Minecraft 15th anniversary update leaves gamers heartbroken

Minecraft is rapidly approaching its 15th anniversary. Whilst the game was officially launched in November of 2011, it debuted in early access to the public in May of 2009.

Little did we know all those years ago that Minecraft would go on to become the best-selling video game of all-time - and by a large margin at that.

Minecraft has shifted over 300,000,000 copies to date. Grand Theft Auto V then follows in second place with 195,000,000 copies sold.

I can’t see that number ever catching up given that GTA V has had its moment in the spotlight. Focus will soon shift over to GTA VI. Could that be the game to finally challenge Minecraft’s sales dominance?

I digress. Whilst Mojang hasn’t exactly laid out how it will be celebrating the occasion of the game’s 15th anniversary, leakers have been sharing tidbits about what we can expect.

Unfortunately, the answer is not much. If this leak proves to be accurate, it sounds as if the occasion may not be as monumental as players were originally hoping for.

ICYMI: Take a look at GTA VI in action below.

It was Twitter user ItsMwanOffi who provided the leak, revealing that Mojang would be releasing a series of new capes and ‘character creator items’.

“Yes, this cape is going to be on Bedrock and Java. Yes, this cape is for Minecraft’s 15th birthday. Yes, it is awesome,” they wrote, but not all fans agreed with that last sentiment.

“They could have added so much to this game but they just don’t seem to care. It’s pretty sad looking at the untapped potential,” wrote Reddit user Robsonmonkey.

“Why don’t we try to tap some of the potential that this game has instead? When there are mods on PC that make the game perform several times better, look several times better, and even f**king add LOD - you can see into the horizon - it’s honestly ludicrous that Mojang makes you choose what useless mob you want them to add. Do something COOL,” added a frustrated mxlevolent.

“Wow, imagine if Mojang cared. The original days of Minecraft will never be toppled, beta days when they were adding so much new stuff and felt like it was going somewhere. Kinda feels like how Game of Thrones ended,” commented margieler.

I understand the frustration but it should be pointed out that we don’t yet know the full extent of Mojang’s plans. We could see wider celebrations beyond the leaked cosmetics.

Of course, fans are itching to get their hands on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S native versions of the game. There’s no word just yet on when these might arrive but we can certainly cross our fingers and hope it’s soon.