to force myself to avoid them. So why not do what people want and are willing to give me, one way or another, even MORE money. I intend for the money to be spent for good, but boy, have I learned that I often fail. To win is to fail until you succeed.

Oh, and I also really enjoy being a man of my word, so I also intend to do that in a way that in no way tries to sneakily encroach on the incredible work that the team Mojang accomplishes and on the fact that Microsoft succeeds in making the Microsoft. shit about. And I respect them for that. It’s their job. And from what I understand, they let the studio do things their way, which seems very fair to me.

When asked by another X user if he would really make Minecraft 2, he replied:

No, I would create a similar game based on what I think the audience who says they want this game might enjoy. We’ll probably do early access to make sure we’re on track. But I mean, I always think I’m just a lucky clown in a sea of ​​real talent, so I have no idea if it’ll actually be good. But I’ll try.

Based on his track record, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him a one-trick pony, as Minecraft is his only real claim to fame in the gaming industry. Even if he did eventually release such a game, it would inevitably be compared to his previous creation, which Mojang continually updates for the legions of fans who still play it regularly.

The latest content patch, The Garden Awakens, released in early December and added a new biome and mob. There are also many spin-off games for those looking for different experiences, such as Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends. And A Minecraft Movie will be released in theaters on April 4, 2025.