Minecraft Dungeons 2 has leaked online, courtesy of Nintendo. The game appeared on the Nintendo eShop yesterday, revealing its release date, price, fresh details, and a selection of new images.

It's a shame these details were revealed ahead of what was likely planned for Xbox's upcoming showcase on June 7, 2026. Still, the information itself is encouraging, including a September 29, 2026 release date and, perhaps more surprisingly, a $29.99 price tag. Personally, I think that's a pretty fair asking price for what already looks like a fun game.

Funnily enough, September is already shaping up to be a packed month. Whether it's Control Resonant, which supports Xbox Play Anywhere, or PlayStation's Wolverine, there's going to be plenty to play. It's likely publishers are looking to get out of the way before the looming release of GTA 6 in November, which I'm sure will steal the spotlight when it releases.

Back to Minecraft Dungeons 2, though. The game had already leaked not long ago, with details including its codename, Project Spidewood. Those leaks came in part from X0X_LEAK on X (formerly Twitter), who shared details about parts of the game and what to expect.

I'm quite surprised we didn't get more on Minecraft Dungeons 2 during the recent Minecraft Live event, which unfortunately only gave us a two-minute video detailing the game. That trailer did reveal a brand-new story, new environments, and a mysterious new portal called the Deep Dark Portal, which appears to house a new boss.

The game also features couch co-op, something I wish more games included these days. Unfortunately, that's about all we know for now. You can brave the internet and look up what else was revealed through the Nintendo eShop listing, but with the page now taken down, I can't imagine Microsoft is too pleased with what was revealed ahead of the Xbox Showcase.

If you're excited for Minecraft Dungeons 2, or even if you aren't, let me know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll!

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With Minecraft being one of the most popular games in the world — and being one of the most modded games in the world — it's not uncommon for hackers to try and use mods for Xbox and Mojang Studios' sandbox survival game as an attack vector. At the moment, though, there's an especially dangerous piece of malware going around that anyone who mods Minecraft (or knows someone that does) needs to know about.

I'm referring to "WeedHack," a piece of malicious software discovered by McAfee researchers that's been distributed to attackers through a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) campaign. It's been active since January, and unlike most hacking tools that often cost hundreds of dollars, WeedHack is extremely cheap — making it uniquely dangerous.

There's a free tier available that anyone can sign up for, with Premium plans that start at $5/month giving bad faith actors access to a more advanced version of the software that has more severe capabilities.

Attackers use WeedHack by hiding it within Minecraft mod files, effectively using them as a Trojan horse of sorts. Links to download these files are then shared on convincing fake mod hosting sites, in the description of phony mod review YouTube videos, or in comment sections.

Once they're downloaded, WeedHack quietly uses the Ethereum blockchain to connect to a secret network, then disables Windows Defender safeguards and embeds itself in your system before stealing everything from Minecraft session IDs and system information about your computer to passwords from Steam, Discord, and your browser and crypto wallet credentials.

Frighteningly, the Premium tier of WeedHack is also capable of giving a hacker live access to your computer's webcam, the power to force screen-sharing with mouse and keyboard control, command-line control over your PC, and the ability to upload or download files to your system.

McAfee says that while researching WeedHack by spying on its now-deleted Telegram server, it discovered that many of its users are teenagers and young adults — no doubt able to make use of the software because of its extremely low barrier to entry. Reportedly, while the malware could be used for financial theft, it's largely been wielded as a tool for cyberbullying and harassment.

Researchers say they witnessed attackers sharing videos recorded from the webcams of victims as trophies, and claiming that they used stolen IP addresses and passwords to threaten those they'd infected with WeedHack.

At the time of writing, over 116,000 users have been affected by WeedHack attacks in some way, and the malware campaign is reportedly "averaging 2,000 to 3,000 new hits every single day."

So, what can you do to protect yourself? Above all else, you should never download a Minecraft mod — or a mod for any game, for that matter — from a source that's not trusted by the community. For Minecraft, that means sticking to CurseForge or Modrinth; for other games, you should only download from Nexus Mods or ModDB. I can't stress this enough.

You may want to consider security software like McAfee's as well, as it may succeed in thwarting WeedHack's intrusion attempts where Windows Defender fails. McAfee says its Web Protection will prevent you from visiting sites where files can be downloaded in the first place, and that its antivirus will successfully prevent the malware from working if you do get it.

It's tragic that such a damaging piece of malware is running rampant on the web right now, and a sobering reminder of how important it is to be very careful about where you're downloading files from. Be smart, friends.

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Somehow Minecraft returned, and this time it's squared. The sequel to the worst movie I saw last year has been fully revealed as A Minecraft Movie Squared. Annoyingly, it's not a bad title, but there's been more revealed at Minecraft Live, so I'll put my feelings aside and do my best to simply deliver the details.

The film is expected to release on July 23, 2027, with Kirsten Dunst, who many will know from her role as Mary Jane in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, set to star as Steve's female counterpart, Alex.

There's more, though. Legendary British actor Matt Berry, a man with a voice to die for, is also set to appear. While his role is currently unconfirmed, his outfit has led some fans to speculate that he'll play the popular creepypasta character Herobrine. For those unfamiliar, Herobrine is a ghost-like figure rumored to haunt players' worlds, with the legend dating back to 2010.

It's not surprise we're getting a sequel, the first Minecraft movie was a massive blockbuster hit, finding a strong audience among the youth.

The reveal for the new movie featured several Minecraft creators, including TommyInnit and Quackity. Alongside the trailer, Minecraft also announced an official build challenge tied directly to the movie.

The details are fairly simple. Players are being asked to build something awesome, with finalists selected before a community vote decides the winner. There will also be a special cape up for grabs, while the winning build could appear in the movie itself.

Fans can also expect new biomes, characters, and mobs to appear in the sequel, with the team promising to take viewers even deeper into the Minecraft world this time around. whatever that entails.

I've been playing Minecraft for well over a decade, back when some of the biggest YouTubers around were The Yogscast, so it's a game that I hold quite dear. Despite my issues with the movie last year, I'm still somewhat hopeful that the sequel delivers when it releases next year.

Maybe that's just me, though. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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While the Java Edition of Xbox and Mojang Studios' sandbox survival game megahit Minecraft came before the Bedrock Edition available on consoles and the Xbox on PC app, it's actually missing a few features accessible in the other version — the main ones being options for multiplayer, as right now, Java only allows for Local Area Network (LAN) play or connecting to online servers.

At long last, though, that's changing. In the latest beta "Snapshot" testing build of the next major Minecraft: Java Edition update, Minecraft 26.2 Snapshot 7, Mojang announced that it's bringing two huge multiplayer features to the classic PC-only version: a Friends List and the ability to join other players' worlds through a peer-to-peer connection.

The Friends List emulates the way Bedrock Edition hooks into your friends list on Xbox or PlayStation, allowing you to send friend requests to players with their Profile Name or accept incoming requests in the Pending tab. The list will also show you what friends are up to in the Friends tab, informing you if they're "Offline," "Online," "In a world," or "In a joinable world."

Notably, the Friends List is also a core component of how Java Edition's new peer-to-peer multiplayer works. In Java's Snapshot 7 build, you have the option of inviting friends to your single player worlds, effectively allowing you to play them in multiplayer. If you set yourself to be open to multiplayer in the new Multiplayer Options menu, friends can also request to join your game as well.

Bedrock has had this functionality forever, but Java Edition players have always been forced to set up or purchase access to online servers (either third-party ones or official Minecraft Realms) to enjoy private multiplayer. Therefore, this is a huge step forward for Java, and gives it parity with Bedrock in this regard.

Something that makes the addition of peer-to-peer multiplayer particularly exciting is that it might support the use of mods as well, though Mojang hasn't touched on this yet. Assuming all players looking to play together have the same mods installed and are playing on the same Minecraft version, I think there's a good chance things would work properly.

All in all, between these added multiplayer features and the upcoming tests of the Vulkan API so that Minecraft can switch to it for the Vibrant Visuals update, Mojang is making a concentrated effort to modernize Java with better functionality, performance, and graphics — all while preserving the excellent mod support that makes it an attractive alternative to Bedrock for many. As someone who strongly prefers the modded experience when I get the Minecraft itch, I'm very glad for the improvements.

Notably, the full Minecraft: Java Edition 26.2 (and Minecraft: Bedrock Edition 26.30) patch will bring the Chaos Cubed update, a game drop that's centered around sulfur caves. This new cave biome has sulfur cube mobs as well as sulfur and cinnabar blocks. The update is scheduled to launch at some point in Q2 2026, and should be nearing completion.

Are you excited that Minecraft is finally getting support for peer-to-peer multiplayer on Java Edition, and a Friends List as well? Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll.

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Xbox has been on a huge comeback lately, telling players “we are Xbox.” While that message was aimed at fans, it clearly goes much deeper than that.

Xbox is also back internally. After shuttering the name Microsoft Gaming, something that arguably should never have existed in my opinion. Now, the company is returning to Xbox branding across the board. Thanks to reporting from The Verge, it looks like that push is extending to employee email addresses, giving those that work at Xbox unique Xbox branded emails.

Before we dive right in, I just want to say that I for one am so glad Microsoft Gaming is no more and that we’re getting Team Green actually being green again, instead of the minimalist, generic branding they had adopted. With the rebranding of Microsoft Gaming has also come new email addresses for Xbox employees, with an @xbox.com address set to roll out next month.

Prior to this, employees used @microsoft.com addresses. According to The Verge, they will have the option to opt in or opt out, meaning they can adopt the new @xbox.com address or keep their existing one as default.

Interestingly, over on the Mojang side of things, they will also be getting new addresses with @mojang.com. Both Mojang and Xbox employees will still maintain their @microsoft.com emails as aliases.

According to The Verge, this change is being made as part of efforts to strengthen “the Xbox identity inside and outside of Microsoft.” As for Activision and Bethesda, employees will continue to use their own email addresses.

For me, this feels like a pretty positive change, one that could help create more unity across Xbox. While it is more of an internal shift than something that directly affects us, the players, it's still good to see these kinds of changes being made, as they show that active steps are being taken to improve Xbox from within.

Let me know how you feel about this change. Do you care, or does it not really matter to you? Drop your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Minecraft recently held its Minecraft Live event, where it unveiled a range of new features, including sulfur caves, sulfur cubes, and more.

If you’re eager to try them out, Mojang says these additions are already available in preview for Bedrock Edition. Java Edition players are not being left behind either, as Mojang is continuing its yearly tradition with a new April Fools snapshot.

Minecraft's sulfur themed update, now in preview

Now available in preview for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, players can try out the sulfur update firsthand and provide feedback directly to Mojang to help shape the update.

Included in the preview:

• Sulfur cubes
• Sulfur cave biome
• Sulfur springs
• Potent sulfur block

Mojang are directly asking for feedback, explaining that feedback has already helped them iterate and make improvements base off the feedback already provided.

If you wish to take part in the preview, Mojang have put together a handy guide that I'll link here.

Minecraft's annual April Fools update

It wouldn’t be April Fools without a new snapshot full of weird ideas for Minecraft: Java Edition. In previous years, Mojang has released some wild updates, including the 2020 Endless Dimensions snapshot and 2024’s Poisonous Potato update, which even featured a grappling hook, and 2025’s CraftMine update.

This year, it has turned its attention to something called Herdcraft. This update removes the inventory entirely, instead turning the whole world into your inventory. It sounds confusing at first, but it does look like a lot of fun. Mojang explains that instead of swinging your sword at a Creeper, you can command an entire arsenal of weapons to attack it for you.

If you want to try the latest Java Edition snapshot, open the Minecraft Launcher, enable snapshots, and select the “Latest Snapshot” option.

What do you make of Minecraft’s latest updates? I always enjoy when companies have a bit of fun with April Fools, as long as it’s clearly a joke and not teasing features players actually want.

Let me know your thoughts on both the sulfur preview and Herdcraft in the comments, and be sure to take part in the poll below:

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Did you ever get a chance to play Minecraft Dungeons? If so, you were part of over 25 million players who took to Mojang Studios' first ARPG outing. Given the fantastic success it saw, it seems like a no-brainer that Minecraft Dungeons 2 has been announced!

“The next chapter of Minecraft Dungeons begins in the fall of 2026! A new threat stirs, ready to descend upon the land and its inhabitants to cause unspeakable mayhem. Become a hero and take on foes unlike anything you’ve faced before, journey through long‑forgotten locations, and clash with the forces of evil once more!”

Looking at the trailer, there’s no actual gameplay for players to comb over. Very little is known about the project outside of the fact that it’s a sequel, but commentators on YouTube are asking, maybe we’ll finally get a chance to look through the portal in the Ancient City from the first game?

So many players of the original game are clamouring in the comments over the sequel. Many are displaying their prestige with their level or power stats.

As for me, Minecraft Dungeons was one of the best coop games I played when it was released in 2020. Peak COVID-19, Minecraft Dungeons was a nice little escape from the realities of our world at the time.

While I can’t imagine Mojang Studios will manage to match the magic of the time (please, we don’t need another lockdown), I’m sure Minecraft Dungeons 2 will be everything we loved from the first game and more. At least, that’s what a sequel is supposed to be, right?

Personal wishlist

I didn’t reach level 400, but I put in a solid number of hours, enough to know what worked and what didn’t. My biggest frustration with Minecraft Dungeons was the absence of WASD movement for PC players. Of all the improvements Mojang could make, that one sits at the top of my list.

Lack of content at launch is another concern. It took years of updates for Minecraft Dungeons to feel truly substantial. The base game, released nearly six years ago, was notably skinny on the content front. For the sequel, I’d hope Mojang starts from a place of abundance rather than playing catch-up as they did.

If Mojang can match the breadth of the current game while bringing the polish a modern release demands, Minecraft Dungeons 2 has every reason to be another standout for the studio.

Would it be silly of me to admit that, as a 36-year-old man, I’m looking forward to potentially taking a day off to play this with my wife? Is that too embarrassing to admit? Am I cool to do that? I guess this is one way to see if she reads my articles!

Are you excited for Minecraft Dungeons 2? What would you want to see coming to the sequel that you felt was missing from the original? Let me know in the comments below! Maybe we can party up later this year!

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Xbox Game Studios' and Mojang Studios' legendary survival sandbox game Minecraft has been a fan favorite for countless players on various platforms and Xbox Game Pass since it first released 17 years ago in 2009 (goodness, I feel old), and one major reason why is because its developers have continuously supported it with major content updates and quality-of-life additions.

These updates are often the centerpieces of Mojang's annual Minecraft Live showcases held in the spring and fall — and now that spring has arrived this year, the developers have announced the official date for the first Minecraft Live 2026 show with a brand new trailer for the event (you can watch it here or below).

As it turns out, fans don't have to wait very long at all for the presentation, as the first Minecraft Live 2026 showcase event is scheduled to begin on March 21 at 1 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CEST. Like with previous shows, you'll be able to watch it live on minecraft.net/live, or alternatively through the official Minecraft YouTube and Twitch channels.

The trailer itself doesn't show anything we haven't seen before, though it does strongly hint at some of what we'll see from the showcase (more on that in a moment). The minute-long animation of fan-favorite Minecraft mobs being silly and whimsical is also pretty adorable, so definitely give it a watch.

Notably, the prominent appearance of baby versions of mobs — including baby chickens, goats, pigs, wolves, striders, villagers, and even dolphins — strongly suggests that this Minecraft Live show will bring more information about the upcoming Tiny Takeover update.

When it drops, this update will transform the appearance of all baby mobs in Minecraft by giving them a new, bespoke look, along with fresh, custom sound effects that distinguish them from their adult versions. Until now, baby mobs have just looked like smaller versions of creatures with larger heads and pitch-shifted audio, so these new designs and sound effects should be quite the glow-up.

Along with the cute new baby mobs, Tiny Takeover will also add a golden dandelion you can craft with gold nuggets and a dandelion you can feed to them that will keep them young forever (feeding them another will allow them to age again). We're also finally getting craftable name tags (you'll need a piece of paper and a nugget of any metal ore), and for the musicians out there, placing copper under a note block will make trumpet sounds after the patch.

Some other things we might hear about from Minecraft Live include the upcoming tests for Java Edition's switch from the OpenGL graphics API to Vulkan, or perhaps the recently leaked "Project Spicewood" that looks to be a sequel to the Diablo-like Minecraft Dungeons.

The Minecraft Live trailer mentions "secret stuff," so perhaps this new game is one of the surprises Mojang has in store for Minecraft fans. Notably, the leak suggests the game is coming out in "Q2 2026," which means we might see it release between April and the end of June; if that's the case, an announcement at this showcase is very, very likely.

🗨️ Are you excited for Minecraft Live?

The Minecraft Live showcases Xbox and Mojang hold every other season always provide exciting looks at what's next for the beloved block game franchise, and between the upcoming Tiny Takeover update and the potential for a new game announcement, this presentation could be one of the best yet.

Are you looking forward to it? Are you planning on catching it live? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to vote in our poll about a potential Minecraft Dungeons sequel, too:

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Minecraft developer Mojang Studios first brought the highly anticipated Vibrant Visuals update to the Bedrock Edition (Xbox, PC, PS5, Switch) of its sandbox survival game last summer, and now it's focused on releasing it for the PC-specific, modding-friendly Minecraft: Java Edition. As part of that process, the studio has announced it's switching Java over to a new graphics API.

Put simply, graphics APIs form a bridge between your system's GPU and your games, allowing the former to render the latter on your screen. Currently, Minecraft: Java Edition uses OpenGL, an aging program first developed in the 1990s. It's stopped receiving updates and soon won't work on macOS anymore, though, so Mojang is moving to Vulkan instead.

Vulkan is a newer, frequently updated API that's supported on all of Minecraft's PC platforms (Windows, Linux, and macOS with a "translation layer"), and is currently used for the Nintendo Switch version of Bedrock. Mojang says the move to Vulkan will make Java Edition much easier to update, and will also bring "eventual performance gains and increased capabilities."

Those will be valuable to have to support Vibrant Visuals — an optional graphical overhaul that significantly improves the game's lighting, adds dynamic shadows, brings reflective and emissive layers to textures, and introduces biome-specific color grading and visual effects. Basically, it's the officially implemented equivalent of modded shaders and texture packs, and is designed to elevate Minecraft's vanilla aesthetic.

The developers say they're planning to start testing Vulkan in Java Edition with public pre-release "snapshot" builds this summer, with players able to swap between Vulkan and OpenGL during the testing period. It's committed to staying in testing "until we’re confident that the Vulkan implementation is stable, performant and ready," at which point OpenGL will be sunset.

Notably, Mojang promises that players will be notified of the full move to Vulkan before it comes, and says that Minecraft's minimum PC requirements will be updated as needed to reflect the use of the new API.

Considering that even GPUs that are now a full 10-years old support Vulkan, the vast, vast majority of Minecraft players should have no issues playing the game once it switches to the new API. However, if the graphics card in your rig is older than that, you may need to make an upgrade.

All in all, I expect the shift to Vulkan will end up being a huge boon for Minecraft players that prefer using Java Edition to Bedrock. Java's open-ended architecture makes it the favored version for modding, and it also features more advanced redstone logic and more nuanced combat. It's always had worse performance than Bedrock, though, which is unfortunate.

Vulkan, though, should help with that substantially — though one caveat is that all OpenGL-based Minecraft mods will need to be overhauled to be compatible with the game's future on Vulkan. Mojang acknowledges this, and asks that players afford mod authors patience and kindness while they work to do this.

Minecraft: Java Edition is included in the $29.99 PC bundle that provides access to both Java and Bedrock, which is notably just $17.89 at Loaded right now thanks to a sweet deal. Alternatively, it's also playable through PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Are you looking forward to Minecraft: Java Edition switching over to the Vulkan graphics API? Which version of the game do you prefer, Java or Bedrock? Let me know in the comments.

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For many, Minecraft instantly brings back nostalgia, wonder, and countless late nights. Those memories still hit me whenever I think about the early days—experimenting with redstone levers, exploring Xbox 360 maps, and playing before the game was available anywhere but Java. Since then, Minecraft has added new biomes, enemies, enchantments, ores, and more.

The game has certainly grown, but for a title that earns hundreds of millions every year, truly major updates are shockingly rare. Take the first graphical overhaul as an example. The RTX update was announced in 2019, but it took six more years to reach consoles. By then, it had been rebranded as Vibrant Visuals and felt like a different product altogether. For a player base of this size, meaningful improvements have arrived at a pace that would make snails look good.

