# Untitled Minecraft spiritual successor

   | Avatar of Markus Persson | Markus Persson @notch |
   Honest and legitimate request for feedback for once:
   The new game I'm passionately working on is currently set to be a traditional roguelike (i.e. ADOM, nethack, etc) mixed with a tile based first person dungeon crawler (ie Legend of Grimrock (esp 2), Eye of the Beholder)
   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.
   So market research. I'd be happy to oblige either, which one would make you happier?
An untitled Minecraft spiritual successor is in development by Minecraft creator and designer Markus "Notch" Persson. It will be a spiritual successor to the original game, referred to by Persson as "basically ... [M]inecraft 2". A decade after Persson sold developer Mojang to Microsoft, Persson opened a poll on X asking his 3.6 million followers what his next game should be, with a "Minecraft 2" winning out decisively. As Persson did not sign a non-compete clause with Microsoft, he is free to develop a game similar to Minecraft if he chooses.
Persson explained that he was committed to developing another game, and ran the risk of being "washed up" with either of the projects, yet wanted to develop the game that would be most desired, despite spiritual successors being especially prone to this reception. He stipulated that his game would not infringe on Mojang's game nor use the Minecraft branding, tying Microsoft's influence on the game to enshittification, but conceding that they were doing their job and allowed Mojang control over the direction of Minecraft.
He then changed his mind 2 days later, going back on what he said and deciding to concentrate on his game Levers and Chests instead.

## Background

Persson began working on Minecraft in 2009, with the original public beta build being released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource forums. A 1.0 version was released on 18 November 2011. Soon afterwards, Persson quit development on the game and gave the project lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten.
In 2014, Persson sold Mojang and Minecraft to Microsoft for US$2.5 billion. Following this, Persson opened additional game studios, but has not released any other games.

## Development

A decade after the sale, on January 1, 2025 as "market research", Persson asked his followers on X, numbering at 3.6 million, what his next game should be. Opening a poll, the first option was a "traditional roguelike" mixed with a "tile-based first-person dungeon crawler" akin to Stardew Valley, and the second was a spiritual successor to Minecraft. By January 4, the poll's results were around 78% in favor of a "Minecraft 2", with nearly 250,000 votes for the game.
Persson posted a follow-up tweet saying he "basically announced Minecraft 2", since he felt like working on games again and that people may want him to continue with a game similar to Minecraft. Persson explained that he decided he was indeed working on another game, but did not care which one, and did not know if he would make more but remained committed. Persson wanted to be "clear and honest" about his plans, admitting that spiritual successors often did not live up to standards and would be "washed up", though with either choice he felt there was a risk of that outcome. He rationalized that developing the game that was secure in demand was the best choice, and that he would put profits to a good cause.
Persson assured this project would not infringe on Mojang's game, saying Mojang's work was "incredible". Persson tied Microsoft's influence on the original game to enshittification, yet conceded that he understood their actions and they let Mojang control the direction of the game. Persson said he had not signed a non-compete clause with Microsoft, which would have kept him from developing a game like Minecraft, instead admitting there was a one-year period during which he could not make a game with modifiable terrain, though he was in the Maldives during that time and no creative decisions were affected by this agreement. The game will not be able to use any Minecraft branding.