A Minecraft LIVE 2025 Recap is here, reflecting a presentation from Mojang about the voxel-powered sandbox adventure. Here's the VOD version of the show, described as "jam packed," with its game drops, movie content reveals, celebrity appearances, and a first look at a visual upgrade. The graphics update is called Vibrant Visuals, described thusly: "We show off the visual upgrade in full effect during this segment. Sunlight shining through trees, reflecting off pumpkins, and piercing through the depths of the ocean. We also feature the new pixelated shadows, much-improved water effects, and more!" There's post on IGN with more on what the game's future does and does not hold, learning that there's no plan to create a sequel to the now an almost 15 year-old game: "Do you think we're going to have an Earth 2?," asks Ingela Garneij, executive producer of Minecraft Vanilla. "No, no, there's no Minecraft 2." As the post reveals, this commitment to the original game is not without its compromises:

It’s an ambition propelled by Mojang’s desire to innovate, continuing the mine and craft, so to speak, new ideas upon their rock-solid foundations. Those foundations are beginning to show their age, though, Garneij admitted, and while there are no plans for an engine overhaul, it does mean that new content, such as the newly revealed Vibrant Visuals graphics update, does take time to put into practice.

“I think the age of the game is a challenge," Garneij said. "It's a 15-year-old platform, 15-year-old technology that slows us down in one sense. So other new games have new engines, and they can run really fast. So I would say the technology and our age [are our biggest challenges].”