Now, Hytale has entered the scene and is quickly gaining traction with the world-building community. Even though it does not have the polish of a game with more than sixteen years of development, it is already showing a level of potential that should make Mojang nervous about their own complacency.

The world of Hytale

Defying all obstacles, HyPixel Studios managed to bring Hytale to the masses, even after Riot Games tried to kill it off. Despite this, Hytale reportedly reached a staggering 1 million sales before even launching. It’s undeniably impressive, though at first, I couldn’t understand why so many people cared.

When I first heard of Hytale, I asked, “Why?” Who is this for? Why do we need what is essentially a modded version of Minecraft?

I needed to find out, so I went ahead and purchased the standard $20 version to give it a go. I couldn’t have been more wrong about my early assumptions. It was clear there was a lot more to the game than I first realized.

I mean, right off the bat, you're met with fluid motions that Mojang could only ever dream of implementing in Minecraft. Instead of generally hard-stuck flat textures, Hytale allows for expansive 3D textures on top of those fluid animations. This all leads to a game whose general look is that of a Minecraft dream world.

On top of it all, Hytale supports a wealth of RPG elements without the addition of mods, with the promise of massive expansions to come. Weapons feature multiple attack variations with both light and heavy attacks alongside an “ultimate ability that is charged through combat.

On top of it all, Hytale will also feature a story mode for players eager to jump into something with a bit more lore than that of your traditional Minecraft experience.

I haven’t even begun to touch on all the differences between these two works, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean Minecraft is in trouble, the certainty of its block-building monopoly is all but certain.

Why Hytale should be a kick in Minecraft’s butt

Minecraft still has the polish of a product that’s been worked on for over 15 years, with a wealth of modded servers and communities on both Java and Bedrock Editions that hold communities in the millions. With that, Minecraft isn’t on the cusp of some epic collapse because of Hytale’s sudden success, but it should take this as a well-measured wake-up call if nothing else.

For years, Mojang has been a bit of a meme in the Minecraft community. The whole “do something” image is a perfect example of the player's core thoughts about Minecraft. With the insane income Minecraft sees today, thanks to the wealth of microtransactions and realm hosting capabilities, you’d like to imagine they’d double or even triple their efforts in content expansion.

Instead, whether true or not, most people believe their efforts are aimed at those microtransactions rather than basic content expansion. Why expand upon Minecraft’s core capabilities when you can make another 32 texture packs and charge $4.99 for each? That’s where Hytale shines.

Since HyPixel is dealing with an early access game, they’ll be making massive overhauls and expansions to their systems for years to come. The Hytale we see today will become a well-oiled juggernaut that eventually surpasses Minecraft in basic functionality.

Even if millions of players see these two games as entirely different, it all comes down to which one is more fun to play. If Microsoft and Mojang continue to sit on their hands without considering a shake-up of their own formula, we could eventually see a similar divot to what Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 recently experienced.

If your thirty-billion-dollar franchise has seen a massive dip in sales and player counts thanks to titles like Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, I have to imagine that sets off some massive alarm bells at Microsoft. This is exactly what happens when you lazily recycle the same formula, refusing to take real creative risks or offer players anything new. Black Ops 7 is the perfect example. How many times can you repackage the same game and expect people to care?

I understand that Mojang manages both Java and Bedrock versions of Minecraft, and that significant overhauls might impact performance. However, it’s 2026, and Minecraft desperately needs innovation to remain future-proofed. As Hytale has shown, there’s a huge appetite for fresh and unique experiences in the block survival genre, and sticking to the status quo is no longer enough.

Mojang, if this hasn’t already served as a wake-up call, what will it take for you to finally act?

One of the biggest new games out right now is Hytale, the heavily Minecraft-inspired block-based sandbox survival RPG from Hypixel Studios — the same team behind the Minecraft server of the same name that stands as one of the most popular in the world. Released into Early Access earlier this month on January 13 after a troubled development history, the game has quickly accrued a colossal following.

Notably, it's made waves big enough to reach the attention of Minecraft developer Mojang Studios' chief creative officer Jens "Jeb" Bergensten, who commented on the game earlier this week when asked if he's played it and what he thinks about it.

"I've played a little bit of Hytale," he told one user on Bluesky, before giving his full thoughts in a separate reply. "I'd like it to be more different to Minecraft. It's very polished, but the feeling I get when I play is that I'd rather just play Minecraft," he said. "It's very early, though, and I know modding will be an important aspect. I will definitely play more later."

You might expect Hytale's developers to feel disheartened by that impression, but Hypixel founder Simon Collins-Laflamme actually appreciates Bergensten's take and perspective, and is determined to keep developing and improving the game.

"Jebs saying Hytale feels very polished is the best compliment we could ever get," he wrote in a lengthy response on X (Twitter). "I know the genre very well, and I'm very critical of our own game — I agree with a lot of the negative feedback and take notes all day. I have been saying for months that Hytale still has a long way to go, and I still believe it, which is why I keep working every single day."

"Hearing that Jebs says he will come back to play again later is great, hopefully, to experience the true vision we have for Hytale," he added. "Respect to the Mojang team for playing, hopefully they understand the different vision a bit more and feel more comfortable with us being around!"

Collins-Laflamme went on to say that "I understand Jebs' sentiment when he says, 'I'd rather just play Minecraft,'" noting that the things that will distinguish Hytale from Mojang's juggernaut — "something new, more combat-adventure-based, exploration and fantasy-based" — aren't in the RPG yet.

"At this point, he is probably right to feel this way; we haven't had time to add all the features that make us unique, and the early-game experience we have is quite barebones compared to what we can do with World Gen V2 and other upcoming features," he explained. "We don't have instanced dungeons, bosses, quests, stories or anything right now. All of this is planned, and the good news is, we have the team for it."

Making something like this, Collins-Laflamme says, is what drives Hypixel to work on Hytale. "It's not to compete with or replace Minecraft; we just want something that resonates with us. Personally, grew up with Warcraft, Diablo, D&D, and all these amazing fantasy experiences. I wish my kids would feel the same way I did when I first stepped into these amazing fantasy worlds, and that it would spark their creativity as it did for me," he said.

Collins-Laflamme promises "you will see a major shift between Minecraft and Hytale as we expand our production of extensive modding tools, fantasy worlds, and much more," and notes "I also consider PvP quite important for us, so keep an eye on this in the future as well."

Ultimately, it sounds like Bergensten will get his wish for Hytale to stand out from Minecraft more; Hypixel's continued development of the former will aim to shape it into more of an action and adventure-forward RPG, while the latter is far more laid-back and focused on creative, sandbox-driven building.

Personally, I think the vision Hytale's devs have for the game sounds great, and I can't wait to see how it grows from here; you can buy the game from its website if you're interested in supporting it through Early Access and checking it out now.

What do you think of Hytale, and how it compares to Minecraft? Are you interested in the game, and are you looking forward to seeing where it goes from here? Let me know in the comments.

Minecraft had one heck of a year in 2025, and it shows no signs of slowing down as we progress deeper into the new year. Mojang Studios wasted no time revealing details on the first game drop of 2026 for Minecraft, and it's looking adorable.

There's no name or release date, but we do know that Minecraft's debut update of the year will bring cute new redesigns of many baby mobs, including wolves, cats, cows, pigs, and more. It goes deeper than just the visuals, too.

I'm admittedly a little late to covering this, as I was extremely busy while in Las Vegas for CES 2026, but I want to spread the word and make sure everyone sees just how lovable the new baby mobs are. Oh, and let committed Minecraft players know they can go try out the new features right now via snapshots or previews.

Another Spring update that matches the season

You can watch the developer diary above for a succinct summary of the features confirmed for this update, but I'll give you the quick, written breakdown right here.

• New baby mobs. The headline for this update, at least right now, is the revisit to Minecraft's baby mobs. Mojang Studios has created custom models and textures for baby wolves, cats, chickens, cows, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and ocelots. Yes, that includes all the regional variants for these mobs!
• New sounds and animations. For some of these mobs, the update goes deeper than just a visual refresh for babies. Wolf pups and kittens get all-new sounds, with unique yips, barks, mews, and yowls. Adult rabbits have also been redesigned, and they and their kits benefit from adorable new animations.
• Craftable name tags. Finally, the name tag has joined the saddle by becoming craftable in Minecraft. With a single gold nugget and a scrap of paper, you will now be able to craft name tags. That'll make it a lot easier to name all the pets you won't stop collecting.

If you remember, Minecraft started 2025 with the Spring to Life update, which felt very similar to this upcoming game drop in that it focused on diversity and detail in the Overworld. Mojang's Game Director, Agnes Larsson, also made the same comparison in the developer diary linked above.

As much as I absolutely adore these new baby mobs, I am hopeful that more is planned for this update before it actually rolls out to players, possibly in March of this year.

My favorite part? I'm already seeing the Minecraft community come together with some excellent suggestions for this upcoming update. It's still early days for Minecraft's first update of the year, too, so we have no idea what Mojang is already cooking up (and how it may respond to player feedback).

For example, what if there were a way to permanently preserve baby mobs? Perhaps by adding a "Lil" prefix or "Jr." suffix to name tags, or by feeding a baby mob something like a glistering melon (just to name a couple ideas from comments). New fox variants could also be awesome, especially if they were accompanied by redesigned, fluffier baby foxes.

I've also seen people wish they could properly tame and befriend rabbits like you can cats and dogs, and I fully understand the sentiment. There are plentiful neutral mobs like rabbits that can be bred by players, but bunnies are fairly popular (and very friendly) pets in real life, so why can't the same be said of Minecraft rabbits?

There's still a lot we don't know about this update, of course, so all we can do is keep letting Mojang know what we want and wait for fresh betas and news. While I'm on that topic, you can absolutely go test out the first new features I broke down above in the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshots and Minecraft: Bedrock Edition previews.

What do you think about Minecraft's first update of the year? Is there anything you want to see Mojang Studios add to Minecraft in 2026? Let us know in the comments below!

Minecraft has been around for over 15 years now, but it's still showing no signs of slowing down. As 2025 properly ends and we usher in a new year, we're looking back at another year of Minecraft filled with fun, plenty of new updates, and some awfully big numbers that only this community can pull off.

Mojang Studios is joining in on the retrospective with some of those crazy stats, and is also giving away a free Inflatable Chicken Suit Character Creator item to anyone who logs into the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition dressing room right now.

Next year promises to be another big one for one of the world's most successful video games, but that doesn't mean we can't take a look back first. Let's get started.

Keeping track of Minecraft player shenanigans

First, Mojang shared this image at X.com (formerly Twitter), sharing some random stats from the community throughout 2025. Sorry for those of you who love updates on the number of copies Minecraft has sold, how many monthly active players Minecraft has, and other bigger statistics — this end-of-year breakdown doesn't take itself too seriously.

For one, the Minecraft community clearly loved the new copper golem mob added earlier this year, as we've already spawned nearly a billion of the helpful little guys. We're also clearly having a lot of fun with all the new mounts, because we tamed over 270 million of them and traveled over 335 billion combined blocks.

I guess most of us are still finding the saddles we need in treasure chests, though, because we only took advantage of our newfound ability to craft them 16 million times this year.

I would have also enjoyed some stats on how much we modded Minecraft: Java Edition or took advantage of the Minecraft Marketplace, but no such luck on those fronts.

A busy year filled with Minecraft updates

If I tried to recap everything major that happened with Minecraft in 2025, this article would end up looking more like a Wikipedia page than anything you'd actually want to sit and read.

I do want to take a few moments to hit Minecraft's biggest points of the year, though, starting with one of two Minecraft Live events Mojang hosted in 2025. I covered Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025), and it was filled with announcements on the game's first three updates of the year, A Minecraft Movie, and more.

Yes, Minecraft hit the silver screen in 2025, and it broke some records while doing it. I actually spoke with some of the team behind the Minecraft movie as it hit streaming services earlier this year, and Mojang also teased the Minecraft movie sequel coming in 2027.

Back to Minecraft, though, and we started the year with the Spring to Life update, which aimed to make the Overworld feel more diverse (while also adding plenty of quality-of-life improvements). Then, we got two updates in one with Vibrant Visuals and Chase the Skies, with the former finally upgrading Minecraft's iconic graphics and the latter letting us fly with our friends on happy ghasts.

Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025) arrived with a fresh wave of announcements, including all the details on what I consider to be Minecraft's best update of 2025, The Copper Age. Finally, we got a lot of new mobs and a brand-new weapon with Minecraft's final update of the year, Mounts of Mayhem.

That's not everything, of course. Mojang Studios announced a collaboration with Candy Crush's King to develop Minecraft Blast, an upcoming mobile game. Minecraft in 2026 will also look a little different, thanks to the removal of code obfuscation for modders and a change in how version numbers work.

I could say even more, but I'll leave it at this: Minecraft had quite the year. I'm excited to see what 2026 has in store, too. As a quick reminder right here at the end, Minecraft is also discounted across all platforms through the first week of 2026, too.

Minecraft had a big year filled with updates, events, and milestones — and 2026 isn't about to slow things down. What do you think of the state of Minecraft at the end of the year, and are you excited for what's coming next? Let us know in the comments below!

2025 was a big year for Minecraft, with two Minecraft Live events and four sizeable content updates. Yes, four — the holidays are here and the end of the year is looming, and Minecraft is enjoying its last 2025 game drop with Mounts of Mayhem (and the last update before Mojang changes how Minecraft version numbers work).

Announced during Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025), the Mounts of Mayhem content drop brings an all-new tiered weapon, several new mobs, and a lot of mounted combat. It's the perfect, chaotic way to cap off a varied year for the world's biggest survival game.

The Mounts of Mayhem update is now rolling out across Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and Minecraft: Java Edition platforms. Keep reading for the full dive into what this update brings, including some insights from my conversation with Mojang Studios' Senior Product Manager, Anna Lundgren.

Lots of chaos, lots of mobs

"It's nice to end the year with some mayhem," Lundgren told me toward the end of our brief conversation. True to its name, the Mounts of Mayhem update is a bit wilder than the previous three Minecraft game drops. Here's a breakdown of the new content it brings to the table.

• The spear: For the first time in many years, Mojang Studios has added a new tiered weapon to Minecraft, joining the sword and axe.
  • The spear is a melee weapon with extended minimum and maximum reach, and can be crafted with wood, stone, copper, iron, gold, diamond, or netherite.
  • The spear has jab and charge attacks, with the former dealing low damage and knockback, and the latter scaling damage and knockback based on material, angle, and velocity.
  • The spear is designed with mounted combat in mind, and can be used by players, zombies, husks, and piglins.
  • The spear also has the exclusive lunge enchantment, which changes the quick jab to a horizontal lunge, at the cost of durability and hunger.
• The nautilus: Mojang Studios has added a brand-new mount specifically for underwater adventures.
  • The nautilus spawns in all ocean biomes, with the incredibly rare coral nautilus sometimes spawning in the warm ocean biome.
  • The nautilus is a neutral mob, but can be tamed (and bred) with pufferfish.
  • The nautilus can be equipped with a saddle and new nautilus armor (functionally similar to horse armor).
  • When riding a nautilus, players get the "Breath of the Nautilus" effect, which halts loss of oxygen when underwater.
  • The nautilus also has a dash, similar to the camel (but underwater).
• Undead mounts: Players aren't the only ones to enjoy mounted combat — three new undead mounts are also being added.
  • The zombie horse now spawns naturally in Survival mode with spear-wielding zombie riders, and can wear horse armor for protection from the sun.
  • The camel husk can spawn in deserts with spear-wielding husks and parched riders, and is immune to the sun.
  • The zombie nautilus can spawn underwater with trident-wielding drowned riders.
  • All three undead mobs are hostile when ridden by a hostile mob, but are neutral and can be tamed (but not bred) when the hostile rider is killed.
• The parched: Mojang Studios also added a new hostile mob to Minecraft with the parched.
  • The parched is the skeleton archer counterpart to the husk, spawning in deserts with sun immunity.
  • The parched fires arrows of weakness, but shoots slower than normal skeletons.
  • The parched can also spawn with a husk riding a camel husk.
• Other changes: We've covered the big additions, but here are some other miscellaneous updates included in this game drop.
  • Horses, donkeys, camels, and other mounts no longer sink in water when riding them.
  • You can now upgrade diamond horse armor to netherite horse armor with a smithing table.
  • Minecraft: Java Edition now has new graphics presets and options.

"It has been a varied year," Lundgren said. "We had some very nice, lovable things for builders and explorers with Spring to Life. Chasing Skies gave us the happy ghast to go flying in the sky with your friends. We had a Copper Age with all the new copper things."

RELATED: Minecraft's Copper Age update | Minecraft's Chase the Skies and Vibrant Visuals updates

Now, we're closing the year with Mounts of Mayhem, which comes with some surprises, like the legendary zombie horse finally making it out of Creative mode.

"Unfortunately, the reason why the zombie horse never made it into Survival outside of using commands... That's a story that has been lost with time," Lundgren told me when I asked about it.

We also got more in this update than what we saw during Minecraft Live. "[Camel husks and parched] were part of the plan, but they weren't ready in development to show at Minecraft Live," Lundgren said.

Mojang has changed how it approaches updates and announcements, releasing smaller (but more frequent) updates and only showing off features when they're nearly ready to be released to Minecraft insiders for testing.

Lundgren listed horses being able to swim and the spear being her favorite features from the Mounts of Mayhem update, and teased that 2026 will be another big year for Minecraft.

If you want to see every change and addition included in Mounts of Mayhem, you can now check out the Minecraft: Java Edition 1.21.11 changelog and the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition 1.21.130 changelog.

Since day one, Minecraft has marked each major update with an incremental version number increase, but we've been stuck on version 1.21 since the release of the Tricky Trials update in Jun. 2024. Why? Because Mojang Studios changed how it updates Minecraft, focusing more on smaller, more frequent drops than massive annual releases.

Now, Minecraft version numbers are changing to match, and making them clearer and easier to understand in the process.

For many of us, this isn't world-shaking news, but it's still an important change for Minecraft as a whole — and especially for Minecraft creators and modders.

Previously, Minecraft releases were notated by a 1.x.x version number, with each major release getting a .1 increment — and patches for that update ticking up by .x.1. We've been stuck on 1.21.x for a while, though, with the most recent "The Copper Age" game drop being 1.21.9 for Java Edition and 1.21.110 for Bedrock Edition.

Under this new system, Minecraft's version number will simply be the year an update is released, followed by additional numbers counting the updates. So, The Copper Age would've been 25.3 for Java Edition and 25.50 for Bedrock Edition (Bedrock Edition's number being higher because that version is simply updated more frequently).

For patches and hotfixes, Java Edition will get an additional .x increment, and Bedrock Edition will count up from the "0" at the end; for example, 25.3.1 and 25.51, respectively.

This won't impact the game itself or the player experience at all, but it does streamline matters for developers and creators. It also makes snapshots and previews easier to understand, as they'll now fall under this new version numbering system — instead of something like "25w41a," (the first snapshot for the upcoming Mounts of Mayhem game drop), it'd instead be 25.4-snapshot-1.

These changes will begin taking effect next year (but previews are adopting these changes as soon as next week), so "Minecraft 1.x.x" is officially being retired. The Mounts of Mayhem update is releasing on Dec. 9, and the first update after (in the new year) will be Minecraft 26.1. You can read more about the change at Minecraft.net.

This is the second important (but admittedly boring, for most people) change to Minecraft's development Mojang Studios has announced recently, with the developer also committing to removing code obfuscation from Minecraft: Java Edition moving forward — a move that will massively improve how easy it is to mod the game.

As the holidays progress toward the inevitable conclusion of 2025, Mojang Studios is preparing to release one more update for Minecraft. Now, we know exactly when the Mounts of Mayhem game drop is coming to Minecraft players around the world.

We don't have long to wait, either, as Minecraft's final update of the year is officially set to release on Dec. 9, 2025, just under two weeks away. In fact, Mojang Studios has already begun testing near-final, pre-release snapshots and previews with Minecraft insiders.

Here's a quick recap of what you need to know about the Mounts of Mayhem update for Minecraft, to prepare yourself before its imminent arrival.

