Happy holidays

This year has been truly wonderful for me: I enjoyed pies, took naps, and occasionally penned short articles for you. I can confidently say that a break is essential! But before we do that, let’s reflect on 2018—what has changed over the past year, and what have we accomplished?

I believe the last 365 days have been the most productive ever; we’ve been incredibly busy and achieved significant milestones. First off, we released the long-awaited Aquatic update for Bedrock, Java, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Wii U, and Xbox 360. Additionally, with your support, we contributed to ocean conservation and donated a substantial amount towards saving pandas in the wild.

We launched a collaborative project with Cartoon Network, creating an eleven-minute Adventure Time episode styled in Minecraft (it turned out so fantastic that I can scientifically assert it’s the best reason to have a pair of human eyes). We also added cross-play functionality on Nintendo Switch. And the coolest part—we got to witness how dolphins communicate.

I even managed to accuse everyone who doesn’t love Adventure Time of lacking a soul. I stand by those comments.

Still not enough? Alright. This year, we announced nearly everything. The Village and Pillage update! Minecraft: Dungeons! Another biome! More cats, and of course, pandas! Also, you might be getting married soon (oops, if we’re mistaken and you’re still single, sorry about that, we may have gone a bit off track.)

What stands out the most to me is the vast number of builds shared within the Minecraft Pocket Edition community. There were indeed many, all beautiful and unique. Here’s a small selection of my favorites from this year.






[1/7] – This railway by Valvy was simply stunning. I endured all of Per’s silly, terrible jokes in his article without much effort.
[2/7] – Zosia’s palace structures were so beautiful and detailed that I couldn’t look at them without squinting.
[3/7] – Megavalve built one of the best treehouses. But that’s not all! He did it in Minecraft Pocket Edition! Just imagine! It seems easier to create Minecraft out of wood.
[4/7] – Philipp and his friend LostInSpace designed a very realistic rocket. After seeing the build, almost the entire Mojang team was convinced we could fly into space with it. Strange, but NASA hasn’t called us back yet.
[5/7] – As soon as I saw Noraa’s fantastic holographic city, I started speaking in the language of the future! Glebble hibble biplor (which means “it’s just indescribable!”)
[6/7] – AAAH, a dinosaur. Wait, dinosaurs went extinct ages ago; it’s just made in virtual reality. But it looks real, Jeron did an excellent job!
[7/7] – Some prefer building houses, others castles, while William Nelson (no, not the one you thought) chose dinosaurs. He created T-Rexes playing poker. Now that’s what I call genius! I’ll endlessly thank him!

One of my main achievements was convincing team member Minecraft Ash Parrish to write an article about speedrunning in the game. I also sent Jay Castello to a music festival, and instead of waking up three days later in a broken tent with no money, she brought back an amazing article about it. I remembered a fantastic holiday build that Kate Gray covered, and although it was from 2017, I decided to include it in our 2018 list. It truly deserves it!

And now, as 2018 comes to a close, we eagerly await your new creations in 2019. Each of you has the chance to get published on our site; anyone can create something amazing—it just takes some effort. Send your best builds to [email protected], so I can enjoy my vacation admiring them rather than chatting with family.

Finally, let’s hear from our beloved Per Landin! This year he authored a massive number of articles, one of which covers fantastic terraforming. So, Per, what was your highlight of Minecraft in 2018?

“My highlight of 2018? Sea thieves! Arrr, what a game!”

…okay. Thanks, Per.

Happy upcoming holidays to everyone! Don’t miss a couple of news updates next week!