Xbox boss Phil Spencer says that the current community has to be catered for before thinking about making a sequel

Oct 26, 2014 06:31 GMT  ·  By

The head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, Phil Spencer, addressed the issue of a potential Minecraft sequel, stating that the company is first and foremost looking to meet the current needs of the game’s huge community before even thinking about expanding the franchise.

Microsoft acquired Mojang, the Swedish video game development studio that created Minecraft, for an astounding $2.5 / €2 billion, last month. The deal included the massive cultural phenomenon and all rights associated with it, and many people are still wondering what Redmond is planning to do with Minecraft in the future.

Phil Spencer decided to address some of the concerns, reminding everyone that such worries are still premature, as the deal has not been fully concluded yet. However, he did assure fans of the chart-topping video game that their favorite pastime will not be impacted in any major way, as Mojang is still in control of the series.

Microsoft is looking to improve the experience, not control it

"It's a big deal. For me, I look at it as a great game to add to our portfolio. I love [the gamer] who plays Minecraft. I love that male, female, young, and old; it's something that lives on so many different screens. I'd love to bring it to more screens out there," Spencer states in an interview with IGN.

However, Spencer does mention that Microsoft is looking into how the experience can be improved and unified across all platforms, and how Xbox Live could potentially serve as a solution.

"I think what we've learned through Xbox Live is something that we can help in unifying a little bit of what happens with Minecraft today. If I'm on PC I get access to the mod servers; if I'm on console or the mobile editions, I don't. We're looking at how do we bring that whole system together a little more. Because there are other games out there that let me move from screen to screen fairly seamlessly," Spencer explains.

Nobody is rushing to a sequel

"I don't know if Minecraft 2, if that's the thing that makes the most sense. The community around Minecraft is as strong as any community out there. We need to meet the needs and the desires of what the community has before we get permission to go off and do something else," the head of the Xbox division says, in response to a direct question regarding the possibility of a Minecraft 2.

He acknowledges the fact that Minecraft has a lot of room to grow, and that it’s a hugely important game to many millions of gamers out there, but also for Microsoft and the Xbox team, and the entire gaming industry, and pledges to continue catering for existing fans.

"It doesn't mean that everything we're going to do is going to map to 100 percent of their acceptance, because I don't know if there is any topic where 100 percent of people agree. But we look at Job 1 is to go out and meet the needs of the Minecraft community first, and then we can think about ways that we can actually help grow it. That's our sole focus," Spencer concludes.