Lots of mounts and lots of mayhem are almost here

There's a fair bit of content included in the Mounts of Mayhem game drop, mostly revolving around, well, mounts. The headliner is the nautilus, a new tameable mob that lives underwater. When mounted, the nautilus preserves your oxygen, making underwater adventures easier.

Hostile mobs are also getting a variety of new mounting options, with the zombie nautilus for drowned, the zombie horse for zombies, and the new camel husk for husks and Minecraft's latest hostile mob, the sun-bleached parched skeleton.

To make mounts even more interesting, Mojang is also introducing a brand-new weapon: the spear. The spear can be used to jab, lunge, and joust, with damage that scales depending on your speed. Unlike the uncommon mace, too, the spear is easily crafted with the same materials as other tools and weapons.

It'll be interesting to see just how popular the spear and mounted combat become when Mounts of Mayhem arrives on Dec. 9 for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and Minecraft: Java Edition.

This is the last update of the year, but we do already know some of Mojang's plans for Minecraft in the new year, including the removal of code obfuscation from Java Edition for modding. We also know Mojang and King are working together on Minecraft Blast, a new mobile spin-off game.

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Minecraft is already one of the biggest and most successful video games ever released, and the main game is available on practically every device — including your smartphone.

One of the other true behemoths of the mobile gaming space is Candy Crush, and both of these brands are now a part of the Xbox family. Today, the teams behind these games announced a brand-new joint project to bring them together.

Minecraft Blast is official, but this may be the first you're hearing about it. Mojang Studios and King are keeping things quiet for now as they develop the newest mobile Xbox game, so here's what you need to know.

It's no Minecraft Earth, but I see why this is being made

At first glance, Minecraft Blast may not seem terribly exciting. This isn't Genshin Impact or some other wildly ambitious mobile game that will inevitably expand to other platforms; it'll be a match puzzle game, similar to the dozens (if not hundreds) of other match puzzle games that have been releasing on Android and iOS platforms for years.

Few people actively talk about these games, but match puzzle games continue to be some of the most-played and most-downloaded games on any platform. Millions of people who have never thought of themselves as "gamers" love these games as casual, addictive time killers, and Minecraft is a powerful and accessible brand that — in theory — is the perfect fit for a quality match puzzle game.

This isn't the first time Minecraft has gone beyond its open-world, survival sandbox roots; Mojang actually has a complicated history with attempts to spin off Minecraft into different gaming genres. A prime example is Minecraft Earth, the studio's first attempt to explore a pure, mobile-first Minecraft experience.

Minecraft Earth relied on Augmented Reality in an effort to capitalize on the explosive success of Pokémon Go, but ultimately failed and was shut down less than two years after its launch. Years later, Mojang is ready to take another crack at a mobile Minecraft game, this time assisted by one of the most successful mobile game developers of all time.

King is the studio and publisher behind the Candy Crush Saga, and it's the third part of the Activision family that officially joined Xbox in 2023. We don't talk much about King at Windows Central, because it's not a loud brand — Candy Crush is the champion of ultra-casual mobile gaming, and it quietly rakes in absurd amounts of cash. Now, King is Mojang Studio's sibling, so why not tag-team a new mobile game?

The product of that partnership isn't widely available yet and likely won't be anytime soon. Minecraft Blast is apparently in the early development stage, with this announcement flying under the radar because the finished product will likely look quite different than the early screenshots you can see above.

If you're asking why Mojang and King bothered announcing at all, it's because Minecraft Blast is kicking off highly limited, early playtests with select players within specific markets. Right now, that's only people living in Malaysia, on the iOS platform, who are okay with English as the game's language.

In time, we'll hopefully see more of Minecraft Blast as its playtests expand to more players, platforms, and regions ahead of its eventual release. You can check out the official Minecraft Blast page at Minecraft.net.

FAQ

Mojang Studios is already testing features for the next major Minecraft update, but that hasn't stopped the developer from announcing another big update coming to Minecraft in the future — except this one is very different.

Following the full release of the upcoming Mounts of Mayhem update, Mojang Studios will begin removing obfuscation from Minecraft: Java Edition. For most people, this will mean nothing; for modders, this will change everything.

Minecraft boasts one of the world's largest modding communities, so this update will affect a lot of people. Here's what you need to know.

Modding Minecraft is about to get a lot easier

Basically, Minecraft: Java Edition's source code — the game's "insides," if you will — is scrambled to disguise how the game truly functions. This process is called obfuscation, and it's very common in video game and software development. The problem, though, is that modders needed to meticulously piece together the code in order to create their mods.

Mojang Studios previously released "obfuscation mappings" to help modders match obfuscated terms and variables to un-obfuscated counterparts, but it wasn't solving the problem itself.

Now, Minecraft: Java Edition builds won't be obfuscated, starting with the first snapshot after the Mounts of Mayhem update. All of Mojang's original names will be intact, making Minecraft's code far clearer and easier to parse for modders.

To help the modding community make the transition (especially since many modding tools are built with Minecraft's obfuscation in mind), Mojang will also include experimental non-obfuscated previews starting with the next Java Edition snapshot.

You can read the original announcement at Minecraft.net. Minecraft players already accomplish incredible things, like building a working AI bot inside of Minecraft, and any move that makes it easier for modders to realize their vision is a positive in my books.

FAQ

Minecraft is scarcely the same game as what broke ground in 2009, and how could it be after over 15 years of constant updates and expansions? The way Minecraft is updated has changed a lot over time, too, and the latest behind-the-scenes video from Mojang Studios discusses exactly that.

The new video stars Jens Bergensten, Chief Creative Officer at Mojang, and Cory Scheviak, a Creative Lead. It's a short video with plenty of jokes and a lot of lessons about Mojang's current design philosophy for Minecraft, with new features balancing risk and reward.

When it comes to older features that don't fit the bill, Bergensten brought up the legendary Creeper, Minecraft's most explosive hostile mob. According to the Mojang veteran, the team likely wouldn't add the Creeper to Minecraft today — and I completely understand why.

When bad things happen, you should only have yourself to blame

I won't break down the entire video (it's on the shorter side and it's an enjoyable watch), but I can summarize. Minecraft is always in the process of evolving, and Mojang Studios carefully considers every new feature, including how players will use it, how it may affect the game long term, and how it interacts with other parts of the game.

When it comes to destruction and challenge, it's all about giving players a way to opt-in. "Bad things happen, but they're technically the player's fault," Bergensten said earlier in the video. Basically, Mojang wants challenge to be sought after in Minecraft — if you encounter trouble beyond your means, it's either because you actively chose not to avoid it or you failed to properly prepare yourself for it.

You choose to enter the End and challenge the Ender Dragon. You choose to summon the powerful Wither. You choose to begin Pillager Raids or seek out challenging Trial Chambers. You can also protect your homes from lightning strikes with the lightning rod, create Iron Golems to ward against hostile mobs, equip yourself with armor and powerful enchantments, and a million other ways to keep yourself safe.

Sometimes, "emergent changes," or unexpected interactions with new features, break this philosophy. The Enderman used to be able to pick up any block, which resulted in player builds and machines being destroyed. Iron Golems used to attack Creepers, which resulted in unnecessary and unpreventable destruction. Mojang made changes to these features, but what about the Creeper itself?

"If you would follow the rules that we have today," Bergensten said in the video, "we would probably not add the Creeper." The Creeper may be Minecraft's most iconic mob, but the community has a love-hate relationship with this silent bomber, which has annihilated countless player builds over the years.

"It would actually be so controversial to have a monster that would show up and just destroy what you've built," Bergensten continued, and I wholeheartedly agree. The Creeper is inseparable from Minecraft now, but if it was a new feature being added in 2025 there would be mass uproar from the community.

It's honestly not surprising to hear the Minecraft team take this stance. Minecraft is designed with a lot of different kinds of players in mind, and indiscriminate destruction would only be "fun" for the players that already actively seek out challenges.

That doesn't mean the Creeper is going anywhere, though, or that it's even changing — it's just indicative of how Mojang has to be smarter and more cautious when updating what has become the best-selling video game of all time, because players of all shapes, sizes, ages, skill levels, and play styles enjoy it.

If you want to hear more from Jens Bergensten, I actually interviewed him about 'A Minecraft Movie.' Speaking of, Mojang just teased the second Minecraft movie and gave a release date, too.

Minecraft is slated to receive one more update this year, and we're already seeing the first features hit early testing for interested players. A bit of time has passed since Mounts of Mayhem was announced, and now you can go hands-on with a decent chunk of it.

All the Mounts of Mayhem features shown during Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025) are present in the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot, and Mojang Studios has already confirmed the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition preview will be able to join in on the fun soon.

There's one surprise here that wasn't included in all the best Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025) announcements, though, and it makes the Mounts of Mayhem update even more exciting. Here's what you need to know.

The first Mounts of Mayhem features... and one big surprise

Just to recap, the Mounts of Mayhem update is the fourth game drop of 2025 for the long-running survival-crafting game. As the name suggests, this update is all about rideable mounts... with a few extras on top.

This first preview includes all the features first revealed for the update, including the spear. This is a brand-new, tiered melee weapon for Minecraft, joining the sword and axe as your blade of choice. The spear is excellent for jabbing at your opponents from a safe distance, but it can also be used to charge — the faster you move, the more damage it deals. The spear even has an exclusive "Lunge" enchantment that surges you forward.

All that makes it ideal for mounted combat, as it can be used with the horse, camel, or anything else you can ride and control. That includes the nautilus, a new tamable mob joining the Minecraft ecosystem with Mounts of Mayhem. The nautilus is an underwater creature that can freeze your oxygen levels, keeping you safe from the dangers of drowning.

Mojang also announced zombie nautiluses and revealed that the zombie horse is hitting survival, but originally positioned those two as hostile mounts for drowned and spear-wielding zombies, respectively.

In this first preview, though, you're actually able to tame zombie mounts, too! The prerequisite is that you skillfully dispatch their angry riders, of course, but you can absolutely tend to a herd of undead equines or bond with a rotting cephalopod. I think this is awesome, so hopefully the feature sticks around (the wording of Mojang's announcement post suggests it's not completely set in stone).

I'm positive we'll see the Mounts of Mayhem update get other new features and changes before it arrives across all platforms during the holidays later this year. For now, Java Edition players can go test these first features right now (and Bedrock players won't have to wait long)!

In case you missed it, Mojang also recently teased the second Minecraft movie, and we already know it's release date, too.

'A Minecraft Movie' was released earlier this year, and despite some mixed reception, it has ended up as one of the most successful movies of 2025. This colorful, light-hearted live-action adventure, starring big names like Jack Black and Jason Mamoa, has earned quite a bit of praise.

It seems it won't take another decade for a follow-up to arrive, fortunately, as Mojang Studios has already begun teasing a sequel. The Minecraft creators took to social media today to share a picture of some familiar, very real looking pickaxes and a simple message: "See you in theaters Jul. 23, 2027."

Nothing is directly confirmed, there's no trailer, and we don't even have an official name for the Minecraft movie sequel, but this teaser is still pretty obvious. Minecraft is returning to the big screen just over two years after the first movie debuted, assuming there aren't any delays or changes in plan.

Endless possibilities for the next Minecraft adventure

You can see the teaser above, and it doesn't take long to absorb all of it. Minecraft is continuing to expand with a new live-action adventure, and we have an initial release date for when it will be released. That's it.

We don't know for certain if any of the original cast are returning, including Jack Black, Jason Mamoa, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, or Danielle Brooks. I can't even tell you that the second Minecraft movie will be directly connected to the events of the first — it's A Minecraft Movie, after all, and that means endless possibilities.

Actually, I interviewed members of the 'A Minecraft Movie' team as the film hit streaming services, and this quote from Jens Bergensten, Chief Creative Officer at Mojang Studios, sums it up perfectly:

"Minecraft is a game in which the players create their stories, and we wanted to keep that nature for the movie as well. We’re not telling the story about Steve, this is clearly a version of Steve, and a potential seed of Minecraft."

What I can say right now is that I'm already excited. I had a blast seeing A Minecraft Movie in theaters with my daughter, and I'll absolutely be taking her to see this one, too.

It's definitely an interesting decision to tease the sequel so far in advance, with no trailer or other details to share, but it does match Warner Bros.' approach for the first movie. We'll likely begin seeing proper trailers toward the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.

Whatever story it'll tell and whatever name it'll carry, the next live-action Minecraft Movie is set to arrive in theaters on Jul. 23, 2027. In the meantime, you can go stream (or buy) 'A Minecraft Movie' right now, or get caught up on other Minecraft news with my in-depth breakdown of Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025).

I began my time with Windows Central writing about Minecraft, and I'm still called up to bat every time Xbox and Mojang Studios drop some fresh news. I've covered every Minecraft Live show since its inception, bringing all the latest announcements straight to you.

This time, however, I had to travel across the country for some super-secret work (which you'll learn about in due time), and was unable to tune into Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025). My colleagues were fortunately here to make up for my absence, but I can't allow myself to fall behind on all things Minecraft.

For myself and anyone else who missed this Minecraft Live, here are all the announcements you need to know from the event — and how I feel about them as a big Minecraft fan.

Minecraft's last update of 2025 gives us new ways to move

Minecraft has already enjoyed multiple updates this year with Spring to Life, which added a ton of diversity to the Overworld, Happy Ghasts, which added a new flying mount alongside Vibrant Visuals, and The Copper Age... which actually comes out tomorrow, but I'll talk more on that in a moment.

Turns out, we're getting a fourth "game drop" just in time for the holidays, and Mojang has already given us the name: Mounts of Mayhem. No, not "mounts" like "mountain," this update is about getting around Minecraft in style. I guess the new Happy Ghast can't claim all the glory this year.

There will inevitably be other new features added to Minecraft through the Mounts of Mayhem update when it drops later this year, but for now, you can effectively split this update into two parts: mounts and combat.

On the first front, Mojang is adding a new underwater mob called the Nautilus, and this helpful cephalopod can be tamed with pufferfish, equipped with a saddle (and even new Nautilus armor that you can find in treasure chests), and used to traverse the depths of the oceans in style.

The Nautilus is freely controlled, possesses a "dash" ability like the Camel, and even grants a "Breath of the Nautilus" effect that pauses your breath meter when riding it — letting you explore, build, and fight without worrying about drowning. You can also tame multiple Nautilus, and breed them together to get the most adorable little tentacle monster you ever saw.

Hostile mobs are also benefitting from this update, however. Undead Zombie Nautilus can also spawn with an angry Drowned on their back, pursuing you at high speeds while hurling tridents. Up on land, the Zombie Horse makes its Survival Mode debut as the mount of choice for elite Zombies, and those opponents will be equipped with the second part of the Mounts of Mayhem update.

The Spear is the latest weapon to join the Minecraft armory, and it's not like the Mace that was added in the Tricky Trials update — the Spear is a tiered weapon just like the Sword, and can be easily crafted by any player with two sticks and your best material.

A basic "stab" attack still provides more range than Minecraft's other close-quarters weapons, but where the Spear really shines is with charging. Lowering the spear will deal damage to any that meets its point, and that damage scales depending on how fast you're moving.

Finally, we have a viable option for defending ourselves while mounted on a Horse, Camel, Nautilus, Happy Ghast, or any other mount... but mounted Zombies will carry the same weapon, so we'll have to be wary of those high-speed attacks.

I think the Spear looks great and I'm excited to see what enchantments can be applied to it, but I'll be even more excited if this update brings full combat parity across Minecraft versions. The Java Edition still has the more interesting and dynamic combat mechanics.

We're one day away from a copper revolution in Minecraft

Next up, we have an update I've already covered extensively. The Copper Age isn't a mystery to many Minecraft players at this point, but what we did learn during this Minecraft Live is when The Copper Age is rolling out to everyone.

It's sooner than you might expect, too. The Copper Age is the latest Minecraft game drop, arriving across Bedrock and Java Editions on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. Indeed, that's tomorrow, if you're reading this article on the day it went live.

You can refer to my earlier coverage to get a more in-depth breakdown of everything The Copper Age entails, but I'll provide a quick summary here.

As the name suggests, The Copper Age update is all about making copper a more useful and impactful ore in Minecraft. I actually briefly spoke to Anna Lundgren, Senior Product Manager at Mojang Studios, about this game drop and how important community feedback was to shaping it.

Players can expect a new, friendly mob in the form of the Copper Golem, which you don't tame but build, just like the Iron Golem. The Copper Golem interacts with Copper Chests for automatic item sorting, oxidizes over time like other copper blocks, can freeze into Copper Golem Statues that give off redstone signals depending on their pose, and can even receive beautiful flowers from their Iron Golem friends (a feature that was actually added later on because of the Minecraft players).

We're getting a lot more room to be creative with copper thanks to multiple new decorative blocks, and the gap between stone and iron gear will no longer be quite so daunting thanks to a full suite of copper armor, weapons, tools, and even mount armor. One of the best new features, though, is the shelf, which allows you to quickly swap out your hotbar inventory with displayed items and stacks.

The Copper Age honestly looks like a fantastic update with an extremely consistent theme. I don't think we'll see anyone else complaining about the usefulness of copper after this game drop arrives tomorrow.

Minecraft collaborations keep getting better

Mojang Studios announced two new collaborations for Minecraft during the event, and while the upcoming Dragon Ball Z DLC definitely stole headlines, it's actually the other that is personally more interesting to me.

Minecraft has teamed up with Conservation International, a non-profit organization committed to protecting the earth we all share to create the Friendly Fishing Add-On, a fishing adventure that adds over 100 new aquatic mobs, new structures and buildings, unique armor and villager types, and more.

The best part? Microsoft has donated $100,000 to Conservation International, and for the next three months 100% of net proceeds from sales of the add-on will also go toward the organization's conservation efforts. You can buy the Friendly Fishing Add-On right now for 990 Minecoins at the Minecraft Marketplace.

In other news, Mojang also did tease an official Dragon Ball Z Add-On for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, too. While we don't know a ton about the add-on itself, other than that it'll transport us to one of anime's most iconic universes, players can get onboard the hype train right now.

Until Nov. 4, 2025, all Minecraft players can go collect their free Super Saiyan Hair Character Creator item for free from the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Marketplace. The Dragon Ball Z DLC may still be stuck in the future, but we can all go Super Saiyan right now.

We've seen Minecraft team up with some of the biggest franchises across video games and movies in the last few years, so I can't say I'm shocked we're finally seeing Dragon Ball Z.

A good Minecraft Live that I'm sad I missed

I've already spilled a lot of words on what happened during Minecraft Live (Sept. 2025), so I'll make my conclusion short. This event was short (less than thirty minutes if you don't count the pre- and after-shows), but we still got quite a lot.

The Copper Age is shaping up to be my favorite Minecraft update of the year so far, and I'm already really excited to see what Mojang adds to the Mounts of Mayhem game drop that wasn't revealed during the initial announcement.

Maybe, with a Nautilus companion and a spear in my hand, I'll finally, properly explore Minecraft's oceans. I'll be honestly, I could never really be bothered to set up gear for breathing, mining, and surviving in those murky depths.

Mojang Studios just got done sharing what's coming to Minecraft in just a few days with The Copper Age, but the team isn't slowing down there, and we already have a good idea what to expect with the next game drop coming soon.

Minecraft's next game drop is called Mounts of Mayhem, and it's diving deep into the sea for some new ways to play revealed during the latest Minecraft LIVE on Saturday.

What is included in Minecraft Mounts of Mayhem?

Mounts of Mayhem is introducing a new mob: The Nautilus! This deep-dwelling tentacled beastie can also be tamed using Pufferfish, providing the perfect mount for exploring the darkest, coldest parts of the ocean.

The Nautilus is extra-useful as a mount because it pauses your oxygen bar, negating the need to surface for air. Players can also craft Nautilus Armor with iron, gold, diamond, and even Netherite, adding protection for the noble underwater steeds.

Of course, if you manage to tame a mommy and a daddy Nautilus, you can naturally produce baby Nautiluses, which look absolutely adorable.

The Nautilus is a new mob though, which means it's also dangerous under certain circumstances. Water-dwelling zombies will ride on the back of Zombie Nautiluses, throwing tridents at you.

This update is also introducing a new weapon, the spear. This elegant tool is easy to craft, and can be used to jab at opponents from a safer distance than many other melee weapons. It can even be used for jousting on horseback!

The ever-copying Zombies aren't going to just let you have that advantage however, and have taken to Zombie Horseback, roaming the game world at night.

