Authentic Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has acknowledged on Twitter that his subsequent recreation shall be a Minecraft non secular successor and that he “principally introduced minecraft 2.” Notch had run a Twitter ballot asking followers to weigh in on whether or not he ought to hold his in-development venture’s present route, or put it on the shelf to make one thing extra like Minecraft.
Notch’s in-development venture was a roguelike spin on basic first individual dungeon crawlers like Wizardry, Grimrock, or Eye of the Beholder. On New Yr’s Day, Notch put out a ballot asking followers whether or not he ought to hold getting in that route, or swap gears. “I gots to pondering that possibly there are individuals who like my work however don’t share my style in retro nostalgia and would favor for me to make a non secular successor factor to Minecraft,” he wrote. “And I imply certain, I might take that money.”
On the time of writing, “make minecraft 2 boomer” is main “i like uncursing potions” by a commanding 78% to 22% with 4 days to go. In observe up tweets, Notch insisted that he was “100% severe about all that, btw,” and that he “principally introduced minecraft 2.” He additional acknowledged that, “I additionally intend to do that in a method that under no circumstances tried [sic] to sneakily infringe on the unimaginable work the Mojang crew is doing and that Microsoft is efficiently doing the microsoft shittification about.
“And I respect them for doing that. It is their job. They usually, from what I perceive, let the studio do issues their method, which appears very reasonable to me.”
Notch bought Mojang to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, parting methods with the sport and the corporate. Within the years since, his popularity as a recreation developer has been eclipsed by one without any consideration wing partisan, making weird, insensitive, and infrequently merciless or derogatory statements directed primarily at ladies and trans folks. Microsoft and Mojang eliminated his identify from the opening credit of Minecraft in response. Some Notch’s statements up to now 10 years embody:
Taking a step again from that and simply calling balls and strikes right here, I don’t consider “principally asserting minecraft 2” on Twitter is the very best transfer, particularly as soon as any preliminary buzz dies down. I do not know the small print of Notch’s cope with Microsoft, however equating a venture to a Minecraft sequel whereas additionally disparaging Microsoft in what is basically early advertising and marketing strikes me as a contractual no-no, a a method ticket to stop and desist-ville.
I additionally do not know what sort of urge for food there may be for a Minecraft non secular successor past Notch’s personal energetic Twitter following—a essentially self-selecting group given his pariah standing in a lot of the trade. There are such a lot of video games embodied by Minecraft, is that this a non secular successor to Minecraft the survival expertise, Minecraft the artistic sandbox, or Minecraft the proto-Roblox modding and social platform? “Minecraft 2” will be all of this stuff when it is simply an thought you are throwing out on Twitter, however no matter Notch has in thoughts will wind up being extra restricted than a recreation that has been slowly constructed up over the course of 16 years.
And there are a ton of different Minecraft non secular successors already on the market and established to compete with: Terraria and Dragon Quest Builders are the closest examples, however relying on how strict your definition is, all the tree punching, base constructing survival style may rely. The roguelike dungeon crawler truthfully strikes me as a way more attention-grabbing recreation, and it is a surprisingly under-explored idea within the saturated roguelike house. But in addition: What is the level of taking a $2.5 billion buyout for those who’re simply going to shelve your questionably worthwhile ardour venture for what the group says it needs?