Everything We Announced at MINECON Live 2019

UPDATE: Want to get that sweet, sweet MINECON Live experience, but only have two minutes and five seconds to spare? Then our MINECON Live Highlights video has you covered! Click the video below to watch it, and scroll down to the bottom of this post if you have WAY more minutes free and want to watch the whole show!

ORIGINAL POST: My new haircut isn’t great. Why am I telling you this? Because it’s practically the only thing we didn’t announce at MINECON Live, a show that was jam-packed with news, updates, revelations, dramatic twists, and even a new board game! Shaving off my misguided new bangs is just going to have to wait, because first I better catch you up on everything we announced:

THE WINNING BIOME IS: MOUNTAINS!

Congratulations, mountains! You got the most votes during MINECON Live, which means you’re the biome we’re going to update next! Despite being the winner, this biome was too shy to make a tearful acceptance speech, but we’re sure it would want to thank it’s agent, and everyone who voted this year – you all helped change the future of Minecraft!

MINECRAFT EARTH INCOMING

Our augmented reality mobile game is clearly the best thing involving a phone since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. Think that’s too braggy? Soon you’ll be able to decide for yourself, because we’re rolling out the Early Access version of the game next month!  

Starting in October, Minecraft Earth will be coming to countries across the globe, and we plan to have it all over the Earth by the end of the year. Keep the Minecraft Earth page bookmarked for more updates.

MINECRAFT DUNGEONS

Just shy of a year since we announced the game at our 2018 show, Minecraft Dungeons returned to MINECON Live with the first-ever look at its opening cinematic! See the start of the game for yourself here:

MINECRAFT FESTIVAL

Despite my aforementioned disaster of a haircut, you should never be afraid to try something new. That’s why next year, on September 25-27, you can join us in Orlando, Florida for the first-ever Minecraft Festival!

We’re looking forward to crafting this event, a 3-day celebration of all things Minecraft, in close collaboration with all of you, and then bringing everyone together for this one-of-a-kind, in-person blockstravaganza! Expect interactive exhibits, inclusive gameplay, fierce tournaments, intense live entertainment, exclusive merchandise, creativity-sparking panels, the opportunity to meet your favorite content creator or Mojang developer, and myself, failing to get in (“but I totally work for Mojang! I just left my ID in Sweden, I swear!”).

With exciting plans already brewing, we couldn’t be more thrilled to embark on this journey with you. Plus we’ll be doing a Minecraft Live broadcast next year, directly from the festival, so everyone around the world can tune in. Visit www.minecraftfestival.com to learn more!

MINECRAFT: BUILDERS & BIOMES

Move over, chess. Your days are numbered, because I still can’t play more than three moves before losing pathetically because we’re launching our first Minecraft board game! Developed by Ravensburger, in collaboration with Mojang, Minecraft: Builders & Biomes lets you explore the Overworld, mine rare resources, build fabulous structures, and collect weapons to defeat the mobs lurking around every corner. Build cleverly and fight bravely to score the most experience points and win the game! Builders & Biomes will be available later this year.

HONEY BLOCK AND BEES

Several weeks ago, we released bees in a Minecraft Java snapshot. They’ll be coming to Java and Bedrock platforms, along with a new block we revealed today. Yes, move over, watermelon block, because the honey block is about to snatch your crown as the tastiest block in Minecraft! To confirm this, I ate a block of watermelon and a block of honey before writing this and now I don’t feel well. Coming soon!

CREATOR TOOLS

We showcased some of the amazing tools the Minecraft community has created with scripting in the Bedrock Engine-powered version of Minecraft. Like the Editor Stick, used to edit things in-game (like, for example, rotating an already placed sign, or making crops fully grown!), is an amazing add-on, created by MisteFr working at Mineplex using the scripting. Bravo!

We’re constantly blown away with the creativity of the community and what you’ve managed to do with these scripting tools, which is why we were thrilled to announce Data-Driven Player Rendering. Players will be able to use these new scripting tools to completely replace what a player looks like in the game. Previously you could use skins to change textures on a player, but with this feature, creators will now be able to replace the animations, particle effects or add custom render effects to the players in-game!

Data-Driven Player Rendering will be available to players in a future update.