Mounts of Mayhem does not currently have a release date, but is expected to launch at some point in Holiday 2025, so players won't be waiting too much longer past the Copper Age to go diving into the depths with tentacled friends.

Minecraft has had a huge year so far

It's been a pretty big year for Minecraft, with A Minecraft Movie arriving and hitting some impressive numbers at the box office.

Produced by Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment in collaboration with Mojang, A Minecraft Movie almost reached a billion dollars in theaters, and is now the second-highest grossing video game film adaptation of all time, only sitting behind Nintendo and Universal's The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It's also currently available for purchase on digital and 4K Blu-ray.

A sequel to A Minecraft Movie is currently in development, though we'll be waiting a bit to learn more.

Meanwhile, the previously-mentioned Copper Age update is set to go live on September 30. This update adds the long-awaited Copper Golems, as well as introducing Copper as a useful resource for many other aspects of the game.

Mojang Studios also showed another crossover collaboration during Minecraft LIVE, with Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan hair available to claim for free until Nov. 4, 2025.

Minecraft remains the biggest game in the world, having sold a mind-boggling 350 million copies as of this year.

Minecraft is currently available on practically every gaming platform, including Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. As an Xbox first-party game, it's also included in Xbox Game Pass.

Minecraft is so big, one event a year to announce upcoming updates and developments apparently isn't enough. Minecraft Live now comes around twice a year, and the second round for 2025 was just announced.

Mojang Studios has released the teaser trailer for a new show, where we expect to see all the features of "The Copper Age" update, brand-new upcoming game drops, behind-the-scenes looks, and... possibly more?

I'll share everything you need to know and add some speculation of my own, but the headlining news: Minecraft Live airs on Sept. 27, 2025. Let's get deeper into the weeds, now.

What you need to know about the next Minecraft Live

You can check out the new cinematic trailer for Minecraft Live above. Like usual, it's colorful and fun and silly, but doesn't really tell us all that much about the show itself. So, here's the quick rundown of how to watch Minecraft Live, and when you'll be able to tune in.

• Minecraft Live airs on Sept. 27, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CEST.
• Minecraft Live will be streamed in the below places, in addition to TikTok and Instagram.
  • Minecraft.net/live
  • YouTube.com/Minecraft
  • Twitch.tv/Minecraft
• Closer to the date, we expect more specific links, including for audio description, sign language, and other alternative streams.
• Officially, this Minecraft Live will feature upcoming game drops, new information from the developers, and a "Dig Deep After Show" where developers and guests will go hands-on with new features.

What am I expecting to see at this Minecraft Live?

Now that Mojang Studios has moved to smaller (but more frequent) "game drops," individual updates tend to be less exciting. That being said, the last Minecraft Live event was packed from end-to-end, so the second event of the year has some big shoes to fill.

Mojang will likely lead with "The Copper Age," the next Minecraft update that brings the Copper Golem back from the mob graveyard and adds a plethora of new copper-focused features. It's an interesting update that recently earned its name — but not a release date.

It's reasonable to assume Mojang will announce a release date for The Copper Age game drop during this Minecraft Live, but I honestly expect Mojang to shadow drop the new update during the event. Only three days separated the last Minecraft Live from the following Minecraft update, after all.

Either way, Minecraft team members will probably show off all the new features included in The Copper Age that weren't a part of the initial announcement, including shelves, new copper decorative blocks, and more.

The Copper Age will be the third game drop of the year, and we're practically guaranteed to get a fourth for the winter season. During this upcoming Minecraft Live, Mojang Studios will announce at least one game drop to arrive after The Copper Age, but it's anyone's guess what that update will actually bring to players.

I hope that what could be the final Minecraft update of 2025 sends the year off with a bang, and I'd love to see a properly new hostile mob, too (while we're at it, the Bedrock Edition still needs the combat improvements that Java has had for ages). Whatever it ends up being, hardcore players likely won't have to wait long after the event for the first features to begin hitting snapshots and previews.

Mojang is keeping its cards close to its chest right now, though, so I unfortunately can't speculate much more than that. What I do know is that we will not see the return of the Minecraft Live Mob Vote — that's still very much dead, and good riddance.

The next Minecraft update is rarely a secret, thanks to how Mojang Studios works with the community to develop new features and improvements, but that doesn't make it any less exciting.

Today, a couple of months of development are nearing a close with the long-awaited announcement of a name. "The Copper Age" is the next official Minecraft update (and the third of the year), and it's bringing a ton of interesting new content to the legendary survival game.

When the third Minecraft Game Drop of 2025 was first announced, it was pretty clear what the theme was going to be. A long line of new snapshots and previews testing new features only confirmed the theme, and now there is not even a shadow of a doubt.

The Copper Age update is all about copper, the much-maligned ore that Mojang added to the game years ago to nearly no fanfare — mainly because there was very little you could actually do with copper.

That's finally changing, and dropping the name means Minecraft's next update is imminent. We don't have an exact date yet, but you can bet Mojang is intending to close out the summer with a coppery bang.

What can we expect from The Copper Age update?

Mojang's new update strategy for Minecraft means more frequent but ultimately more modest updates, and The Copper Age update mostly falls into that category. There's still quite a lot here, though, so I'll summarize what we know so far.

• Copper Golem & chests. The headlining feature for this update is the Copper Golem, a friendly mob that sadly lost a past Minecraft Live Mob Vote. Thankfully, Mojang is reviving our metallic friend.
  • A single block of copper and a carved pumpkin is all you need to make a Copper Golem, which will seek out nearby copper chests (also new) and take items out of them.
  • Copper Golems will then seek out nearby regular chests with the same items, and deposit what they're holding (in the case no matching chest can be found, they'll seek out an empty chest).
  • Yes, that means automatic chest sorting, and it's with cute friends!
  • Like other copper items, Copper Golems will oxidize over time and change in color. You can still halt or reverse that process with wax or an axe.
• Copper armor, weapons, & tools. A first in a while, Mojang also added a brand-new set of armor, weapons, and tools. As you probably already guessed, it's all copper.
  • Copper armor, weapons, and tools sit somewhere in between stone and iron in terms of durability and effectiveness.
  • There's also new copper horse armor, which has a chance of appearing in the same loot chests as other horse armor.
  • It likely won't be used for long, but copper should help bridge the gap between stone and iron gear.
• Decorative copper blocks. You could already make a ton of building blocks out of copper, but the ore just got a whole lot more interesting.
  • Mojang is also adding copper torches and lanterns, which also oxidize over time. Oh, and you can change the color of the copper torches. Yeah, you heard what I said.
  • There's also the new copper bars and chains, giving a nice alternative to the iron variants (with, once again, varying hues due to oxidization). Bees just became a lot more important with this update, too.
  • Oh, Copper Golems will turn into decorative statues if they become completely oxidized, too!
  • You can change their oxidization level like other copper blocks, and hitting a completely clean Copper Golem will revive it.
• Shelves & more. One of the most interesting features of the new update, for me at least, are shelves.
  • Shelves can display up to three item stacks at a time, and interacting with those items will swap whatever you're holding with that stack.
  • You can connect up to three shelves in a row to display nine items in a line.
  • Power those shelves with redstone, and interacting with the shelves will immediately swap your hotbar with those item blocks.
  • Yes, Minecraft effectively has loadouts now, letting you create hot-swappable loadouts for mining, exploring, farming, or anything else you want to do.
  • As a random side note, Mojang also gave each dye color a unique look. Cool.

Okay, Mojang, I think you added enough features to make copper a worthwhile addition to the game. It only took around four years, but who's counting? Jokes aside, I think The Copper Age looks like a great update, and is arguably the most exciting of the year (so far, we may get one more holiday update).

There's a good mix of content for all kinds of players, although I am curious when we'll next get a truly new hostile mob for the more adventurous types. How long has it been since Mojang added a boss-style mob to the game?

I'm happy with what we're getting this time around, though. It took humanity thousands of years to reach the Copper Age; it only took Minecraft a little over 16. Next stop: space travel?

Minecraft has already enjoyed a few pretty substantial updates in 2025, but there's at least one more slated for launch before the end of the year — and it's all about everyone's least favorite metallic ore, copper.

Well, the point of this Game Drop is to make copper less hated by making it more useful, and we already have a good idea of the new mechanics and features this update will include. As of the latest Minecraft Preview build, we now know one more feature coming in this as-yet-unnamed release.

I usually may not dedicate an entire article to one relatively modest feature entering testing with the Minecraft community, but I just rolled the credits on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and after over 100 hours poured into this classic RPG, it makes sense that Minecraft adding new horse armor would amuse me a little.

So, let's go over what Mojang Studios has begun testing today, and I'll recap what we know of this upcoming Game Drop while we're at it.

Yay, horse armor!

Minecraft has had horses (and horse armor) for years now, but your options have been limited — and I feel like most people don't bother with horses anyway. This addition... isn't going to change anyone's mind, actually.

Keeping in theme with the rest of the upcoming Game Drop, Mojang Studios is adding copper horse armor to the game. You still can't craft it (boo, but at least we got craftable saddles in the last update), but it'll have the same chance of appearing in lootable chests as iron horse armor, and it has a protective value of 4.

It's so unexciting to me that it's funny, and I find it especially amusing that the screenshot Mojang Studios provided to highlight the new feature addition puts the armor-adorned horse in the background — because it's the rest of the update that actually matters.

Copper Golems, copper chests, copper tools, copper—

Likely to arrive either at the end of Summer or the beginning of Autumn, the next Minecraft update definitely has a consistent theme. The headlining feature is absolutely the resurrection of the Copper Golem, one of the fated losers of a past Minecraft Live Mob Vote.

Copper Golems are adorable, friendly little guys, but they also have some unique mechanics. For one, Copper Golems provide a way to sort your storage, as they'll take items automatically and stacks out of the new copper chests and move them to nearby standard chests that already contain those items (or put them in an empty chest if there's no better option).

They also oxidize like other copper blocks and can even be turned into decorative statues (don't worry, you can always bring them back to life).

Speaking of copper, Mojang Studios is also adding a new complete set of armor, weapons, and tools, which sits somewhere between stone and iron as a nice middle ground for the early game.

Finally, we're getting new shelves. These shelves can display up to three item stacks (like a much more advanced item frame), but also have a redstone interaction — power up to three shelves, and you can swap your hotbar with those items and vice versa in a moment's time. Yeah, it's effectively a way to build different loadouts.

Now we can add horse armor to that list. I have a feeling we're not going to see any more features added to this update before its release, but I'd love to be surprised by another copper addition that plays into redstone engineering.

If you want to learn more about the latest Minecraft preview build, which includes all of these features in testing (including the copper horse armor), you can read more at Minecraft.net.

Recently, the next major Minecraft update (and the third of 2025) was revealed with a new mob, new tools and armor, and other gameplay additions. Now, Mojang Studios is testing more features for that upcoming update.

The latest Minecraft Preview is rolling out to testers now, and it has made me even more excited for this as-yet unnamed Minecraft Game Drop. This beta includes a new decorative block with a powerful function, and makes Copper Golems even more unique.

Minecraft: Java Edition players will have to wait a while longer for the comparable snapshot, but in the meantime, you can learn all you need to know about these features.

New shelves and functional loadouts

The biggest addition in this preview is easily the shelf, a new decorative block crafted out of every variety of wood. Mounted on any wall, a single shelf block can store and display up to three items or stacks.

Interacting with any of these items will swap it with whatever is in your main hand (or remove it if you're not holding anything), but the shelves can become a lot more interesting — because they work with redstone.

Power a shelf, and interacting with it will swap the 3 rightmost items in your hotbar. String up to three shelves together, and you can instantly replace your entire hotbar with whatever you've stored on the shelves.

Mojang has effectively added loadouts to Minecraft, letting you switch between hotbars for different purposes, like farming, exploring, mining, or combat. There's no instant solution for swapping your armor or offhand items (at least not yet), but this is a big improvement.

The shelf is a simple addition that adds a lot of decorative possibilities and gameplay utility, and I imagine a lot of players are going to be very happy about it.

A new mechanic for our copper golem friends

The second new feature in this beta is awesome or creepy, depending on your perspective. As a quick recap, Copper Golems are the central focus of this Game Drop, and are helpful companions that can automatically sort items in chests for you.

Copper Golems are made of copper, obviously, so they oxidize over time and change in color. You can wax Copper Golems to preserve their current color (just like other copper blocks), but no amount of oxidation affected how Copper Golems worked... until now.

If you let a Copper Golem fully oxidize, it'll freeze in a random pose and become a decorative statue in your home. You can change the pose by interacting with the Copper Golem statue, and it'll even emit a redstone signal when connected to a comparator (the strength of which is dependent on the pose).

If you're concerned about the well-being of your copper-y friends, there's a way to save them. Like other copper items, the level of oxidation can be stripped down with an axe (and frozen with wax), and interacting with a fully cleaned Copper Golem statue with an axe will bring it back to life. Hooray!

I'm not sure I'll be wanting to trap any of my Copper Golems in an eternal slumber, but it does make this happy mob even more unique. With these new features, how are you feeling about the upcoming Minecraft update?

You can read more about Minecraft Preview 1.21.110.20 at Minecraft.net, and the beta is now rolling out across Xbox, PC, and mobile devices.

Do you remember the Minecraft Mob Vote? It was an annual event for Minecraft Live, during which the community voted on one of three mobs to be added to Minecraft. Year after year — one winner, and two losers to rot in the dreaded Minecraft vault.

The Mob Vote was so divisive for introducing new mobs that would likely never be seen in-game that Mojang Studios completely killed it off last year. Now, we're getting a new development: a long-lost Mob Vote loser is actually coming to Minecraft in the third update of 2025.

The Copper Golem was defeated in the final round of the Minecraft Live 2021 Mob Vote by our blue friend the Allay, and it was assumed we'd never see it again. Now we know the Copper Golem is coming to Minecraft... and Mojang is actually trying to make copper useful in the process.

I hope this sets a precedent, because there are a lot of Mob Vote losers that millions of people would love to see coming to Minecraft.

A new friend and some new tools

The next Minecraft update doesn't have a name yet, but we do know the first features included in this upcoming game drop. The news comes only weeks after we got the Minecraft Vibrant Visuals and Happy Ghast dual update, so Mojang has some good momentum going right now.

You already know the headliner for this release — the Copper Golem is coming, so we're getting a new metallic friend to join our Iron Golem protectors. The Copper Golem doesn't have a mean bone in its body, though, and is content to organize, organize, organize.

Alongside the Copper Golem, Mojang is also introducing the copper chest, a new chest variant. Put items into a copper chest, and nearby Copper Golems will pick up those items and move them to regular chests in the area.

Copper Golems will seek out chests with the item they're holding to consolidate, and will put new items in any empty chests. It's a way to automate the nightmarish mess you call storage and restore some semblance of order.

I think the Copper Golems are adorable, and just like other copper blocks (and the copper chests, too), they'll oxidize and slowly turn green over time, unless you wax them to preserve their current sheen.

You can create quite the diverse array of copper-y friends to roam around your warehouse or home. I'm really excited to see how this feature works and how Mojang may evolve it over the coming weeks and months.

That's not all that's coming in this update, though. Copper ore has gained a reputation for being practically useless, with only a handful of incredibly niche applications making the momentous addition of a brand-new ore severely disappointing.

This copper-themed update is attempting to rectify that! Beyond the Copper Golems and their specific functions, we're getting new ways to use all that copper ore you totally ignore when mining.

Yes, we're getting a full set of copper armor, weapons, and tools! Apart from the shiny new look, copper tools and armor sit somewhere between stone and iron overall, potentially letting you save your valuable early-game iron for more important crafts until you've accummulated more.

I don't know exactly how much people will actually use this gear, but I'm just excited to see copper actually be used for something. With Copper Golems, it finally feels like copper somewhat has a place in the game.

I also hope this means Mojang Studios is evaluating bringing other Mob Vote losers to Minecraft and working to empty the vault, because there are a lot of great ideas that were abandoned to farm community engagement.

You can test these new features right now

You don't have to wait to experience the Copper Golems and other metallic additions, as Mojang Studios has already released the first Minecraft Preview build testing these developments.

You can read the full changelog for Minecraft Preview 1.21.100.23 at Minecraft.net, or jump straight to your Xbox, Windows PC, or Android device to download the release. Mojang says a Minecraft: Java Edition snapchost is coming soon, but those players will have to wait a while longer.

I expect this update to be in development for at least a couple of months, so we could be looking at a fall release for this Minecraft game drop. What do you think about the features? Personally, I'm excited.

With Minecraft being one of the most successful and iconic video game franchises of all time, it seemed inevitable that the blocky universe would someday make the jump to the silver screen.

That finally happened this year with 'A Minecraft Movie', and the reception has been explosive. Despite mixed critical reviews, the first live action Minecraft flick has been breaking records during its theater tenure, and now it's about to hit streaming services and digital platforms.

I sat down with Jens Bergensten, Chief Creative Officer, and Torfi Frans Ólafsson, Senior Creative Director, at Mojang Studios a few weeks ago, and the Minecraft movie's wider release feels like the perfect time to explore what we discussed then.

This interview was edited for grammar and clarity. Mojang Studios and Microsoft had no input nor saw the contents of this article prior to publication.

The Minecraft movie's long road to release

"When people ask ‘how do you feel?’, of course the answer is it’s really amazing… We’ve been working for this for quite some time," Bergensten told me.

"At the end of the day, it feels like a successful rocket launch. We pitched it for 10 years and we weren’t sure if it was going to go into orbit... feeling that it could blow up any minute," Ólafsson added. "So, we are over the moon now that it's heading into deep space."

Indeed, the Minecraft movie has been in development for a very long time, with rumored resets, shifting release dates, and long periods of complete silence before everything finally started coming together.

The movie we received is almost certainly completely different from the original vision. "We have been developing and writing the movie since [Jared Hess] joined in 2020," Ólafsson stated. Just for context, Mojang Studios reportedly began working on a live-action Minecraft movie all the way back in 2014.

I am curious what that earlier movie may have looked like, but I'm more glad that Mojang Studios and Warner Bros. took the time to get it right.

The art of bringing a Minecraft story into our world

Minecraft is one of the most recognizable video games thanks to its distinct visual style, and most Minecraft fans likely would've been confident that any film or TV adaptation would use animation to capture it.

Alas, that's not what we got. Mojang made the bold decision to pursue a live action format, but it didn't take this approach lightly.

"The look that we chose wound up being similar as the look that comes out of Midjourney," Ólafsson told me, finding the story funnier in hindsight. "When people saw the... first trailer, they were like, 'Ah, this is just like AI,' whereas we had chosen a certain color palette and texture that happened to look like what AI would."

I can understand why some may accuse the bright and over-the-top visuals of 'A Minecraft Movie' of being AI-generated, but this direction was decided upon well before the rise of generative artificial intelligence — and it's brought to life by real people and real materials.

"We thought that since it was live action, it had to feel as realistic as live action," Ólafsson explained. "We wanted gritty detail... We wanted to really feel that the sets were alive."

To make this happen, the Minecraft movie team spent hundreds of hours creating real props and sets for the movie, an effort that took years and a lot of manpower. Of course, VFX effects and CGI are liberally used, but it was all about striking a balance.

"The sets and the props and the army of VFX artists makes it blend really well. I might be biased, but I didn't really think so much about the mix between live actors and CGI characters," Bergensten said.

"The unsung heroes of the movie are the stunt performers and the choreographers and the dancers," Ólafsson continued. "I say ‘dancers’ because they are pepole are who are trained in motion, who were the villagers and the piglins and the mobs. They were all people in suits."

The finished movie can look a little cursed, but it also feels intentional. I have to admit, 'A Minecraft Movie' is an incredibly impressive visual showcase, and I highly doubt I'd feel that way if the movie were 100% CGI rather than a mixture.

Celebrating the writers... And the magic of music

Actors supposedly improvising the most memorable moments in movies has become suspiciously common in recent years, and is rarely backed by any concrete evidence. I've seen similar claims about Jack Black and Jason Momoa's performances in 'A Minecraft Movie,' so I brought it up during our conversation.

Both Mojang members were quick to credit the writing team for the vast majority of the movie's script. "The cast comes in later," Ólaffson confirmed. "When people are talking about how the cast improvised this and that, the writers get pretty pissed off because they actually wrote the story."

