When Microsoft acquired Mojang — and, subsequently, the Minecraft IP — earlier this year in a deal worth $2.5 billion, fans of the sandbox title were understandably apprehensive about the future of the property. Would Microsoft implement changes that would tarnish the appeal of the world-creation game? Or would the publisher see dollar signs and immediately sanction a sequel?
Thankfully, neither of those have happened thus far, and Microsoft’s Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, stated that the latter proposition isn’t likely to happen in the immediate future; rather, it appears the new owners want to focus on Minecraft’s thriving community.
Here’s what Spencer had to say to IGN’s Xbox-centric show, Podcast Unlocked:
“I don’t know if Minecraft 2, if that’s the thing that makes the most sense. The community around Minecraft is as strong as any community out there. We need to meet the needs and the desires of what the community has before we get permission to go off and do something else. But we look at job one as to go out and meet the needs of the Minecraft community first, and then we can think about ways that we can actually help grow it. That’s our sole focus.”
Spencer didn’t elaborate on how exactly the company plans to support the game’s ever-growing community, though this tidbit should appease long-term fans who were wary of any drastic changes that were potentially on their way to the pixelated kingdom.
After all, fast-tracking a direct sequel to Minecraft would be a bold and, perhaps, ill-advised decision for Microsoft to make. Even with lead developers such as Jens Bergensten remaining on board the project, the majority of Mojang staff followed Markus “Notch” Persson out the door when he sold the company back in mid-September, so it’s hard to imagine a Minecraft 2 that would remain true to the core mantra of the IP itself — at least, not right now.
But what do you think? Are Phil Spencer and Microsoft wise to be apprehensive about a potential sequel to Minecraft?