Markus “Notch” Persson, the Swedish developer best known for creating the global phenomenon that is Minecraft, announced that he has an idea for a sequel to the mega-popular game to little fanfare on social media. And he’s putting the project’s fate up for a vote on social media.
Last week, Persson wrote on X that he is ready to start development on a new project and is deciding between two possibilities. The first is a tile-based, first-person dungeon crawler in the roguelike in the style of the 1991 game Eye Of The Beholder. The second would be a sequel to Minecraft.
“The new game I'm passionately working on is currently set to be a traditional roguelike,” he wrote along with a poll for followers to take part in. “But then I gots to thinking that maybe there are people who like my work but might not share my taste in retro nostalgia and would prefer for me to make a spiritual successor thing to Minecraft, and I mean sure, I'd take that cash.”
Five days after this vote the results are unsurprisingly heavily skewed towards Minecraft 2 being his next project. Persson shared some additional details about this roguelike project in an effort to swing some of his followers toward the newer project.
“[Please] vote potion. you can do this zoomers, it's actually super cozy,” he posted. “Kinda feels like Stardew Valley, but more diagonal door kicking.”
If Persson were to make a Minecraft sequel, it would have to be a spiritual successor under a new name. In 2014, Microsoft purchased Minecraft Mojang Studios and the franchise for $2.5 billion. It has since grown Minecraft into a merchandising empire.
In that time, however, the tech giant and developer have distanced themselves from Persson after he used sexist and anti-LGBT rhetoric on social media. Mojang and Microsoft scrubbed references to Persson from the game and purposely left him out of the game's tenth-anniversary events in 2019.
If his next project is indeed a Minecraft sequel, he made it clear that he’s not doing it to spite his old colleagues at Mojang. “I also intend to do this in a way that in no way tried to sneakily infringe on the incredible work the Mojang team is doing,” he tweeted.
While the prospect of a Minecraft 2 may excite some megafans of the franchise, the real question is, do we even need it? It’s not to say a Minecraft sequel couldn’t be worth playing. Sequels are how many developers iterate and make great ideas even better. But Minecraft is the definition of an infinite, ever-evolving game. Minecraft co-creator Jens Bergensten put it best in an interview with Time last year.
“I don't really see the need for a sequel,” he said. “I think that we want to make sure that players who have invested so much time into their worlds in Minecraft feel that they can trust us to continue to improve the games. They can continue to play on the world. Thinking about the sequel, to me that is more of a way to get inspired. Like what would a sequel be, and how can we make Minecraft be its own sequel?”
Up to this point, this philosophy has proven to benefit the game and its community. The Minecraft we all played in 2011 is different from the Minecraft we played in 2014, which is also different from Minecraft today. It has been much more interesting and pro-player to see how the game continues to evolve its core ideas through free updates. And thanks to the modding community, whatever Mojang is falling short on is readily available elsewhere.
When Persson is straight up saying “sure, I’d take that cash,” a possible follow-up to Minecraft no one is asking for feels as cynical and unexciting as it gets. A sequel to something the magnitude of Minecraft should only come when it feels absolutely necessary. If Persson must make a return to his craft, I think his fans will be better served seeing what else he’s capable of making.
2025 is shaping up to be a big year for Minecraft. In April, the game will be the latest to get a feature-length film. Last month, Mojang announced that it’s partnering with British amusement giant Merlin Entertainments to make a Minecraft theme park that will open in the next two to three years.
