Minecraft Live 2023 was held this past weekend. Held as a virtual event, this year marks 15 years of the franchise and offers many updates to its existing games.
While it’s hard to believe Minecraft reached its 15th anniversary, it’s showing no signs of slowing down. During Minecraft Live 2023, studio Mojang announced a series of new content updates coming this year as well as in 2024.
Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21 was outlined during the event. Players can look forward to the inclusion of the Crafter. For the first time, players can automate their crafting using this redstone device. The Crafter offers a unique UI to help players understand the feature, it also introduces toggleable slots. Players can also look forward to Copper Bulbs, a new light-emitting block as well as a Trial Spawner. A new hostile is also being added, Breeze can be found in the Combat Trial Chamber, which procedurally generated structures underground.
In addition, the new Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC was teased during the show. Likely to appease Star Wars fans, this batch of DLC is coming to the Minecraft Marketplace on November 7th. It includes lightsaber combat, Force powers and appearances from iconic characters. The community will also be able to redeem a free creator item.
Minecraft Live 2023 also revealed the results of the latest Mob Vote, coming to the game in Minecraft’s 2024 update is the armadillo.
“As we mark our 15th year, we at Minecraft want to express our gratitude to our passionate Minecraft community,” Kayleen Walters, Head of Franchise Development at Mojang Studios says. “It is our community’s creativity and dedication that has helped shape this world into something extraordinary. As we kick off this milestone year, we eagerly look forward to honouring and celebrating your contributions, stories and adventures. Thank you for 15 amazing years of crafting, building and exploring together. Stay tuned for more updates and surprises in 2024!”
Minecraft Education is also receiving an update. Coinciding with Planet Earth III on BBC Earth, the education-focused platform is receiving DLC inspired by the series. Arriving on the Minecraft Education and Minecraft Marketplace in 2024, the new DLC will “immerse players in the wonders of the natural world with the overarching message that everything in nature is connected and we, therefore, need to take care of our planet so it can take care of us.”
Finally, Minecraft Legends is also receiving new content. Following the game’s launch in April 2023, Lost Legends for Minecraft Legends was revealed, including the ‘Creeper Clash’ event, starting on October 19th. A winter-themed ‘Snow vs Snout’ is also arriving in December. New features such as frogs, piglin unit, and witch allies are also due to arrive.
Minecraft recently hit a milestone of 300 million copies sold since launch. It currently stands as the best-selling video game of all time, available across PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Switch, iOS, and Android.
