Future Content

This article contains content about features that are not yet released. These features are not currently in Minecraft, but may have been announced by Mojang Studios to possibly appear in a future update, or may be available only in a snapshot or beta.

This page documents planned versions, partially implemented and mentioned features.

Planned Versions

Bedrock Edition

4K Update

The 4K Update was an upcoming aesthetic update with no set release date that would've added a 4K HDR graphics option, and add the Super Duper Graphics Pack to the Marketplace at the same time. This update was delayed due to some internal issues, and was scrapped entirely.

Planned Features

These features are planned to come to Minecraft sometime in the future, in an update that has not yet been determined.

Biome Updates

Future updates will include expansions to the savanna and desert biomes. The savanna biome will be updated with baobab trees, a new ostrich mob, and termites. The desert biome will be updated to include palm trees, oases, and a new meerkat mob. These features were announced as part of a poll at MINECON Earth 2018.

During MINECON Live 2019, more biome expansions were announced. The badlands biome will be updated with tumbleweeds, a new type of cactus with flowers, and a new vulture mob. Swamps will be updated with frogs, mangrove trees, and a new boat variant with a built-in chest. As part of the upcoming Caves and Cliffs update, mountains will be updated with improved generation, a new goat mob, and "powder snow," a new type of snow that players can fall through.

Combat Change

The combat system will supposedly get a major overhaul.

New Settings

Docm77 confirmed in a tweet that sometime in the future, two new graphics settings will be added to Minecraft: "fancy" and "super fancy".

Off-Hand Changes

Changes with the off-hand slot added in Java Edition 1.9 are also planned on being added to Minecraft sometime in the future. Specifically, the player will no longer be able to attack or place blocks with any item in their off-hand slot. However, players will still be able to hold items in the off-hand slot, which still makes the off-hand useful for maps and such. Also, blocking will still be able to be activated if the player is holding a shield in their off-hand. However, this regression was later retracted due to massive community backlash.

Partially Implemented

These features were showcased by a Mojang staff member but either had no further development or were canceled shortly after.

Colored Wood Planks

Original image of proposed colored wood planks released by Mojang.

Dinnerbone briefly thought about implementing colored wood planks, release a test image on his Twitter page. This was never implemented. The idea was eventually replaced with stained clay.

Dirt Slab

Before stone slabs were added to Classic 0.26, Notch ran a test of dirt slabs. In the test they replaced dirt blocks, so that dirt surface without grass was half a block lower than grass. However, these dirt slabs failed to dress cliff edges, caves, and ravines nicely. As a result, they were never added to the actual game.

Sky Dimension

The Sky Dimension was a planned dimension intended to be the opposite of the Nether. It could only be accessed using hacks, as portals were never implemented. and its code was reused to make the End. Up until snapshot 14w17a, the debug screen would show the End as "Sky" in the current biome name.

Mentioned Features

These features were mentioned at one point, but later abandoned or their current status is unknown. Note that some of these features were mentioned by developers who either no longer work at Mojang, or no longer work on Minecraft.

Audio Loops

Loops were unused sounds, found in the game files, and were possibly meant to be implemented for when the player is in a specific type of location (i.e. caves, forest, the ocean, and besides a waterfall).

Resource Packs

Erik Broes mentioned that there may be easier customization of sheep and chat colors.

Ryan Holtz stated that he wanted to improve the rendering system to allow customizable models and animations. Dinnerbone later stated that player models would be able to be changed.

Seasons

Dinnerbone mentioned on Twitter that he was experimenting with adding seasons, and varying the length of day and night according to season. He mentioned this during MineCon 2013. Seasons may include changes in color of tree leaves and may also be tied to real time.

Red Dragon

Notch revealed during the 8th Secreet Friday Update that he would add dragons, one being the Ender Dragon and the other being red dragons. Jeb informed participants of his AMA on Reddit that he would add dragons but was unsure as to how. The red dragon was not added in the nether update but may be added in future versions.

On October 22, 2013, Dinnerbone tweeted that the red dragon is "shelved" and not in development. On December 15, 2013, a Dinnerbone post on Reddit indicated his belief that red dragons likely will be implemented at some point.

Spike Block

Spikes received a mention in mid-2009 by Notch in a blog post. These were originally planned for Java Edition Beta 1.7, working by extending and retracting spikes – essentially making them more spike pistons than anything, but they were replaced by sticky pistons. Dinnerbone stated on May 28, 2012 that he'd like to add spike blocks, but is unsure of how to implement them.

Lua Scripting

Lua scripting was a feature mentioned by Notch as a way to create server-side modifications.

Players will not have to download scripts within or outside of the client and therefore no client-side modifications will be necessary.

The server would be able to create custom commands, assign certain server functions to blocks, and create user groups.

Notch stated he does not want Lua to turn Minecraft into a game engine; rather, he wanted Lua to be an extension to the game. Essentially, Lua, although a nice addition, would not revolutionize gameplay in Minecraft.

Friends List

On Notch's blog, The Word of Notch, he mentioned that friends lists would be added after Beta 1.8. The Minecraft documentary of 2 Player Productions filmed a Keynote roadmap, containing these lines.

At MineCon 2012 Jeb stated that it would be a large implementation on the server side and will be used for all Mojang games, and that is a big project.

Kristoffer mentioned on Twitter that he is currently working on friends lists for Scrolls, then for other Mojang games. These will be available for players with Mojang accounts.

Workbench (Plugin API)

The Plugin API, dubbed "Workbench", is a feature that allows mod developers to easily add more content to the game. In contrast to mods, plugins will not require any alteration of the minecraft.jar file itself, although they will also be slightly limited in their feature set. The Bukkit team will help make the official Plugin API.

Inventory Changes

An inventory rewrite was originally added in snapshot 14w17a for 1.8, but an obstacle was hit and the changes were shelved before the release of 1.8. Other changes to the inventory have been mentioned, including:

• Spectators can look at people's inventory
• Visible health and armor bar on all players
• Seeing a player's GUI when spectating from their POV
• Return of shift-double-clicking.

Brief Mentions

These features were mentioned briefly, however, no further information was given after that.

General Features

• More animals such as fish, birds, and tree animals to make the game seem more alive
• More sea life (partly implemented with guardians in snapshot 14w25a and with fish, dolphins and turtles in the 1.13 Update Aquatic)
• More structures in biomes.
• Height-based content, something like vertical biomes.
• More dimensions.
• More rare structures and terrain changes.
• More ores and cave types.
• All exclusive Pocket Edition features ported to PC.