Minecraft is changing how it handles update version numbers — but what does that mean for us players?

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.

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