If I can name an early gaming surprise from 2025, I would say Markus “Notch” Persson, the original creator of Minecraft, because has recently announced his plans to develop a spiritual successor to the beloved game, which he’s dubbed “Minecraft 2.”
This announcement comes after a poll on social media where fans overwhelmingly voted in favor of a new Minecraft-style game over his other project, a traditional roguelike dungeon crawler.
Notch shared his thoughts on social media, explaining that he’s considering creating a new game similar to Minecraft but under a different name to avoid legal issues.
He emphasized that he wants to avoid infringing on Mojang’s work and Microsoft’s success with Minecraft. The new game will be a spiritual successor, meaning it will capture the essence and gameplay style of Minecraft without directly using the same name or assets.
Notch sold his studio, Mojang, to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, which made him a billionaire. Since then, he hasn’t been directly involved in Minecraft’s development. Over the past decade, he has raised eyebrows with several public comments on social media that were seen as homophobic, racist, and in some instances, supportive of conspiracies.
These events led to him becoming distanced from the gaming community and not being invited by either Microsoft or Mojang to the 10th-anniversary celebrations of Minecraft. However, his recent return to game development has sparked excitement among fans who consider the past controversies just that—a thing of the past.