REALMS PLUS

Minecraft Realms is our monthly subscription service that lets up to 10 friends play Minecraft together in the safety of your own online realm. Sure, it’s pretty good… but what if we massively expanded it, all for the same price? With Realms Plus, you still get access to a 10-player Realm for you and your friends, but you’ll also receive more than 50 pieces of content from the Minecraft Marketplace, at no extra cost! We’ll be adding new Marketplace content to your Realms Plus subscription every month, and we’ll have more details to share about this soon.

CHARACTER CREATOR AND BEDROCK CAPES

If you play the Bedrock Beta on Windows 10, Xbox One and Android, you might have already tried our character creator. This will be coming to Minecraft on Bedrock platforms (so that’s Xbox One, Windows 10 Edition, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android) and Minecraft Earth. This handy new tool also means that capes will be coming to Minecraft Bedrock platforms for the first time!  

The first cape available will be the Founder’s Cape, launching later this fall for a limited time. Click here to go to the Minecraft Marketplace and download the Founder’s Cape Skin Pack now to secure yours when it launches later this year. That pack is free for a limited time, so go download it now and don’t miss out!

OK, I think that’s almost everything! There’s just one tiny bit of business left to cover. A first look at the next update to Minecraft:

THE NETHER UPDATE

We’re nether updating Minecraft again! Wait, let me rephrase that… we’re updating Minecraft again, and this time we’re focusing on the Nether! We’ve got big plans for Minecraft’s deadliest destination, including:

NEW BIOME: SOULSAND VALLEY

What could be more welcoming than a new biome full of blue fog and blue flames (courtesy of the new blue fire block!), and ominous gigantic fossils everywhere? Don’t answer that, just get hyped for this barren wasteland that can’t wait for you to risk a visit…

NEW BIOME: Netherwart Forest Red

A dense forest, with swirling particles and dense atmosphere, deliberately designed by our meanest level designers to make you get lost. Mwahahaha!

Wait, where’s the exit again?  

NEW BIOME: Netherwart Forest Blue

Well, less another biome, more a variation on Netherwart Forest Red (oh great – I only just managed to escape from that) but with its own unique atmosphere, and its own unique blocks! For example, watch your step for that twisty new Nether Fungi covering the ground…

Despite the dangers of these new Nether biomes, we do want this update to make the Nether more accessible (albeit still a dangerous place to live!). You'll be able to build a base there, respawn there, and even find food! Speaking of which...

NEW MOB: Piglin Beast

What’s a new biome without a new mob to cause chaos within it? Meet the Piglin Beast, the tusked little terror that’s Minecraft’s newest hostile mob! It can be bred as a source of food in the Nether (and let’s face it, you’re not exactly spoilt for choice when it comes to lunch options in the Nether, are you?).  

Plus! Start thinking of what you’d like the Piglin Beast to be called, because we want YOU to help us come up with its final name (click here to submit a suggestion!). Anyone who suggests ‘Tom Stone’ as the name is going straight off my Christmas card list.

NEW MOB: PIGLINS

Speaking of names, we’ve renamed the Zombie Pigmen to Zombified Piglins, and we’re introducing a new hostile mob to Minecraft… the Piglins! Piglins live in the Nether, and are hostile to you and most other mobs. You’ll also find small fortifications they’ve built in the Nether, called bastions.

Just like the person writing this post, Piglins are constantly on the hunt for gold, which is something you can use to your advantage. Wear gold armour and the Piglins will ignore you… unless you start rifling through their chests. Then prepare for a Piglin battle! Want to be more of a Piglin pacifist? It’ll be possible to trade with Piglins, but don’t expect the same experience as trading with villagers. This will be known as bartering and it'll be far less friendly!

NEW BLOCK: TARGET BLOCK

Not completely related to the theme of the new update, but a brand new block designed for redstone enthusiasts! Shoot the block with an arrow, and it’ll emit a redstone signal. The closer your arrow to the bullseye on the Target Block, the stronger the emitted signal. We can’t wait to see what redstone contraptions you make with this one!

We’ll have more to share about this upcoming Nether Update very soon.

And that’s it! Thanks to everyone who made MINECON Live such a success. Give us your feedback on the show by filling out our post-show survey here!

Watch the full show below: