Minecraft Live 2022 was an underwhelming year of announcements, with a few gems of excitement. 

One of the most anticipated moments of the YouTube live stream arrived at the end of the stream: the results of the community Mob Vote. The Sniffer won the mob vote, garnering more than “half the votes,” according to the announcer during the live broadcast. This year, the vote took place in a server on Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and on the Minecraft website, which differs from previous years where the poll took place on Twitter. Many appreciated this change, as this ensured those who actually had the game would be participating in the vote. The competition was between the three mobs: the Sniffer, the Rascal, and the Tuff Golem.

The Sniffer is an extinct animal who can be raised from eggs and can dig up ancient seeds. In second place was the Rascal, a hunchback midget who would play hide and seek underground. In last place was the Tuff Golem, an animated statue who would pick up and hold items in its sleep. Many voters believed that the Sniffer would come out on top due to it having a higher functionality and potential introduction of new game mechanics compared to the other options. CHS senior and Sniffer fan Thomas George said that he believed the Sniffer was the best option due to the new plants which the Sniffer would bring in, which would “have potential to be very aesthetically pleasing” and add to the “very limited pallet of green blocks in a builder’s arsenal.” His words are common amongst the builder community of Minecraft, which now have more opportunities when it comes to flora.

The later part of the stream revealed the new up and coming features of the 1.20 update. Besides the Sniffer, four main features were announced. First, bamboo will be able to be crafted into reed-like blocks, similar to a wood plank block. This indicates that bamboo slabs, fences, fence gates, pressure plates, doors, trapdoors, buttons, stairs, and signs will be added. Second, chains will be a crafting ingredient in a sign variant called the hanging sign, opening many new creative opportunities. Third, bookshelves also have a variant called the chiseled bookshelf, which can store up to six written, enchanted, and regular books and books and quills without the need of a UI. Finally, the camel will be added and will act like a horse but can “dash” and be ridden by two players at once. 

The Minecraft dungeon-crawler spin-off “Minecraft Dungeons” was announced to be getting an additional free DLC named “Fauna Faire,” which is a jungle-themed level. Not many details were revealed during the stream.

Gameplay and the opening cinematic for another Minecraft spin-off “Minecraft Legends’ ‘ was showcased. The game will be in the action strategy genre, and is being developed in cooperation with Black Bird Interactive, a development studio formerly involved with Minecraft Earth. The lore of the Minecraft Legend is that of a legendary tale about a hero who unites the Overworld against a Piglin invasion from the Nether. Gameplay showed that the game would be in third person mode, and that the player would manage NPC units to wage battle and destroy nether portals which the Piglins were invading through.

Many Minecrafters see this update to the main game as underwhelming, as many of the previous updates beyond 1.15 (The Buzzy Bees Update) changed much of how Minecraft is generated and enjoyed. This update only adds several quality of life additions, with no real game-changing substance. Now, it seems that Mojang Studios are trying to scale back, as shown by the fact that they did not even name the 1.20 update. It has currently been labeled by the community as the “Nameless Update,” and there is no confirmed theme.

However, perhaps this could be a plan by Mojang. To reiterate, both Caves and Cliffs updates, while introducing several landmark features, were seen as underwhelming by the fanbase after Mojang over-promised, which resulted in dissatisfaction. This year, Mojang may be trying to utilize the “foot in the door” phenomenon, where they show less in order to prevent disappointment among the community, then slowly introduce new features as more snapshots are released. If this is so, it seems to have back-fired, as many are unsatisfied with the limited new features. Furthermore, the announced Archeology mechanic does not seem to be in 1.20 so far, dampening many expectations.

The newest 1.20 snapshot has been released to Minecraft: Java Edition and a new experimental version of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition has been released as well, as promised by Mojang Studios.