Work on the Minecraft movie started years before the acting stars were brought onboard for filming, and a lot of work went into writing a fun, accessible script for all ages, filled with Minecraft easter eggs.

"Once someone was cast, like [Jack Black], [the writers] were able to start writing in his voice," Ólaffson continued. "It’s mostly comparable to somebody going into the kitchen and adding a little spice and a little bit of this and that — but the meat had already been bought and the sauce was already cooking"

From what I've seen behind the scenes, the Minecraft movie cast simply had fun while shooting. Most of what you see in the film was meticulously planned, but actors did still have the freedom to throw in an occasional joke of their own.

One iconic element of 'A Minecraft Movie' was only made possible because of one of the stars, though.

The Minecraft movie can hardly be described as a musical, but it's still filled with jingles that caught many by surprise. In fact, one such song, 'Lava Chicken', claimed a record as the shortest song to reach the Billboard 100 charts, at just 34 seconds long.

"It was [Jack Black]. We didn't have music... I don't think it's a secret, he asked if he could bring a couple of tunes and, sure enough, he did," Ólaffson said. "Some of them, like 'Lava Chicken', was one that was the only take. We rolled the camera and he sang it."

It's far from the first time Jack Black has blessed a movie with original music, and fans loved his contributions to the Minecraft movie. It's one reason why Black may have been the best choice to play Steve, after the original choice of Matt Berry couldn't fill that role.

"Jack has been a champion for creativity and expression in a lot of movies... He has a lot of songs within him and they just had to get out," Ólaffson continued. "He had more, but you know, those were the ones that made it in."

A new way to go behind the scenes

I wanted to break away from my own conversation with the Minecraft movie team to share another way to peek behind the curtains. I was sent a copy of 'A Minecraft Movie: From Block to Big Screen', a very comprehensive overview of bringing this movie to life.

It's 192 pages of in-depth information, all the way from the first stages of creation to the final steps that ensured this movie's success, complete with new interviews, exclusive imagery, and more. There's even a foreword from Jens Bergensten (yes, the same Jens Bergensten I spoke to for this article).

There are plenty of behind-the-scenes books for plenty of movies, TV shows, and video games, but many feel thrown together with existing information and art. I was honestly shocked by how packed this book is with information, though, and I do think it's a great purchase for collectors or anyone who's simply a huge 'A Minecraft Movie' fan.

It's a well-designed and well-constructed hardcover book filled with vibrant graphics and color images, but there's a digital Kindle version for those who'd prefer to read on their tablet or e-reader.

You can buy 'A Minecraft Movie: From Block to Big Screen' for $39.58 at Amazon now, if you're interested.

'A Minecraft Movie' is streaming and on Blu-Ray now

"Minecraft is a game in which the players create their stories, and we wanted to keep that nature for the movie as well," Bergensten told me. "We’re not telling the story about Steve, this is clearly a version of Steve, and a potential seed of Minecraft."

I was cheekily asking about the potential for 'A Minecraft Movie' sequel, which, of course, we couldn't talk about. I do hope it happens, though, even if it'll likely be a year or two before we even hear anything.

I did learn about a cool detail I missed when watching the movie myself, however. "Even the opening shot of the movie, as people who have played Java for a while will recognize, there is a world generation graphic where you can see the seed is being initialized," Ólaffson said. "So, the movie starts in the same way as when you create your own randomly procedurally generated world."

Now's the time to see it for yourself. 'A Minecraft Movie' absolutely dominated during its time in theaters worldwide, raking in over $900 million at the box office, but it's finally heading to Video-on-Demand (VoD).

You can rent or buy 'A Minecraft Movie' now from $19.99 at Amazon, but if you'd like a physical copy, you can preorder that for $29.95 at Amazon, with a planned release date of June 24, 2025.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this final quote from Ólaffson:

"We've been really blown away by the success of the movie all over the world. It's really rewarding for those who worked on it so hard, and had so much fun doing so, to see it bring people together and dig deep into the Overworld. It's cool that now people can have it play on repeat in their house, with the release to VoD. So many unexpected things have happened, like the ‘Lava Chicken’ song hitting the charts. My kids who had seen early cuts kept singing that song, but I didn't realize I'd be hearing people sing it all over the internet a few months later. Crazy!"

Minecraft features a variety of rideable mobs, including horses, pigs, and the more recent striders... And another is coming in a future update.

Getting your butt onto any of these creatures requires a saddle, though, which has meant searching random chests, trading with random villagers, or hunting random enemies for all 15 years the item has been in the game.

No more! Finally, after years of complaints, Mojang Studios is testing making saddles craftable. Minecraft insiders can already enjoy this revolutionary new feature, but the rest of us will be able to craft our own saddles with the release of the next Minecraft game drop update.

Some other new things are here, too, if you care.

How can I craft saddles in Minecraft?

You can make an argument for why you have to hunt down horse armor rather than craft it, given how intricate it is, but it has never made sense how difficult to obtain saddles are in Minecraft.

Now, or at least in this debut test build, you'll be able to craft saddles with three pieces of leather and one iron ingot, making saddles significantly more accessible. The recipe will unlock the first time you pick up leather, too.

Mojang Studios is also making it possible to strip mounts of their saddle with shears, as long as it's not hostile and something isn't actively riding it. Several loot tables for chests are replacing saddles with 1-5 leather, too.

Some of this may change before release, but I doubt it'll be by much, if at all.

What else is Mojang testing with this release?

I won't rehash everything that Mojang is currently testing for the next Minecraft update; you can check out my summary of everything announced at Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025) for that.

There is a little more going on in the latest Minecraft Preview and Snapshot builds then just craftable saddles, though. Mojang is also adding five new songs to the soundtrack, composed by Amos Roddy.

The five tracks will play in Cherry Grove, Forest, Desert, Grove, and Lush Cave biomes, and will join the main menu rotation, too. Separately, a new "Tears" music disc will be available to collect, obtained by killing a Ghast with its own fireball.

When will we get all these new features?

If you're interested in participating in Minecraft's development by testing early builds and submitting feedback, you can craft all the saddles your heart desires right now. You can find info on Minecraft Preview 1.21.90.25 at Minecraft.net, and info on Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 25w20a at Minecraft.net.

Most of us, though, will be waiting for the next official Minecraft game drop, which was announced during the last Minecraft Live event. This game drop doesn't have a title, yet, but we already know most of what to expect.

In addition to craftable saddles and new music, the next game drop will debut two new Ghast mob variants and related items/blocks. Don't worry, these are friendly Ghasts, and you (and up to three of your friends) can even ride one!

The next game drop is likely a few weeks or months away, still, but it should be a fun update. It'll also finally alleviate a common greivance with craftable saddles.

Dread it, run from it, A Minecraft Movie arrives all the same. This adaptation of Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios' uber-popular sandbox game, Minecraft, has been widely anticipated ever since it was announced, with a fair bit of trepidation.

The early reviews for A Minecraft Movie are in, and they're mixed at best, with criticism aimed toward...well, a lot, from the plot to the way the film looks. Even the positive reviews don't seem to indicate it'll make the list of the best video game adaptations.

That doesn't seem to matter for general audiences, though, as the film is looking to carve out a $100 million opening weekend for the box office, much to the relief of beleaguered theaters. So, with that in mind, I'm quite curious:

Will you be watching A Minecraft Movie in theaters? And if you've seen it, what do you think of it?

There's no doubt in my mind that this movie is primarily geared toward a younger audience. People of all ages play Minecraft, by no means would I suggest otherwise, but one of the many big reasons it's become the biggest game in the world is because it appeals so strongly to kids and preteens.

Minecraft sits at over 300 million copies sold as of 2023 (meaning the actual current number is certainly significantly higher), with the game available on basically every platform out there.

That number is ludicrously high, and only Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5 is even remotely close, sitting at 210 million copies sold.

Naturally, Microsoft and Warner Bros. have rolled out a huge marketing campaign for the movie, including partnering with McDonald's for some special Happy Meals, toys, and sauces.

No one can say that lead actor Jack Black hasn't taken the film seriously, as he played over 100 hours on Xbox while filming in order to better understand his role as Steve.

A Minecraft Movie is also hitting theaters at a time when the box office is in an extreme slump. At the time I'm writing this, the only film to reach triple-digit millions across the U.S. in 2025 is Captain America: Brave New World, which is sitting at just over $197 million domestically earned.

Windows Central readers, let your voices be heard

If you haven't noticed yet, we have functional comments on this website again. Yay! We encourage you to use them, so sign up, follow writers based on the topics you're interested in that we each cover, and just take part in the community.

I want to know if you're seeing A Minecraft Movie, but I also want to know why.

• Are you a hardcore Minecraft fan that wants to see it, no matter what?
• Are you taking your child (or children) to see it?
• Do you just want to relax and watch something funny?
• What was the best part about the movie?
• Would you recommend others see it?
• What is your favorite video game adaptation you've seen previously?

Maybe there's something I've missed, so bring that up too!

April Fool's Day has arrived, and once again companies are devoting time and resources on "announcements" that we all simply ignore. After all, none of those announcements are real, so what's the point?

Well, Mojang Studios has a tradition of celebrating April Fool's Day with a brand-new Minecraft update that you can actually play, and the tradition is continuing for another year!

Today, Minecraft: Java Edition players on Windows PC and beyond can play the "Craftmine" update, an exclusive and limited time snapshot that lets you craft infinite mines to explore.

Again, it's real. You can go play it now.

An April Fool's Day joke that you can actually play

Most companies leave their April Fool's Day shenanigans to a faux trailer or even simple social media post, but the developers at Mojang Studios actually put together a tangible product for the Minecraft community.

Last year, that was the Poisonous Potatos update, which filled Minecraft with a whole lot of starchy goodness. This year, it's the "Craftmind" update, which adds the Mine Crafter table.

To play, take any combination of resources and items you want, toss them into the Mine Crafter, and open a portal into a brand-new mine created from your chosen ingredients.

Yes, that means gaining access to a lot more of those resources, too, all waiting for you to collect them until your inventory is full and your back is in pain.

After that, all you have to do is desperately search for the exit, because you're now hopelessly lost in the mine you created. Sorry.

Here's how to play the Craftmine update on Windows PC

Sadly, like most of Mojang's weirdest Minecraft updates, Craftmine is exclusive to Minecraft: Java Edition on Windows PC, Linux, and macOS. There's no alternative for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition players (including on console), which is a shame.

To access the snapshot, you'll first need to download the Minecraft: Java Edition "Craftmine" .jar file at Minecraft.net (clicking that link will automatically prompt the download).

Find the new .jar file in your "Downloads" folder, rename it to something like "craftmine," then head to the "Versions" folder for Minecraft on your PC (this can usually be found under "%appdata%\.minecraft\versions").

Next, create a new folder here with the same name as the .jar file, then copy that file inside the folder. Once that's done, open the Minecraft Launcher, head to "Installations," and make sure that the "Snapshots" option in the corner is enabled. You should see the new Craftmine snapshot appear!

You can play this update for as long as you have the .jar file installed, but keep in mind this update won't be updated at all moving forward. This is a one and done, just like previous April Fool's Day updates for Minecraft, and these quirky features certainly aren't coming to the true Minecraft game.

It's also recommended to create new worlds to explore the Craftmine update, or at least only use backups of your existing worlds, as these experimental snapshots are inherently unstable and can corrupt your save data.

You can find more information at Minecraft.net.

Some Minecraft updates that will survive the end of April Fool's Day

If you're not interested in the goofy, temporary Craftmine update made just for April Fool's Day, there's still plenty going on in the Minecraft world right now.

Mojang Studios just released the "Spring to Life" update for all Minecraft versions, which adds a ton of mob variants and other features to make the Overworld feel more diverse and alive.

We also know a future Minecraft update will include new features like flat world presets and a "Locator Bar," thanks to recent betas and snapshots.

Finally, Minecraft is finally set to get a major graphical upgrade, and I've collected everything you need to know about the Minecraft "Vibrant Visuals" update, including side-by-side comparisons.

For today, though, we can craft mines in Minecraft. What do you think of this April Fool's Day update from Mojang Studios? Are you glad the developer is continuing the tradition?

Minecraft is always evolving, and there are always ways to test some of the upcoming features and changes before they arrive through snapshots or preview builds.

I'm going to shed some light on a couple of the more interesting features heading to players in the near future, both of which you can go and test now if you're okay playing pre-release versions.

First, Mojang Studios is introducing a better way to keep track of where all your friends are in your Minecraft world with the new "Locator Bar." We're also getting a suite of new presets when creating a flat world, giving us a lot more variety for our creative and experimental worlds.

If you're more interested in what you can play now, the Minecraft "Spring to Life" game drop just released with a ton of new improvements and mob variants for the Overworld.

A quick way to find all of your friends

First introduced in the 1.21.80.20 version of Minecraft Preview, the "Locator Bar" is an optional feature that replaces the green experience bar in your HUD (but you'll still be able to see your level).

The bar will be populated with a colored dot for each player in your Minecraft world, and will guide you directly toward them. It'll even inform you of elevation differences with an up or down arrow!

No longer will you have to toggle the coordinates to try and figure out where everyone is in relation to each other. It's a great convenience feature, and I'm probably more excited than I should be about it.

Of course, the Locator Bar can be toggled off, but if you're worried about it making gameplay unfair, don't be. Crouching, drinking an invisibility potion, or wearing a mob head/carved pumpkin will make players vanish from the Locator Bar, so you can remain hidden when you wish.

More options when creating a flat world

Using flat worlds for creative or experimental builds is an iconic part of the Minecraft experience, but being restricted to the same endless plains every time can grow tiring.

Soon, you'll be able to choose from a list of presets to drastically change the characteristics of the flat world, such as turning it into an infinite ocean, or an endless desert, or a haven for redstone engineers, or... a bottomless pit?

Mojang Studios is planning to add more presets as time goes on, too, so we'll have a ton of options to find the perfect flat world for our latest projects. Right now, the project starts with the 1.21.80.22 version of Minecraft Preview.

There's a lot going on with Minecraft right now

Both of these features are currently in testing as part of the latest Minecraft beta, which you can find at Minecraft.net. There's a lot going on in the Minecraft world in general, though.

The latest Minecraft Live event recently concluded. Mojang announced the newest Minecraft update mere days before it dropped, but also shared details on the next game drop coming in a few months, which will feature two new Ghast variants (and a way to ride your own Ghast).

Even more exciting is the reveal of Minecraft's "Vibrant Visuals," the first step in a dramatic overhaul for the look and feel of this legendary game. That's also a few months away, so we may see the next game drop, Vibrant Visuals, and the two features mentioned above all arrive around the same time.

If you want to learn more about Vibrant Visuals in Minecraft, you can check out my in-depth breakdown (including multiple side-by-side comparisons).

During the latest Minecraft Live event, players finally received the news we've been wanting to hear for years: Minecraft is getting a much-needed facelift.

It took far too long, but Mojang Studios finally unveiled the "Vibrant Visuals" upgrade for Minecraft, the first step in a multi-phase plan to give us the future of Minecraft today.

There's so much anticipation built up behind this update that it's no surprise a lot of people have burning questions they're dying to have answered.

Fortunately, I've compiled all the information we currently have on the Vibrant Visuals upgrade for Minecraft, including a series of side-by-side comparisons to show you the major differences.

Here's everything you need to know about Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals, including when you can expect it, where it's going to release, and exactly what's changing.

What is the Minecraft "Vibrant Visuals" upgrade?

Minecraft "Vibrant Visuals" was one of three updates announced for the best-selling, legendary survival-crafting game during Minecraft Live on Mar. 22, 2025.

While the other two Minecraft game drops announced during the show focus on new content and improvements, Vibrant Visuals is all about overhauling the game's graphics for modern devices.

Following years of cancellations, undisclosed delays, broken promises, and misrepresentations, Mojang Studios is finally delivering a comprehensive visual upgrade for Minecraft, and it's apparently just the first step to realizing the studio's vision for the game.

Hopefully arriving in the next few months, the Vibrant Visuals update is expected to deliver enhanced textures, directional lighting, volumetric fog, more precise grid-mapped shadows, upgraded reflections, and more.

Keep reading for side-by-side comparisons, followed by a complete FAQ answering all the most important questions you may have.

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Minecraft Vibrant Visuals upgrade: Side-by-side comparisons

Our first comparison takes us into a jungle canyon, with the meandering river and deep green cliffsides adorned with copper-and-wood constructions, including a boat.

This comparison does a great job showing the new dynamic lighting, which dramatically affects exposure and texture appearance from light to dark areas. Vibrant Visuals make this scene look considerably less flat, and the river beautifully reflects the overhead sun and clouds, too.

Our next scene takes place elsewhere in the jungle, with dark trees and tall bamboo shoots lining a broad shore.

The greatest strength of this comparison is absolutely the upgraded lighting and reflections, with the sunlight dancing across the more dimensional water. This comparison highlights how the more dynamic exposure can affect the clarity of distant objects, but the scene as a whole boasts more depth.

Now we head to the badlands, with the deep orange, browns, and reds of the clay cliffs backing the water in the forefront.

While it's tempting to focus on the reflections on the water again, for me this comparison is most striking because of the more vibrant hues of the badlands and the dramatic effect of the new volumetric fog on the distant cliffs in the background.

We leave the greens and browns behind with this comparison, which sees us head to the ice spires biome.

What's normally a really flat, boring biome is now a lot more dynamic with Vibrant Visuals. Despite warmer hues overall, the ice somehow feels colder, and the updated, more saturated sky and reflections on the ice make a big impact.

Finally, we have what's probably my favorite comparison. Plains transitioning into a cherry grove provides a great contrast between open and closed areas, giving Vibrant Visuals a chance to show its strengths.

The horizon is now bathed in volumetric fog rather than simply fading into the distance; the directional lighting creates a more distinct divide between day and night, faraway reflections create distance and space in the world, and the variations of shadow and color contrast the opposing biomes. It's a beautiful scene.

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Minecraft Vibrant Visuals upgrade: Frequently asked questions

You can enjoy some more official screenshots of Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals above, and below I'll answer the most frequently asked questions regarding the update, including when you can expect it and how you'll be able to access it.

If you have any other questions, be sure to drop them in the comments, and I'll do my best to get them answered!

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Moments ago, at least as this article is going live, Mojang Studios wrapped up the latest Minecraft Live event, departing like Santa Claus in the night to leave the children with their presents until next Christmas.

The next few months of Minecraft have been laid out, including more content for the game, new details for the movie, and even a major shift that players have been requesting for many years.

No more wasting time, here's everything announced during the latest Minecraft Live show on Mar. 22, 2025.

The long-awaited visual upgrade for Minecraft is coming

I'll start with what's likely to make the most noise among the passionate Minecraft community: Minecraft is finally receiving the visual upgrade we've been requesting for many years.

• RELATED: Minecraft Vibrant Visuals upgrade: Side-by-side comparisons and everything you need to know

Known as "Vibrant Visuals," this upgrade will be the first step in Mojang's multi-phase plan to dramatically overhaul Minecraft's graphics for the first time since the game's initial release, and it's arriving on Minecraft: Bedrock Edition first in the coming months.

It's important to mention that this is a purely visual enhancement and will have no impact on gameplay. It's also worth pointing out that, no, this isn't the revolutionary ray-traced visuals people have been wanting on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, but it's still pretty exciting.

Minecraft is getting brand-new content spread across two updates

As expected from any Minecraft Live event, we learned what the next major content update will be. Well, we actually learned what the next two minor game drops for Minecraft will be, given Mojang's recent shift in development strategy.

The first to arrive is already named and marked for release on Mar. 25, 2025. The Spring to Life update will continue the work Mojang has already begun in recent updates and even more recent snapshots and betas.

On top of the new wolf personalities in testing (to go with the wolf variants we now have), we'll be getting regional mob variants for pigs, cows, and chickens. Mojang is also refreshing the Overworld with new ambient features like leaf litter, firefly bushes, enhanced sounds, and more.

The second game drop is a little more mysterious, but we do know we're getting two new Ghast variants, the Ghastling and Happy Ghast, as well as a Ghast Harness to ride that Happy Ghast with your friends.

The Minecraft movie is almost here, but you can have a new clip now

If you've not already heard of 'A Minecraft Movie,' it's a live action (yes, live action) adaptation of our favorite blocky universe starring little-known actors like Jack Black and Jason Mamoa.

The Minecraft movie releases worldwide on Apr. 4, 2025, but before then Mojang shared exclusive footage from 'A Minecraft Movie' and dropped some new details.

