Since Microsoft bought Mojang, several great (or at the very least, interesting) things has happened to Minecraft. The announcement of Minecraft: Story Mode, a possible port to Microsoft HoloLens in the future, Minecraft being featured in Microsoft commercials, and even contributing to Minecraft: PE development have all been beneficial to Minecraft and it's community. But do you notice something missing?
You might have noticed that it's been eight months since the last major Minecraft PC update, version 1.8. The only major release since then was an April Fools snapshot that didn't tell us anything about PC Edition besides it would be called "The Combat Update."
Let's be honest - Minecraft PC already has a slow development cycle. There are only a few developers working on the game at all, and Microsoft (at least, not publicly) hasn't done anything to help or slow development. Curiously, a "large team" at Microsoft has been working with Mojang to help speed along Minecraft PE development at least since April. So why haven't they done anything for PC?
It's not really clear where the future is for Minecraft: PC Edition at this point. Even before the Microsoft purchase, Minecraft PC was already suffering from a lack of speedy development. The infamous Mod API was originally slated for release back in Minecraft 1.8 Beta. Granted it has taken a lot of development and rewriting Minecraft, but there has been no progress from the developer's side yet.
Considering Minecraft has been featured in commercials for the Microsoft Surface 3 and briefly in a showcase reel at Microsoft's Build 2015 conference, it's hard to say it's dead. After all, why would Microsoft show off Minecraft on their products and then let it die?
Right now there's two ways Minecraft will continue to exist - either as a low priority for Mojang and Microsoft compared to the real money makers (Pocket and Console Editions), or Minecraft is about to have a huge update. If there is going to be a huge update, it's beyond Minecraft 1.9 - Mojang already confirmed it won't have any significant internal changes.
So all we can do is wait. Just like we have been waiting for the Mod API.
You might have noticed that it's been eight months since the last major Minecraft PC update, version 1.8. The only major release since then was an April Fools snapshot that didn't tell us anything about PC Edition besides it would be called "The Combat Update."
Let's be honest - Minecraft PC already has a slow development cycle. There are only a few developers working on the game at all, and Microsoft (at least, not publicly) hasn't done anything to help or slow development. Curiously, a "large team" at Microsoft has been working with Mojang to help speed along Minecraft PE development at least since April. So why haven't they done anything for PC?
It's not really clear where the future is for Minecraft: PC Edition at this point. Even before the Microsoft purchase, Minecraft PC was already suffering from a lack of speedy development. The infamous Mod API was originally slated for release back in Minecraft 1.8 Beta. Granted it has taken a lot of development and rewriting Minecraft, but there has been no progress from the developer's side yet.
Considering Minecraft has been featured in commercials for the Microsoft Surface 3 and briefly in a showcase reel at Microsoft's Build 2015 conference, it's hard to say it's dead. After all, why would Microsoft show off Minecraft on their products and then let it die?
Right now there's two ways Minecraft will continue to exist - either as a low priority for Mojang and Microsoft compared to the real money makers (Pocket and Console Editions), or Minecraft is about to have a huge update. If there is going to be a huge update, it's beyond Minecraft 1.9 - Mojang already confirmed it won't have any significant internal changes.
So all we can do is wait. Just like we have been waiting for the Mod API.