With Mojang now focusing on smaller new updates for Minecraft, like the more recent Tiny Takeover drop and soon-to-come Chaos Cubed, the community is split on how it feels about the littler patches– but developers say that doesn't mean bigger ones won't ever release.
Minecraft product manager Anna Lundgren explains as much in a reassuring new interview with PCGamesN, first stating that the swap from big annual updates to smaller, more frequent drops "does feel more sustainable" for Mojang.
"We can have a game drop like Tiny Takeover, which is focused mainly on the art and sound design for a series of mobs, and the more technical teams at the studio can be focused on something entirely different."
Lundgren says the smaller game drop strategy also "allows us to focus on different aspects of the game in the same year," revealing, "We do have some exciting things coming up."
I'm all ears, personally – and I do suppose another positive here is the fact that Mojang can hit all sorts of different parts of Minecraft with updates, now that they're not as huge an undertaking and devs can focus on separate areas of the game while working.
"For example," as Lundgren says, "while Tiny Takeover is largely focused on making the game cuter by refreshing the visuals of baby mobs, the Mounts of Mayhem game drop last December focused on mounted combat, and the Copper Age drop before that was more about tinkerers and builders. With multiple game drops coming out every year, we can cater to a wide variety of play styles."
It's a good way to please more flavors of players. "If one drop isn't your style," after all, "there's always another one right around the corner" – whether it's new Minecraft mobs you're hoping for or otherwise.
That isn't to say that more substantial updates won't ever happen, though – it's been a hot topic in the community, and Mojang knows many fans still want big patches. Just because the team is swapping over to littler game drops doesn't mean we won't ever see ones reminiscent of the old 1.[insertnumberhere] days… or so it seems, anyway.
"I don't want to make any promises about future releases," as Lundgren concludes, "but I will say that we're allowing ourselves the flexibility of releasing game drops of different sizes and scopes, as well as working on more transformative updates at the same time, such as the Vibrant Visuals graphics refresh that we launched last year."
I'll try not to hold my breath, but that does sound pretty promising. For now, at least, we've got Chaos Cubed to anticipate.