We even learned about a live event surrounding the movie's release. From Mar. 25 to Apr. 7, players will be able to enjoy a series of mini games in Minecraft and win an exclusive cosmetic cape.

My thoughts on this Minecraft Live event

The last Minecraft Live wasn't the most exciting, but this event packed in a lot more in the same short period.

Two game drops, a visual upgrade, and the continued ramp up for the Minecraft movie release made this Minecraft Live a lot more interesting to me.

• RELATED: How to watch Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025)

The "Spring to Life" update is only days away with a ton of Overworld enhancements and improvements, we're getting new mobs and features later this year, and Minecraft is finally getting the visual upgrade we probably should've gotten years ago.

Overall, I think Mojang Studios did a great job managing expectations and delivering a compact, entertaining show. I hope that the game drop following "Spring to Life" includes a little more than just the Happy Ghast and its related features, but it should be a pretty cool update regardless.

How did you feel about this Minecraft Live, and what was your favorite part?

The latest Minecraft Live event came and went to shed light on the near future for the Minecraft universe, and that of course means content updates for the titular game.

Similar to the last Minecraft Live in Sept. 2024, Mojang Studios shared details on the next two game drops, or smaller themed updates heading to Minecraft: Java Edition and Minecraft: Bedrock Edition in the coming months.

• RELATED: Minecraft Vibrant Visuals upgrade: Side-by-side comparisons and everything you need to know

The latest release is dubbed "Spring to Life," and it aims to help the Overworld feel more diverse and alive. By "latest," I mean that the update has already dropped — just three days after it was announced.

There's another game drop heading to Minecraft players later this year, too; it won't be quite as lively, but it'll be more lifting.

What does the "Spring to Life" Minecraft update include?

First, we have the newest update for Minecraft, the "Spring to Life" game drop. This update builds on the theme we've noticed in recent Minecraft snapshots and Minecraft Preview builds with greater diversity in the world.

Even better, the update is already here as of Mar. 25, 2025, releasing for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and Java Edition on all platforms.

You'll find what the game drop includes below, split into three broad categories. If you want to really dive into the details, including individual bug fixes and technical updates, you can find the full changelog at Minecraft.net.

• New mob variants. First, the teaser we saw in the Minecraft Live announcement trailer (along with our own speculation) came true, as the Spring to Life update is all about greater diversity in the Overworld ecosystem.
  • Cows, pigs, and chickens are getting two new regional variants for warm and cold biomes
  • Sheep aren't getting regional variants, but Mojang has tweaked the chances of specific colors spawning in warm, temperate, and cold biomes
  • This builds on the work Mojang started when it updated Minecraft with seven new wolf regional variants
  • Speaking of, wolves are also getting new personalities alongside a total redesign of Minecraft's spawn eggs as a part of this update
• New ambient features. More subtle than new mob variants, Minecraft's Overworld just got some new ambient features to make environments feel more lively.
  • Some of this we've already seen in previews, like decorative leaf litter piles on the ground near trees, falling leaves from trees, and updated ambient sounds in the desert and badlands biomes
  • However, we also got a new decorative plant with firefly bushes, which seem to be Mojang's answer to removing fireflies from the Minecraft "Wild Update" that featured frogs
  • There are plenty of other subtle additions, too, including tiny wildflowers, bushes, two new varieties of grass, and cactus flowers
• Other updates. Not content with the above, there are some other mild updates featured in "Spring to Life," including:
  • Cartographer villagers now offer new maps, leading players to villages in different biomes
  • Wandering traders now buy and sell more items, and prices in general are lower
  • Lodestones are easier to craft, and placing a compass on a Lodestone will always lead players home
  • You can now earn achievements while some Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Add-ons are enabled, so you don't have to stick with pure vanilla Minecraft anymore
  • You can now fully pause the game when you're playing by yourself

This isn't the most ambitious game update, but there are a ton of refinements and quality-of-life improvements in this update that should make it a worthwhile release for even the most hardcore Minecraft players.

What Minecraft update is coming after Spring to Life?

Mojang didn't go so far as to give us a release date or even a name, but we do have the first details for the game drop arriving shortly after Spring to Life. This update will be less colorful and friendly, though, as it's taking us back to the Nether and giving us some interesting updates to an infamous mob.

Here's what we do know will be in this update:

• Two new Ghast variants. Minecraft's screaming cat ghost, also known as a Ghast, is getting two new variants!
  • We're getting the Ghastling, which you can find by bringing a Dried Ghast block into the Overworld and soaking it in water
  • There's also the Happy Ghast, which is a Ghastling that's fed lots of snow until it grows up
• More Ghast-related additions. On top of the new variants, we're getting two new Ghast-related items.
  • There's the Dried Ghast block, or preserved Ghastlings that you can find in the Nether
  • Then there's the Ghast Harness, which allows you and up to three of your friends to ride your Happy Ghast

This update is understandably shrouded in more mystery than Spring to Life given that it's further out. What we've seen looks great, though, and I'm curious to see if we'll get any more features or changes in this release. This update isn't named yet, and should arrive later this year.

More modest updates for the world's biggest game

I'm torn on how I feel about Minecraft's new approach to updates. On one hand, Mojang committing to more transparent and frequent communication does wonders for setting reasonable expectations and avoiding disappointment when distant promises aren't met or are altered.

It's also great to see Minecraft more regularly get injections of additional content or noticeable improvements, rather than waiting many months for a single major release.

On the other hand, though, every game drop we've seen so far has been quite modest in scope, and there's been no hint that Mojang is also working on major, all-encompassing updates to Minecraft for the future.

• RELATED: Everything announced during Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025)

I'd feel much better about the adorable Spring to Life and the mysterious Ghast-related game drops if I also knew that these smaller updates were being released alongside development for bigger plans, but we simply don't know at this point.

Well, that's not entirely true. Mojang also unveiled the "Vibrant Visuals" update, the graphical upgrade Minecraft players have been requesting for years. That's arriving in the coming months, and it looks amazing. I provide side-by-side comparisons and answer all your burning questions in my full Minecraft "Vibrant Visuals" breakdown.

Either way, I've no complaints about the actual content we've seen from these game drops — it's all good stuff that I'm excited to see in the game. Having the "Spring to Life" game drop arrive so quickly is awesome, too, and it should go a long way toward making the Overworld feel more varied.

Of course, I'm also very excited to be able to tame and ride a Ghast of my own.

Minecraft's visuals have remained largely unchanged since the game's inception in 2009; apart from pre-release changes before 2011, Mojang has opted to refine rather than evolve.

• RELATED: Minecraft Vibrant Visuals upgrade: Side-by-side comparisons and everything you need to know

That doesn't mean there haven't been plans to overhaul Minecraft's official visuals without relying on the third-party shaders and texture packs that many Minecraft players love, but cancelations, delays, and lack of communication have only led to disappointment and frustration in the community.

That changes today, with Mojang Studios announcing the first step it's taking in updating Minecraft's visual identity during Minecraft Live. The "Vibrant Visuals" update is coming, and it's just the beginning.

What is the "Vibrant Visuals" update for Minecraft?

"Vibrant Visuals" is an upcoming update for Minecraft that will enhance and evolve the game's iconic art design.

It's an update Minecraft players have been requesting for many years, especially since the onset of the latest generation of Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Mojang Studios has already been quick to state that this will purely be a visual upgrade; it'll transform how players experience Minecraft, but it won't affect any actual gameplay mechanics or systems.

Upgrades to lighting and shadows won't affect how and where hostile mobs spawn, for example, or impact the way light sensors work.

Interestingly, Mojang has also admitted that this is merely the first step in a multi-phase plan to fulfil the studio's vision for Minecraft's future.

Minecraft certainly won't be moving away from its legendary blocks, but a fresh coat of paint across modern gaming platforms could help reignite interest in the long-running franchise, which has remained relevant because of the power of the "Minecraft" brand rather than any innovation or ambitious update cycle for the base game.

As for exactly what's changing, the upgrade includes updated textures, directional lighting, volumetric fog, and much more. Lighting, shadows, and reflections all enjoy the greatest, most dramatic improvements.

When will the Vibrant Visuals update release for Minecraft?

The Vibrant Visuals upgrade is obviously a major milestone for Minecraft, and it's coming to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on "compatible devices" first (we don't know exactly what devices that'll include yet).

When? In the coming months, but Mojang hasn't given us a more specific timeline yet. It is planned for Java Edition, too, but that'll come after.

Mojang Studios intends for this update to be easily accessed on many devices, as it'll be a simple toggle in Minecraft's settings. "Vibrant Visuals" will be backward compatible with all your old worlds, too, so you don't have to worry about losing your favorite builds.

On top of that, the visual upgrades will run entirely local, not server-side, so it's player-independent — you can enable the upgraded graphics, even if other players in your world do not.

A change too long in the making

The timeline for players requesting or expecting official visual upgrades for Minecraft is years long, and I won't rehash it in its entirety.

It's enough that I had to clarify that the recently released, native PlayStation 5 version of Minecraft does not feature ray-traced visuals, or specify that the latest Minecraft redesign was only for its official artwork, not for the game itself.

• RELATED: Everything announced during Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025)

After seeing the visuals for myself, I'm sold. The Vibrant Visuals upgrade is exactly what I wanted to see from Minecraft, and combined with the upcoming Minecraft game drops arriving this year, may be enough to get me to spend another couple dozen hours in the blocky game.

I don't believe for a moment that this announcement will instantly appease the entire community or erase years of pent-up aggrievances, but this is certainly a colossal step forward for Minecraft.

You could even say this represents the beginning of a new era of Minecraft to take us through the next 15 years. I'm excited for it, but how do you feel about the Vibrant Visuals reveal?

The Minecraft movie that was nothing more than rumors for years is now a tangible, imminent global blockbuster — or at least that's the plan.

'A Minecraft Movie' is mere weeks away from release, and Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios have massively ramped up the in-game collaborations and third-party partnerships to advertise the new movie.

• RELATED: How to watch Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025), and what to expect

The latest announcement? That McDonald's is going to unleash brand-new 'A Minecraft Movie' Happy Meals in over 100 markets, complete with an expansive line-up of new toys and even the exclusive "Nether" special sauce.

When and where can I get the 'A Minecraft Movie' Happy Meals at McDonald's?

The 'A Minecraft Movie' Happy Meals will be available at McDonald's in over 100 markets (you'll have to check your local restaurants) on Apr. 1, 2025. No, this isn't an April Fool's Day joke.

It's unclear if we're getting exclusive boxes for these Happy Meals, but it seems we will be getting 12 toys to collect. There will be six cubes modelled after in-game blocks (like diamond and pink wool) with 'A Minecraft Movie' characters and stickers inside, as well as six toys for Minecraft mobs like the Bee, Creeper, Wolf, and more.

For each Happy Meal, you'll also get one of six trading cards with an in-game code you can redeem for a character skin in Minecraft.

Truly dedicated Minecraft fans can also collect all the toys and connect them together in an exclusive digital game at HappyMeal.com, which lets players embark on their own 'A Minecraft Movie' adventure.

Finally, we know that McDonald's is debuting a new "Nether Flame" dipping sauce on the same day, which I presume is spicy, but we'll have to wait to find out for real.

Is there something for the adults, too?

Yes! We're also getting 'A Minecraft Movie' Meal, crafted for adults. The meal will include a Big Mac or McNuggets, a side, and a drink. There's also one of six new Minecraft movie toy—er, adult collectibles included in each meal!

Depending on your region, you may also be able to order an Apple Cake McFlurry and the new Nether Flame dipping sauce.

The Minecraft movie meal will be available globally on Apr. 1, just like the Happy Meal, but some regions may get it early. The United Kingdom, for example, will be able to enjoy the delicacies of McDonald's Minecraft cuisine starting Mar. 26, 2025.

More ways to celebrate the Minecraft movie

McDonald's may be stealing the thunder today, but there are plenty of other ways Mojang Studios is celebrating the Minecraft movie's impending launch in theaters worldwide.

You can buy some cursed 'A Minecraft Movie' merchandise, for example, or check out new interviews with the cast and crew behind the movie. You can even explore the Minecraft movie inside the game, with two in-game DLCs you can add to your account.

A Minecraft Movie: Add-On adds new enemies, bosses, and even weapons to Minecraft, and is free at Minecraft.net or in the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Marketplace. You can also play as any of the Minecraft movie main characters with A Minecraft Movie Hero Pack, a five-piece skin pack available for free at Minecraft.net or in the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Marketplace.

We also expect to see even more of 'A Minecraft Movie' at Minecraft Live on Mar. 22, so be sure to tune in. If you watch the event or other partnered Minecraft content on Twitch, you can also earn more in-game cosmetics inspired by the Minecraft movie. Here's everything you need to know about Minecraft Live (Mar. 2025) to get started.

I'm cautiously optimistic the Minecraft movie will end up being a fun experience for families and Minecraft fans alike, and I'm excited to take my daughter to see it when the movie officially releases on Apr. 4, 2025. I suppose we'll also be eating some more McDonald's in the near future, too.

In the world of Minecraft, there are always new developments in the making — both known and secret.

Mojang Studios has historically relied on major Minecraft Live shows to share many of those updates with the Minecraft community, and is now committing to smaller, more frequent events to get us that information faster.

The last Minecraft Live in Sept. 2024 was modest as a response to this shift in approach, but I think many still appreciated Mojang's increased dedication to transparency. Now, we know when the next Minecraft Live will air — and some clues for what we'll see.

When is the next Minecraft Live show airing?

The next Minecraft Live officially airs at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. GMT on Mar. 22, 2025.

You can check out the animated announcement trailer above, which doesn't tell us much (but may offer some hints).

Where will I be able to watch Minecraft Live?

We only know that Minecraft Live will stream at Minecraft.net/Live in English, but Mojang Studios has traditionally also streamed at YouTube.com/Minecraft and Twitch.TV/Minecraft.

I expect to see audio description, sign language, and localized language options again, as well, but we don't quite have details for those alternative streams at the moment.

I'll be updating our guide on how to watch Minecraft Live soon, and I'll keep that article updated with all the latest information and stream links as we get them.

What will we see at the next Minecraft Live?

Mojang Studios is being intentionally vague on the details, but we do know that the next Minecraft Live will largely be divided into three parts.

We know we'll be getting behind-the-scenes information and insight into the growing Minecraft franchise, direct from the sources at Mojang Studios.

We'll also learn about future game drops (read: content updates) coming to Minecraft: Java Edition and Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.

Finally, we'll get more details on 'A Minecraft Movie,' the live action Minecraft flick starring Jack Black, coming to theaters around the world on Apr. 4, 2025. We already got the final 'A Minecraft Movie' trailer recently, so we may be treated to more insight into that.

Beyond that, matters are pretty mysterious, but Mojang may have more teases in store before the actual event.

I can at least speculate what we may see come to Minecraft in the next game drops. Mojang has been increasingly focused on improving the diversity of Minecraft's ecosystems and improving the finer details of its interface with preview updates like new wolf personalities and redesigned spawn eggs.

I imagine the next game drops will expand on those snapshots and previews, and we may see new regional variants for other mobs. The animated trailer shows different kinds of cows, sheep, and chickens (all of which we've seen in previous projects like Minecraft Earth), so that seems like a safe bet.

More frequent peeks into the future of Minecraft

I'm all for Mojang Studios dropping smaller, more frequent updates for Minecraft and its related projects, and it's nice that we can look forward to more than a single Minecraft Live show a year.

That being said, I do hope this Minecraft Live is a little more interesting than the last one. Personally, I feel that "The Pale Garden" update was lacking in worthwhile content, and I don't want "smaller, more frequent updates" to also mean "no more big changes or additions."

The next Minecraft Live is a few weeks away, and you can rest assured that I'll be covering everything that comes out of the show when it arrives.

What would you like to see from Minecraft Live and Mojang Studios? Are you optimistic about the newly announced show?

We're bearing witness to a proper resurgence of video games in movies and TV shows, with some major successes... And some not-so-great entries. Microsoft is actively expanding into new mediums with its vast catalog of Xbox franchises, too, and that means another new way to step into the Minecraft universe.

Minecraft is everywhere, and now it's coming to the big screen with a live action adaptation. We've known about 'A Minecraft Movie' for years, but we only just recently got our first peek and a proper release date.

Now, Warner Bros. and Mojang Studios have released the third trailer for the Minecraft movie, once again prominently featuring its star cast, including Jack Black and Jason Mamoa.

The final trailer for your viewing pleasure

Laying the groundwork for the action-packed plot

Minecraft has been far more than just one video game for many years now, and many of you may be aware of the unique action-strategy game Minecraft Legends. The first Minecraft game with a proper voiced cast to go alongside its story, the basic plot was this: the Piglin armies of the hellish Nether are seeking to invade and conquer the Overworld.

More or less, that also seems to be the overarching storyline of the Minecraft movie. Mysterious circumstances lead to a group of four strangers getting lost in the uncanny, blocky world of Minecraft, and there they discover that another human has already been here for a very long time.

Yes, it's Jack Black as the infamous Minecraft Steve, although it's mostly Jack Black.

Steve takes it upon himself to guide his fellow humans through surviving the weirdly video game-y world they now find themselves in, including how to craft, interact with the local inhabitants, and crack a Minecraft pun here and there.

Somewhere along the way, though, the group discovers the nefarious plot manifesting in the Nether and must work together to save the Overworld and all the life it holds from the Piglin hordes.

It's a very safe story for the first live action Minecraft movie, and sets the movie up well for success if it can stick the landing. Of course, 'A Minecraft Movie' also needs to somehow nail the specific, tongue-in-cheek vibe that will justify its odd CGI-heavy visuals.

I'm still not entirely sold on the Minecraft movie

Minecraft is one of the biggest media franchises on the planet, and the Minecraft movie stars some of the most recognizable names in acting. It's going to take more than that to make this project a runaway success, though.

People have little patience for haphazard adaptations of their favorite franchises, and even after three trailers I'm still not completely convinced that the team behind 'A Minecraft Movie' has taken the right approach.

At the very least, though, there's clearly passion here. This latest trailer is packed with easter eggs that show there's at least a few people working on this movie that are intimately familiar with the Minecraft universe.

Using a bucket of water to cushion a fall, creating iron golems out of iron and pumpkins, the mysterious circle of life that materializes children when there's food around — the detail is there.

It's just going to be difficult for 'A Minecraft Movie' to walk the line between cringey and hilarious writing, and that line is fine with this kind of movie.

It may surprise you to hear, but this isn't even the only attempt to bring Minecraft into the real world right now. There's also the "Minecraft Experience," touring the globe to take people on interactive Minecraft adventures. That, at least, is easier to swallow.

Dropping Apr. 4, with an in-game bonus for ticket purchasers

'A Minecraft Movie' officially releases in theaters worldwide on Apr. 4, 2025, so we're only a few months away from being able to see the finished project.

You can already purchase 'A Minecraft Movie' tickets at Fandango.com, and a purchasing bonus was announced today for those who grab their passes early.

Starting today (Feb. 27), anyone who purchases tickets for the Minecraft movie at Fandango will receive an in-game Minecraft code for a Jetpack Add-on, of all things. Hey, at least it's not another random cosmetic item, this jetpack is actually functional.

Catch the first two trailers

If you're wanting to get caught up on all three trailers for the Minecraft movie, Windows Central has you covered.

We wrote about the debut 'A Minecraft Movie' trailer (and how cursed it is), and then followed up with the minor redemption of the second 'A Minecraft Movie' trailer (and the accompanying behind-the-scenes look).

Now that we're dealing with the full trilogy of trailers and have a fair amount of footage from the Minecraft movie, I'm cautiously optimistic that this will at least be a fun movie to go see with friends or family, even if it's not a cinematic masterpiece that'll monopolize all the accolades and awards for the year.

I'm curious what your thoughts are on the 'A Minecraft Movie,' especially with the latest trailer. Do you have hope, are you confident this movie is going to join 'Cats' as one of the worst movies of all time, is there a grey area you reside in?

If I had to choose just two brands or companies that occupy the most of my time here at Windows Central, I'd likely land on Razer and Minecraft. Beyond simply being a part of the video games industry and each owning an iconic green, there's not a ton of overlap there.

