Not quite a year after its official release Mojang has announced it will be bringing its latest spin-off, Minecraft Legends, to an end with no more support coming to the game. The developer has confirmed that it will be “taking a step back,” from further work on the game. The final update for the game will be an in-game challenge set to release this month.
In a post made by Mojang, the company thanked its audience, stating:
Thank you for following along this heroic journey and helping us make Minecraft Legends the game it is today.
Minecraft Legends was co-developed by Blackbird Interactive and is the third spin-off in as many years to see its continued development end with the others being Minecraft Earth and its more well-known dungeon crawler Minecraft Dungeons. Additionally, amid the many layoffs of 2023, Blackbird reduced its staff by 41 employees.
Despite the ending of several Minecraft spin-offs, Mojang has made clear they plan to continue pursuing offshoot titles, with the intention of “bring new experiences” to the popular franchise. Other previous spin-offs also include its very popular Telltale narrative adventure Minecraft: Story Mode.
Minecraft Legends, even from conception, seemed like it had an uphill struggle. Intended as a real-time strategy game it seems the player controls a familiar mob character to capture points and beat your opponent trying to do the same. Even by RTS standards the game was criticized for not offering a compelling experience. That is before you factor in the more niche nature of the RTS genre and the lack of overlap between people who like Minecraft, and people who like a highly technical and competitive type of game.
Minecraft has been a huge part of the Microsoft ecosystem since Mojang was acquired by the company 2014. Regardless of what direction it is taking next, players can expect it to thrive as a franchise.
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