Original Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has acknowledged on Twitter that his subsequent sport can be a Minecraft non secular successor and that he “mainly introduced minecraft 2.” Notch had run a Twitter ballot asking followers to weigh in on whether or not he ought to preserve his in-development mission’s present path, or put it on the shelf to make one thing extra like Minecraft.
Notch’s in-development mission was a roguelike spin on traditional first particular person dungeon crawlers like Wizardry, Grimrock, or Eye of the Beholder. On New Year’s Day, Notch put out a ballot asking followers whether or not he ought to preserve entering into that path, or change gears. “I gots to considering that possibly there are individuals who like my work however don’t share my style in retro nostalgia and would like for me to make a non secular successor factor to Minecraft,” he wrote. “And I imply positive, I’d take that money.”
At the time of writing, “make minecraft 2 boomer” is main “i really like uncursing potions” by a commanding 78% to 22% with 4 days to go. In observe up tweets, Notch insisted that he was “100% critical about all that, btw,” and that he “mainly introduced minecraft 2.” He additional acknowledged that, “I additionally intend to do that in a manner that on no account tried [sic] to sneakily infringe on the unimaginable work the Mojang group is doing and that Microsoft is efficiently doing the microsoft shittification about.
“And I respect them for doing that. It’s their job. And they, from what I perceive, let the studio do issues their manner, which appears particularly reasonable to me.”
Notch offered Mojang to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, parting methods with the sport and the corporate. In the years since, his popularity as a sport developer has been eclipsed by one with no consideration wing partisan, making weird, insensitive, and sometimes merciless or derogatory statements directed primarily at ladies and trans folks. Microsoft and Mojang eliminated his title from the opening credit of Minecraft in response. Some Notch’s statements up to now 10 years embrace:
Taking a step again from that and simply calling balls and strikes right here, I don’t imagine “mainly asserting minecraft 2” on Twitter is the very best transfer, particularly as soon as any preliminary buzz dies down. I do not know the main points of Notch’s cope with Microsoft, however equating a mission to a Minecraft sequel whereas additionally disparaging Microsoft in what is actually early advertising strikes me as a contractual no-no, a a technique ticket to stop and desist-ville.
I additionally do not know what sort of urge for food there may be for a Minecraft non secular successor past Notch’s personal lively Twitter following—a essentially self-selecting group given his pariah standing in a lot of the trade. There are so many video games embodied by Minecraft, is that this a non secular successor to Minecraft the survival expertise, Minecraft the inventive sandbox, or Minecraft the proto-Roblox modding and social platform? “Minecraft 2” will be all of these items when it is simply an thought you are throwing out on Twitter, however no matter Notch has in thoughts will wind up being extra restricted than a sport that has been slowly constructed up over the course of 16 years.
And there are a ton of different Minecraft non secular successors already on the market and established to compete with: Terraria and Dragon Quest Builders are the closest examples, however relying on how strict your definition is, the complete tree punching, base constructing survival style may depend. The roguelike dungeon crawler truthfully strikes me as a way more fascinating sport, and it is a surprisingly under-explored idea within the saturated roguelike house. But additionally: What’s the purpose of taking a $2.5 billion buyout if you happen to’re simply going to shelve your questionably worthwhile ardour mission for what the group says it desires?