Well, it took longer than I expected, but Razer and Mojang Studios just announced a limited-edition Minecraft collection, featuring four of Razer's most popular PC gaming accessories freshly skinned in distinctive Minecraft liveries. All four products are available starting today, so there's no time to waste breaking down everything you need to know.

The Razer Minecraft Collection overview

As I mentioned, four of Razer's best-selling accessories are getting the Minecraft treatment, and they're all available starting today.

• Razer Kraken V4 X Minecraft Edition wired gaming headset for $99.99 at Razer — compared to the standard Kraken V4 X for $80
• Razer Cobra Minecraft Edition wired gaming mouse for $59.99 at Razer — compared to the standard Cobra for $40
• Razer BlackWidow V4 X Minecraft Edition wired gaming keyboard for $169.99 at Razer — compared to the standard BlackWidow V4 X for $130
• Razer Gigantus V2 Minecraft Edition soft mousepad for $29.99 at Razer — compared to the standard Gigantus V2 for $10

To obtain the entire Razer Minecraft Collection, you're looking at $360. If you're just looking for a sick new PC gaming setup and don't care about the Minecraft aesthetics, you can get the standard variants of these products for $260, so there's a $100 premium for us Minecraft fanatics.

I do think the price increases are more reasonable than the Razer Kuromi Collection I reviewed, but it's still worth mentioning that you'll need to pay more to add these to your collection.

You can see more about the Razer Minecraft Collection at Razer.com.

Razer Kraken V4 X Minecraft Edition

We haven't reviewed the Razer Kraken V4 X wired gaming headset, but I have reviewed the Razer Kraken V4 wireless gaming headset, which shares a similar design language and feature set. For those who don't mind a wire, this is a very solid, value-driven gaming headset at $80. Paying an extra $20 for the Minecraft version doesn't seem too bad.

If you buy the Razer Kraken V4 X Minecraft Edition, you'll get an in-game Minecraft code for the Ender Dragon Shawl cosmetic item.

I think I personally prefer the Razer Kraken V4 X without the Creeper-ification, but this is a good-looking limited edition that does the theme justice. I especially love that there are creepers on the inside of the earcups.

Razer Cobra Minecraft Edition

Once again, we haven't reviewed the standard Razer Cobra, but my colleague did review the Razer Cobra Pro wireless gaming mouse, a higher-performance and cable-free variant. The quick rundown? This is a great mouse for those that want to balance comfort, features, and performance. You're paying an additional $20 for the Minecraft Edition, which feels a little steep, but you're still getting a solid peripheral.

If you buy the Razer Cobra Minecraft Edition, you'll get an in-game Minecraft code for the Overgrown Arm cosmetic item.

I'm not the biggest fan of this design, if only because a grass block is front and center and that seems like an odd choice for a mouse. At least you know you'll be grounded while playing. Sorry (not).

Razer BlackWidow V4 X Minecraft Edition

It may not surprise you to hear this at this point, but we've reviewed the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro, not the more affordable BlackWidow V4 X. This keyboard still falls under Razer's "let's throw everything and the kitchen sink in" gaming keyboard lineup, but with less RGB lighting and fewer additional features. The Minecraft Edition comes with a $40 premium attached, which is right in line with the rest of the collection.

If you buy the Razer BlackWidow V4 X Minecraft Edition, you'll get an in-game Minecraft code for the Ender Dragon Shawl cosmetic item.

This is my favorite product in the collection. This time, the grass block being the foundation of the keyboard makes a ton of sense, and I love the little Creepers around the arrow keys. It's sad that the awesome grass block keycap isn't actually included in the price of the keyboard, though. Oh, and I tried to find where you can get it, too, but to no avail.

Razer Gigantus V2 (Medium) Minecraft Edition

We're not really in the habit of reviewing basic, soft mousepads, but we do know that Razer — like most reputable companies — has no issue making quality products here. The Minecraft Edition costs three times as much as the standard black-and-green, though, which does feel excessive.

If you buy the Razer Gigantus V2 (Medium) Minecraft Edition, you'll get an in-game Minecraft code for the Overgrown Arm cosmetic item.

Once again, I'm not that excited by this design. It doesn't seem much more interesting than the mountains of off-brand Minecraft mousepads you can find if you look for them, and you're paying an extra $20 for this one. But, hey, it's official.

A good collection targeting more interesting products

I loved the designs of the Razer Kuromi Collection, but lamented that Razer only selected its cheapest products to receive the limited-edition treatment. The Razer Minecraft Collection still doesn't include any flagship products, but these products are far more in line with what I expect most people to have on their desk.

It's unfortunate, though, that the designs themselves aren't as interesting as I'd hoped they'd be. The Razer Kuromi Collection, despite being a collection of lower-end products, has more character in my opinion.

These aren't bad by any means, but there were so many interesting directions Razer and Mojang Studios could've taken with Minecraft's countless blocks, mobs, and biomes. Creepers and grass blocks are absolutely the most basic choices.

Still, it could make a lot of Minecraft fans happy, especially if you have a young one in your life in need of some quality peripherals for their gaming setup.

In other news, Minecraft just began testing adorable new egg designs and more unique wolf personalities. On the Razer side, I recently published my review of the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma... and also my review of the Razer Monitor Stand Chroma (I stay busy).

The Minecraft train never stops moving forward, so there are always new updates waiting around the next corner. Now, we know at least some of the new features and changes we can expect from that next update, as Mojang Studios has released a new Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot and Minecraft Preview build to let the impatient among us go hands-on early.

I have to say, this may be one of the cutest snapshots we've seen in a long time, too. The classic spawn eggs Creative players have been relying on for years are getting refreshed with more intuitive and absolutely adorable designs, while our beloved Wolves are getting even more diverse with new unique personalities. Oh, and I guess leaves are... Leave-ing better.

New spawn eggs with designs that match their mob

In case you didn't know already, everything in Minecraft is born from an egg. Probably. At least, we can create everything using eggs? I don't know, the point is that Minecraft's spawn eggs are finally getting a much-needed redesign that moves away from the vague, ambiguous color schemes to actually distinct and recognizable designs.

Want to spawn a panda? Well, that egg has a panda's face and ears, so that's probably it. What about a bee? Look for the egg with black strips and tiny wings. I'm willing to bet the egg with a beak and colorful head feathers probably spawns parrots. Every egg now looks like what it spawns, with diverse colors, patterns, and even shapes. Honestly, they're just adorable, enough said.

Wolves can now spawn with one of several unique personalities

Last year, Mojang Studios let us adopt more puppies with eight distinct Wolf variants, with each spawning in different biomes and with unique herding behaviors. Now, Wolves are about to get even more unique, as Mojang Studios is adding seven unique sound profiles — and every single Wolf, regardless of its variant, can spawn with any of those profiles. This gives our Wolves different personalities, with unique barks, growls, pants, and whines.

If you really want to push it, you can say there are now 56 variants of Wolves in total. You better get started if you want to collect them all.

Don't forget about the leaves

Mojang Studios recently added a new decorative block to Minecraft's test builds with Leaf Litter, which... Well, it litters the ground with leaves. It's purely for ambience, but those kinds of additions are still important for keeping Minecraft fresh and fun. Now, Leaf Litter will change color depending on the biome in which you'll find it, which makes complete sense.

Not as exciting as new spawn eggs or wolf variants, sure, but it's still part of the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot and Minecraft Preview build you can go download now, with more information available at Minecraft.net. We'll keep you posted when the full update with these new features drops for all players.

What you need to know

• 'A Minecraft Movie' is an upcoming live action movie coming next year, starring actors like Jack Black and Jason Mamoa.
• The first official trailer received criticisms, with many calling it "cursed" for attempting to bring Minecraft's cubic world to life.
• However, I completely missed that 'A Minecraft Movie' recently got two new trailers: an official second look and a behind-the-scenes sneak peek.
• The two trailers have slightly restored my faith that the Minecraft movie may actually be fun to watch.

Minecraft's cubic visuals are iconic and a huge part of the legendary franchise's identity, but there have been few attempts to translate those blocks into our own world for obvious reasons. Well, not so obvious now, since Mojang Studios and Xbox have been working for years now on 'A Minecraft Movie,' a live action flick coming to theaters in 2025.

The first trailer for 'A Minecraft Movie' honestly didn't win me (or many others) over, with "cursed" being a frequent adjective to describe it. I completely missed that a new trailer (and a behind-the-scenes look) were released in the last week or so, though, and my opinion has shifted slightly.

The second official Minecraft movie trailer seems to do a better job capturing the self-aware, tongue-in-cheek nature that this movie will need to embrace to succeed. Minecraft's blocky attributes would look ridiculous in the real world no matter how you attempted it, but I'm more optimistic now than I was before that this could be another video game movie adaptation that I'll actually enjoy.

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Passion for the project and a better vibe help ease concerns

In addition to a brand-new official trailer, Mojang Studios also shared a behind-the-scenes trailer that discusses how the crew and cast worked to bring Minecraft to life, including the creation of the props and sets, an overview of the different characters, and more.

I'll admit that I shared the concern of many that 'A Minecraft Movie' would end up being an unmitigated disaster of an adaptation, but the latest trailer does a far better job capturing what makes Minecraft special and embracing the simple fact that making a real-world version of Minecraft will always feel a little silly. The behind-the-scenes look further improves my outlook with evidence that there's some real passion being poured into this project.

I recently spoke with the team behind the Minecraft Experience, a real-world attraction that you can go visit right now to physically step into Minecraft. The Minecraft Experience team has worked closely with the Minecraft movie's team to collaborate on props and environments, hopefully finding a suitable blend of practical and CGI effects for the movie. It may be just the way its edited or that time smooths over all blemishes, but the second trailer does look better in my eyes.

From exploring the confusion and horror of the infamous "first night" to showing a feral wolf becoming a beloved companion, 'A Minecraft Movie' may actually be great. Either way, I know my daughter and I will be going to see it as soon as possible when the movie officially releases in theaters worldwide on Apr. 5, 2025.

In case you missed it, the next content update for the actual Minecraft game also has a release date, and it's coming way sooner than the movie.

What you need to know

• Mojang Studios has pivoted to smaller, more frequent updates for Minecraft, and the latest is just around the corner.
• "The Garden Awakens" adds a spooky new biome with a terrifying inhabitant.
• Players can brave The Pale Garden for a chance at securing new crafting and building materials, as well as a Creaking Heart for more nefarious purposes.
• Minecraft "The Garden Awakens" is dropping today, on Dec. 3, and should be rolling out to players on all platforms.

Minecraft is in something of a transitionary phase, moving into brand-new entertainment mediums and shifting the way game updates are approached. Mojang Studios has pivoted to "Game Drops," smaller and more frequent releases that regularly add new features to everyone's favorite survival-crafting game, and the latest has finally arrived.

"The Garden Awakens" is the newly revealed title of the newest major Minecraft content update, which brings with it a spooky new biome, an even spookier new hostile mob, and a handful of reasons to encourage players to brave the dreary forest known as "The Pale Garden." You can begin your exploration whenever you're ready, too, as "The Garden Awakens" is now rolling out to all Minecraft Players across Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, Switch, and mobile devices as of today, Dec. 3, 2024.

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A horror theme and a modest list of additions

I'm not one to tiptoe around an issue, so I'll go out and say that "The Garden Awakens" isn't the most exciting Minecraft update that has ever come out of Mojang Studios. These new "Game Drops" are more modest by their nature, and this update is no different. The list of new content and additions is relatively short, but there's still plenty to entice players to return to Minecraft's Overworld.

"The Garden Awakens" centers entirely around The Pale Garden, a new rare forest biome that players can discover in Minecraft. The Pale Garden is devoid of color and cast in ominous overtones, with a pervasive silence that's only broken once night falls. That's because The Pale Garden is home to Minecraft's most terrifying entity: The Creaking. These tree-like monsters hunt the grounds of The Pale Garden once the sun, recedes, and they can be horrifying foes.

The Creaking only move when you can't see them, and stop the moment you lay eyes on them. This doesn't make them easier to deal with, though — The Creaking are effectively immortal, with only one way to deal with them. You have to track down their Creaking Heart, embedded in a nearby tree, and destroy The Creaking at their source. If you conspire to pick up a Creaking Heart rather than destroy it, then you can spawn your own legion of Creaking wherever you want.

Aside from The Creaking, The Pale Garden is also home to the Pale Oak trees and Pale Moss, both of which can be used to craft interesting and unique structures and creations. Aggravating The Creaking at night will also result in the production of resin, another new material that can be used to spice up your building. Finally, The Pale Garden is home to eyeblossoms, a unique new flower that only blooms at night and glows orange in the dark.

Minecraft's "The Garden Awakens" update officially drops on Dec. 3, 2024 for Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, Switch, mobile devices, and Xbox Game Pass as a simultaneous update for both Java and Bedrock Editions. While a smaller update, it is certainly one of the spookiest releases Minecraft has ever enjoyed. There's no word yet on what comes next for Minecraft, but I'm sure we won't have to wait long to find out.

In case you missed it, I recently sat down to talk with the team behind Minecraft Experience, a new real-world attraction that lets you physically step into the world of Minecraft.

The video games industry is swimming in legendary and iconic franchises, but few (if any) can truly compete with the cultural phenomenon that is Minecraft. What started as a survival-crafting game has become so much larger than that, so I wasn't too surprised when Xbox and Mojang Studios announced a new way for people of all ages to experience Minecraft... This time in the real world.

Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue is already live and in business in Dallas, Texas, and its doors are open to all of us. I unfortunately wasn't able to attend the premiere (Dallas is not exactly a brisk walk away), but I did get the opportunity to sit down with Olivier Goulet, Managing Partner and Executive Producer of Minecraft Experience, and Craig Leigh from Mojang, Principal Design Director. In lieu of a hands-on experience, I instead discussed what brought this unique Minecraft attraction to life and where Xbox plans to take it from here.

You can keep reading to learn more, but if all you needed to hear was "it's in Dallas" than you can pick up your Minecraft Experience tickets for $32/person through feverup.com.

This interview has been edited for clarity and grammar. No companies had input nor saw the contents of this article prior to publication.

What is Minecraft Experience?

Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue is a real-world, interactive group activity designed in collaboration between Xbox Game Studios and Mojang Studios, Experience Mod LLC. (in charge of production and technology), and Supply + Demand. Minecraft Experience aims to immerse groups of up to 25 people at a time in the world of Minecraft by having them explore a multi-biome space taking up over 20,000 square feet, all during the course of around an hour.

You don't need to be a Minecraft fan or even be familiar with the game; Minecraft Experience is designed to accommodate people of all ages, skills, and knowledge levels. Villager Rescue tasks you and your group with saving a village. To do so, you'll need to explore, collect resources, battle mobs, and craft everything you need to cure zombie villagers of their undeadness.

The first iteration of Minecraft Experience is situated in Dallas, TX and will remain there until around the first week of Jan. 2025. After that, the Minecraft Experience team will pack everything up and move to a new city, repeating the process over and over through 2025 and beyond across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. If you're interested in participating, you can purchase Minecraft Experience tickets for $32/person from feverup.com, with group discounts for 4-15 tickets and an even larger discount for 16-25 tickets.

• Back to the top ⤴

Bringing Minecraft to everyone in the real world

"I come from theatre, I come from rock-n-roll, I come from getting people engaged into stories and experiences," Olivier Goulet, Managing Partner and Executive Producer for Minecraft Experience, told me early on in our discussion. "Looking at my kids play Minecraft, the idea triggered of doing an experience and then bringing it to life."

Goulet is the founder of Supply & Demand, and over his storied career has assisted in the design and production of countless shows, events, and TV products including multiple Cirque Du Soleil performances and even concerts for artists like Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, and Bon Jovi. For him, the Minecraft Experience is simply the next chapter in immersing people in entertainment.

Accompanying Goulet during our conversation is Craig Leigh, the Principal Design Director of Minecraft Experience and a long-time part of the Mojang Studios team. Before this, Leigh was instrumental in bringing Minecraft Legends to life, and before that played a key role in the creation of Minecraft Earth. For him, this is another opportunity to give people a unique, all-new foray into the Minecraft universe.

Unlike the woefully fated Minecraft Earth, though, Minecraft Experience is a lot more grounded in our world. "No more augmented reality, just reality," Leigh said at one point.

It turns out, building the Minecraft Experience into what you can go enjoy right now was a long, arduous process that involved no small amount of creativity and technical ingenuity. I learned a lot about the tech behind Minecraft Experience, which is designed to captivate multiple senses — touch, sight, and sound chief among them. It may not stop there, even! I jokingly asked if Minecraft Experience would eventually target participants' noses, too, and the response surprised me.

"What does a Creeper smell like? I don't think I want to know what a Creeper smells like," Leigh matched my tone. Also, gunpowder and lightning, I thought that was obvious.

Goulet, however, had a different answer. "[The technology] isn't there yet, but it's something that we're starting to explore. There's nothing to say that we're not going to do it in the future," he explained. I'm getting ahead of myself, though; the Minecraft Experience already combines a ton of different technologies, so how does it work?

It all starts with the Orb of Interaction. Every participant in the Minecraft Experience is given their own Orb, which they'll use with gesture controls to interact with the environment. The Orb doesn't just accurately track your unique movement and gestures (even when there are 24 other people around you), it also provides visual and tactile feedback with RGB LEDs and vibration motors that respond to your actions and new events.

Beyond the Orb of Interaction, the Minecraft Experience utilizes a ton of technology to make everything come together, and it's both seamless so you never see behind the scenes during the event and modular, so everything can be easily packed and moved to the next city. Touch comes into play through the Orb of Interaction and the plethora of physical props and environments. Sight enters the picture through projected screens and digital interfaces. Sound is introduced through over 100 meticulously placed speakers that provide precise, natural 3D audio during the entire experience.

You'll explore multiple biomes during your time in the Minecraft Experience, too, and each biome offers a unique experience. Some may make use of touchscreens, other arcade-like systems, and others still using LiDAR technology to track your movements with even greater precision. Creating the Minecraft Experience also meant "special technology that was made and designed just for this experience," Leigh told me. "We've had to develop this through the course of the last two years to do all of these amazing things."

The end result is a cohesive experience that seems to be resonating with the first wave of visitors. "We're used to working and living in Minecraft, being in real life in the Minecraft world, but seeing people come in and be blown away by the technology is incredible," Leigh said.

"We wanted to make this accessible to everybody. It's not just for Minecraft players, it's for people to discover Minecraft as well," Goulet added. "It's for families, it's for parents to understand better what Minecraft is. It's for legacy players to reconnect with the game, as well."

Technology isn't all it took, though. The Minecraft Experience is a part of the wider Minecraft universe, and that meant faithfully capturing its soul. "This is another way to step into the game. It's not a replacement," Goulet said. Apparently, that started with coming to terms with the fact that the Minecraft universe is big — and I mean actually big, not its level of influence.

"It was actually an interesting technical challenge because the real virtual Minecraft world is a different scale, and it's a little too big for us humans," Leigh explained. If you weren't away, Minecraft blocks are canonically 1m x 1m, or around 3.3ft x 3.3ft, which is unwieldy to the average human, to say the least. The Minecraft Experience scales everything down to 60% of its normal size, and the work done to design the countless props for mobs, environments, and more in the Minecraft Experience has helped bring Minecraft into our world in other places.

Originally, I was actually meant to speak with Torfi Frans Olafsson, the Creative Director of Entertainment at Mojang Studios, before Leigh took his place. Torfi is a well-known name and face in the Minecraft community, and for the last few years he's had his hands in both the Minecraft Experience and... 'A Minecraft Movie'. Yes, you may have heard that Minecraft is getting a live action movie starring Jack Black and Jason Mamoa, and that project isn't entirely separate from the Minecraft Experience.

Leigh and Olaffson apparently work very closely together, speaking every day, and discussing how best to bring Minecraft into our world in different ways. "Now that we have a foundation for what Minecraft is like, we've used the same scale for the movie set, for all the movie props and everything," Leigh told me. Where 'A Minecraft Movie' will make us an audience, though, the Minecraft Experience lets you go hands-on as an active participant... And the work isn't done, yet.

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Where does Minecraft Experience go from here?

"Minecraft is more than a game. It's a huge, iconic entertainment brand," Leigh said during our conversation.

"Villager Rescue is the first iteration of [Minecraft Experience]. We're scratching the surface... The end goal is exploring how we can interact with the brand in a different way," Goulet continued. Yes, that does mean there will be new Minecraft Experiences telling different stories, experimenting with new technologies, and discovering new ways to bring people into Minecraft. From a different perspective, it means that Minecraft Experience is here to stay.

"As technology develops, we will continue to experiment and make new adventures. It's not a marketing stunt... it's almost like a traveling theme park attraction," Leigh explained. Minecraft Experience is starting its journey in Dallas, TX and will remain there until the beginning of the new year, but Leigh and Goulet's eyes are already on what comes next. Beyond new experiences, it also means new locations.

"We are actively looking for where our next locations are and we're planning for the future... Don't worry, it's going to come to you," Craig said. "It is a standalone experience and we're looking for this to grow. It premieres in Dallas, but it will travel across the states and then on to Europe and Asia and Latin America." Considering Minecraft Experience plans to spend 15-20 weeks in each location, at least a couple of years are already set in stone.

Goulet also hinted at how Minecraft Experience could evolve beyond my half-joking comment on smells, mentioning other attractions that use puffs of air and other effects to introduce even more sensations to the experience.

Minecraft Experience could be a rolling snowball, progressively growing and evolving as it continues down its path, and Goulet's production team is ready for it. "We're there to upgrade. We're there to listen to the guests and the visitors and make sure that as this evolves, we're going to get better and better. We're going to get much more focused on this," Goulet said toward the end of our discussion.

I'll admit that I was a little disappointed that I couldn't check out the premiere of Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue for myself, but I'm hopeful I'll get my opportunity in the future. Leigh and Goulet both seem very excited about what they and their colleagues have accomplished, and that kind of passion bodes well for the future of this attraction.

Who knows, maybe there's a future where Minecraft Experience sets up permanent shop in some places in addition to its traveling show. It all comes down to how well the Minecraft Experience really gives participants the Minecraft experience, bringing them into a world that many of us have spent many, many digital hours with.

If you want to put that to the test yourself, you can purchase Minecraft Experience tickets for $32/person from feverup.com. You can also keep an eye on MinecraftExperience.com for the latest news and updates.

• Back to the top ⤴

What you need to know

• Recently, Mojang Studios hosted a new Minecraft Live show and unveiled the next two Minecraft content updates.
• "Bundles of Bravery" is coming soon and is a more minor release, but the more interesting update is coming later this year.
• The Pale Garden is a creepy new biome that's home to The Creaking, dangerous tree-like mobs that will strike only when you're not looking.
• It's the perfect update for the spooky season, so it's great that you don't have to wait for the full release — the first Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot for the update is here.

It has only been a few days since Mojang Studios revealed the next two Minecraft content updates, or "Game Drops," during the latest Minecraft Live show. There was definitely a theme for the new updates, with the second (and more major release) debuting an eerie new biome home to one of the most terrifying mobs ever added to Minecraft: The Creaking. You don't have to wait months — or even weeks — to play with the creepy new features, either.

Mojang Studios has announced that the first Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot for The Pale Garden biome and its tree-like inhabitants is now available for interested players to dive in and play, and Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on other platforms is coming in the near future. Here's what you need to know about the snapshot and what this upcoming Game Drop will bring to Minecraft later this year.

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Everyone can get killed by The Creaking later this year, but you can do it early

During Minecraft Live 2024, Mojang Studios announced the "Bundles of Bravery" Game Drop coming to all Minecraft players in the coming weeks — but that update only includes Hardcore Mode for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition (it was already in the Java Edition) and the new portable and customizable bundles. The more interesting update is a few months out, and it doesn't quite have a name yet.

However, Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 24w40a is already here (with a full changelog on Minecraft.net) with the new features available for any interested player to test early. Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Previews and betas on Windows PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Android, and iOS will get the same features soon, but those players will have to wait a little longer. So, what does this terrifying new Game Drop include?

• The Pale Garden. The headlining feature for this upcoming update is The Pale Garden, a brand-new forest biome that looks entirely different from any other biome we've seen before.
  • The Pale Garden is eerily quiet and almost entirely devoid of color, and is very dense with trees and foliage that reduce visibility
  • The Pale Garden also has unique atmospheric sounds that grow steadily worse as night falls
• The Creaking. The Pale Garden is only home to one native mob, The Creaking. This hostile entity is one of Minecraft's only truly asymmetrical mobs and also features some unique mechanics.
  • The Creaking only spawns at night, and camouflages with The Pale Garden
  • This mob is entirely immune to damage, making it a dangerous foe
  • The Creaking only moves when players aren't looking at it, similar to the infamous "Weeping Angel"
  • Players wearing a pumpkin head can look at The Creaking without it stopping, though
• The Creaking Heart. The only way to defeat a Creaking is to track down its connected Creaking Heart and destroy it.
  • The Creaking Heart becomes active at night when it's surrounded by Pale Oak logs and spawns at least one Creaking mob to defend it
  • The Creaking Heart has its own ambient sounds to help players track it down, and hitting a connected Creaking will result in particle effects leading to the Creaking Heart's general area
  • Once players destroy a Creaking Heart, all connected Creaking mobs instantly die
  • Players can use a Silk Touch pickaxe on The Creaking Hearts to pick it up and place it somewhere else
• Pale Oak set. The Pale Garden is comprised almost entirely of Pale Oak trees and Pale Moss, resulting in a variety of new crafting materials and blocks.
  • Pale Oak logs can be used to craft stripped logs, planks, doors, fences, fence gates, signs, hanging signs, slabs, stairs, trapdoors, buttons, pressure plates, boats, and boats with chest
  • Pale Moss blocks spawn naturally in The Pale Garden, and when placed as Pale Moss Carpet can spread to adjacent blocks
  • Pale Hanging Moss grows from the foliage of Pale Oak trees, and has its own unique set of ambient sounds

You can go download the 24w40a snapshot in the Minecraft Launcher on Windows PC starting today and check out all of these new features. Honestly, I'm hoping that Mojang Studios gives us more reason to visit The Pale Garden in the first place, especially at night, as right now there doesn't seem to be any incentive. Perhaps we'll see unique rewards and treasures that you can only find in The Pale Garden, and right now Mojang is just focused on the foundational features.

Either way, this quick turnaround is great to see, and will hopefully help Mojang flesh out these features before they're fully released as part of the "Winter Drop" for Minecraft on all platforms later this year.

What you need to know

• Mojang Studios has kicked off its new Minecraft Live format, which gives a sneak peek at the near future of Minecraft.
• One of the biggest reveals during the show has been the next two major Minecraft content updates (or "Game Drops"), both possessing creepier themes for the spooky season
• The first is dubbed "Bundles of Bravery," and it brings new features like Hardcore Mode for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and bundles.
• The second coming in the next few months doesn't have a name yet, but brings even spookier features like a new hostile mob and biome.

It's the dawn of a new era for Minecraft. Mojang Studios recently revealed its plans to change how the Minecraft universe will evolve over time, including smaller and more frequent content updates, the permanent death of the controversial Minecraft Live Mob Vote, and more focused bi-annual Minecraft Live events. The first of the latter is already here, as Minecraft Live 2024 kicked off in earnest today.

The headliner for this Minecraft Live is, like usual, the next major content updates, or Game Drops, for Minecraft. Mojang Studios has taken the wraps off and revealed the first details for "Bundles of Bravery," a more minor update that's coming to Minecraft players everywhere just in time for the spooky season with more challenge and features.

Of course, that's far from all, as Mojang actually debuted a second Game Drop we'll see a little later down the road with a horror theme. It's the exact kind of connected, relevant update I love to see in live-service games like Minecraft, and it seems like a great continuation of the ongoing Minecraft 15th Anniversary celebration. Keep reading for everything you need to know from Minecraft Live 2024.

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Spooky Minecraft updates for the spooky season

The first Minecraft Game Drop coming to players soon is "Bundles of Bravery," which embraces the spooky season with new features and mechanics that we already knew Mojang Studios were working on alongside the community.

The "Bundles of Bravery" update is expected to arrive on all Minecraft platforms very soon. Here's what Mojang has confirmed for the upcoming Game Drop.

• Hardcore Mode in Bedrock Edition. A staple of Minecraft: Java Edition, Hardcore Mode challenges players to survive Minecraft at its most difficult with a single life. If you die, your game is over and you have to start over completely from the beginning. Now, Hardcore Mode finally debuts in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on modern platforms following years of community requests, providing a new level of challenge for the most skilled Minecraft players.
• Bundles. Bundles were originally supposed to be a part of the Minecraft "Caves & Cliffs" Update, but were delayed repeatedly as Mojang sought to improve the feature. Now, Bundles are finally coming in the "Bundles of Bravery" Game Drop.
  • Bundles are crafted with leather and web, and can be dyed with any color for customization
  • Bundles are accessed via the inventory, and allow players to carry significantly more by stashing items inside them, like portable chests

The next Game Drop continues the eerie theme, but it may not have an official name yet. What we do know is that it brings a new hostile mob and biome to Minecraft, and is expected to arrive within the next few months. Here's what Mojang has confirmed for this Game Drop.

• The Pale Garden. The latest new biome coming to the Minecraft Overworld, The Pale Garden is creepily calm. It's desaturated and almost entirely silent during the day. At night, new creepy ambient sounds debut and players may encounter the native hostile mob.
  • The Pale Garden is comprised of Pale Oak trees, Pale Hanging Moss, and Pale Moss Carpet, with high density offering low visibility to players
  • The Pale Oak trees can be harvested for the Pale Oak wood set, which is near-white
  • This biome is also home to The Creaking
• The Creaking. This new hostile mob only exists in The Pale Garden at night, and perfectly blends into the Pale Oak trees.
  • The Creaking attacks players on sight, but only moves when players look away from it
  • The Creaking cannot be killed by attacking it directly; instead, players must track down The Creaking Heart connected to it
  • The Creaking Heart block is hidden within a nearby Pale Oak tree, and when it's destroyed the connected Creaking dies with it
  • Players can mine The Creaking Heart with a Silk Touch pickaxe to pick it up and place it elsewhere, unleashing a creepy Creaking at will
• Pale Oak wood set. In addition to a new biome and horrifying new mob, this Game Drop will feature the Pale Oak wood set for players to build with.
  • Like other wood sets, this is a cosmetic addition that features a new white aesthetic for blocks, stairs, doors, slabs, fences, boats, and more
  • Players can also place Pale Hanging Moss and Pale Moss Carpet to complete the desaturated, creepy vibe

This Game Drop is a little further down the line, but Mojang Studios did confirm that The Pale Garden and The Creaking are going to drop in Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshots, Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Betas, and Minecraft Preview in the near future. The features are expected to remain in testing for a few months while Mojang finalizes them before the official release later this year.

Minecraft Live 2024 is in full swing

The latest Minecraft Live aired on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. ET, and represented the first of Mojang Studios' newly formatted shows. Smaller, more focused, and looking to the immediate future of the Minecraft universe, Minecraft Live 2024 is a celebration of all things Minecraft, and you can tune in on YouTube above.

Of course, you can also discover how to watch Minecraft Live 2024 and everything else you could need to know, including where to find accessibility features, what you can expect from this show, and even how you can earn exclusive in-game rewards just for tuning in. It's not just about the latest Minecraft update, the show is also about the community, the developers behind the game, new Minecraft developments like the live action Minecraft movie, and more.

Minecraft Live isn't the only source of recent Minecraft news, though. Mojang Studios recently revealed when the native PlayStation 5 version of Minecraft is finally releasing, letting PS5 players enjoy better performance and draw distances in Minecraft (sorry, though, there's no ray tracing).

What you need to know

• Mojang Studios has been working on a native PS5 version of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.
• This isn't as exciting as it sounds, as it mostly involves improving the performance and render distance.
• That being said, Mojang has confirmed the new PS5 version is officially launching on Oct. 22.
• Current PS4 owners will receive the PS5 version for free, and PS5 beta testers will gain access to all Minecraft cross-play features.

Here's a fun fact for you! Minecraft isn't really next-gen optimized, and instead runs in backward compatibility across Xbox and PlayStation platforms. This isn't as big a deal on Xbox with its more seamless cross-gen compatibility, but it's disappointing across the board. We've known for a while that Mojang Studios was working on a native PS5 version of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition alongside the support of community testers, and now we have an official release date.

Minecraft is dropping on the PlayStation 5 on Oct. 22, 2024, and will be a free update for all PS4 owners. It's a great change and is a part of Mojang's new approach to Minecraft development, but it's not as exciting as it may seem at first glance.

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Better performance for PS5 players, and little else

For years now, many Minecraft console players have hoped that Mojang Studios would properly optimize Minecraft to take full advantage of the more powerful current-gen consoles, such as adding ray tracing. At the very least, many felt the Xbox Series X|S deserved better treatment, being Minecraft's home ecosystem (at least on paper). Alas, it never happened, and there's no sign it's going to. That's not changing with this release.

Minecraft may be getting a native PS5 version where it's not technically Xbox Series X|S Optimized, but it ultimately won't be that different. Minecraft will more reliably run at 4K resolution and 60 frames-per-second (FPS) and support longer render distances on PS5 following this release, but it already does so on Xbox Series X|S, which Mojang first began testing nearly a year ago. There won't be any enhanced features or ray tracing, just a native version that better takes advantage of the PlayStation 5 than Sony's PS4 backward compatibility layer.

This is still good news for PS5 Minecraft players, though, as better performance is always welcomed. There's more Minecraft news just around the corner, too, as Mojang is set to air its first new and improved Minecraft Live show in a few weeks. We may even see more about the upcoming live action Minecraft movie, which just released its first cursed trailer. After that, the free PS5 update for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition rolls out on Oct. 22, 2024. You can check out the original announcement post at Minecraft.net.

What you need to know

• Earlier this month, Mojang Studios announced a refresh for how it plans to approach development for the Minecraft franchise.
• Now, we have a date for the first Minecraft Live show under this new strategy, and it's only a few weeks away.
• The next Minecraft Live airs on Sept. 28 and will include brand new updates for Minecraft and other new announcements for the franchise.
• There will also be an after show during which Mojang developers will discuss Minecraft's development and play upcoming content.

It's a new dawn for Minecraft, or at least that's what its creators are promising. Earlier this month, Mojang Studios announced a new approach for Minecraft's development, including smaller and more frequent updates and new, focused bi-annual Minecraft Live shows to accompany them. Now, we know when the first of these new Minecraft Live events is airing.

Mojang has revealed that Minecraft Live is returning (in a new format) on Sept. 28, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET, and players can expect first looks at brand-new, never-before-seen Minecraft content.

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The first look at future Minecraft updates

Minecraft Live has been the biggest Minecraft-related event of the year for a long while now, but Mojang Studios is shaking things up. Now, the show will air twice a year and be shorter and more focused on the next six months of Minecraft. This includes a sneak peek at upcoming "game drops," which are basically smaller, themed content updates for Minecraft that are replacing the major, annual releases of the past.

With the new approach, Minecraft should be updated far more frequently with Mojang releasing new content as it's ready. Mojang has promised that this Minecraft Live will debut multiple Minecraft game drops, which likely includes the immediate future and then a tease for what comes next. The show may not just be about the original Minecraft game, though, as this is also the platform where Mojang will share new insights into the wider Minecraft universe.

So, new Minecraft content updates are guaranteed, and there's no hint what those updates will include right now apart from it still being Minecraft's fifteenth year of existence. However, we may also learn more about other parts of the franchise, such as the upcoming live-action Minecraft movie and its oh-so cursed first trailer.

Whatever we see during Minecraft Live, after the show Mojang developers will stick around to discuss Minecraft's development in more depth and go hands-on with some of the freshly announced content, which is exciting. Just don't expect massive announcements and earthshaking new features that will turn the world of Minecraft upside down. There also won't be a Minecraft Live Mob Vote this year, as Mojang has officially killed the controversial event.

The new Minecraft Live officially airs on Sept. 28, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET, and you'll be able to stream it on Minecraft.net, YouTube, and Twitch in English with English Audio Descriptions, American Sign Language (ASL), and British Sign Language (BSL). After the show concludes, Mojang Studios will release translated recordings with Arabic (MSA), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Filipino, French, French (Canadian), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, LATAM Spanish (Mexican), Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese subtitles.

What you need to know

• Minecraft is one of the most well-known, popular, and best-selling video games of all time, and Mojang Studios wants to keep it that way.
• In a new community update, Mojang has teased its future plans for Minecraft, including a more frequent content update cycle.
• Minecraft Live is also becoming a bi-annual event, and will no longer feature the controversial Mob Vote.
• Finally, Mojang has confirmed a native PS5 version of Minecraft is coming, although you shouldn't get too excited about that.

Minecraft has evolved from humble beginnings into a cultural phenomenon of insurmountable proportion, and it's certainly not going to stop expanding now. Mojang Studios has provided a brief update to the community on what we can expect in Minecraft's future, and it's a quick list of franchise-wide changes that respond directly to community feedback.

Minecraft players often criticize Mojang Studios for releasing new content updates too slowly — that is changing. The annual Minecraft Live Mob Vote breeds unnecessary controversy and conflict within the community in a shameless reach for engagement — that is changing. PlayStation players are left with a version of Minecraft that isn't optimized for PS5 — that is changing.

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Three changes built with the help of the community

For a few years now, Minecraft has been steadily becoming a brand and multi-media franchise rather than simply a video game. Minecraft's official artwork was recently redesigned to reflect its modern ambitions, and there's even a live action Minecraft movie starring Jack Black and Jason Mamoa (it's a little cursed, though, judging by its first trailer) and an original Netflix animated Minecraft series in the works.

Some believe this franchise expansion has led to the original game that made it all possible losing priority, though, criticizing a ponderous update schedule that sees Minecraft enjoy only one major release a year, such as the Minecraft 1.21 'Tricky Trials' update. Mojang Studios is now adopting a different approach to Minecraft updates, however, committing to rolling out multiple feature updates to the game across the span of the year. These updates will vary in size and ambition, and will provide Minecraft players with more frequent injections of fresh content.

In fact, we've already seen Mojang test this approach with the Minecraft 'Armored Paws' update, which added armadillos, new wolf variants, and wolf armor to the game. Now, Minecraft will be updated more aggressively, with these smaller updates still being passed through intensive community testing before seeing a public release. Mojang also says that parts of the studio are working on long-term initiatives to help Minecraft grow years into the future, although most of that is being kept under wraps for now.

One initiative that's coming to fruition very soon, though, is the native PS5 version of Minecraft. We already knew this was happening, but it's worth reiterating what this means. Up until this point, PlayStation 5 players have had to play the PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft through backward compatibility, with Sony's implementation not being as dynamic as Xbox's. Now, that's finally being fixed.

A native PS5 version of Minecraft should mean better stability and overall performance, with the game better equipped to take advantage of the PS5's powerful and capable hardware. However, it'll basically mean parity with the Xbox version that scales across Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, and that means no exciting new features like ray tracing. I'm sorry, Minecraft with ray tracing still isn't coming to console.

On all of the above, though, Mojang Studios has once again stated the importance of community feedback, highlighting how working with Minecraft players led to new features like the armadillo and wolf armor being significantly improved over their initial design, and even brought features like the Cherry Grove biome into being.

Finally, Mojang Studios is implementing some changes to how it interacts with the community. For one, Minecraft Live is changing its format to be more compact, and will now air twice a year to provide more frequent updates on the immediate future of Minecraft. I have no issue with this approach, especially since Minecraft should now be enjoying more regular content updates.

Another change I have zero issue with is the death of the Minecraft Live Mob Vote. For a few years now, Mojang has asked the community to vote for one of three new mobs to be added to Minecraft, which attracts a huge amount of attention... And a lot of it is bad. The Mob Vote is popular, for sure, but the community understandably strongly dislikes that every year two new mobs are announced and teased but will ultimately never be added to the game.

Last year, the Armadillo won the Minecraft Live Mob Vote, which was my personal choice, but that means the Penguin and the Crab were banished to the Minecraft mob vault, never to be seen again. I wrote about why I believe the Minecraft Live Mob Vote needs to go away, an opinion shared by many, and it's now a reality. Hopefully, this means Mojang simply plans to add more mobs more frequently to Minecraft, possibly revisiting the losers of previous Mob Votes.

What exactly will fill the gap left by the Mob Vote at the new bi-annual Minecraft Live shows remains to be seen, but all-in-all I'm feeling very positive about the development changes Mojang Studios has announced. You can read the original blog post from Mojang on Minecraft.net.