Minecraft's Giant, Graphical Update Is Dead

Minecraft fans might possibly remember back in 2017 when the Super Duper Graphics Pack was [...]

Minecraft fans might possibly remember back in 2017 when the Super Duper Graphics Pack was announced, which was to bring a giant update to the game, freshening up the graphics in a big way. The project was certainly an ambitious one, but it may have been a bit too much for the dev team. Mojang recently took to their website to reveal that the upcoming Super Duper Graphics Pack for Minecraft has officially been cancelled as the devs felt it did not meet expectations across various devices.

"We realise this is disappointing to some of you – there was a lot of enthusiasm for Super Duper from inside and outside the studio – but unfortunately, we aren't happy with how the pack performed across devices," Mojang said. "For this reason, we're stopping development on the pack, and looking into other ways for you to experience Minecraft with a new look."

The Super Duper Graphics Pack was originally set to arrive in 2017, but had received quite the delay as the devs had to re-write the engine in order to accommodate the new features. It eventually got pushed back to this year, but now we know that it simply won't be arriving anymore. For those who don't know what was on the way, here's a brief overview of the Minecraft update's contents:

  • Volumetric lighting.
  • Enhanced water textures, complete with reflective surfaces.
  • Dynamic shadows with object edge highlighting.
  • Reflective textures for blocks, adding highlights to diamond blocks for example.
  • 3D models for objects that were previously just flat textures, such as rail tracks and foliage.

While it is certainly unfortunate that the massive update has been cancelled, not all hope is lost for Minecraft players. For those who are playing on the PC Java Edition, there are several amazing shaders available to really change the look of the overall game. Either way, the devs will surely figure out something along the lines of the cancelled graphical update in the future that might not be so demanding.

Minecraft is currently available on just about anything a video game can be played on that was released in the past decade. For even more information about the popular title, check out some of our previous coverage.

What do you think about all of this? Are you bummed that the Super Duper Graphics Pack has been cancelled? Sound off in the comment section below, or feel free to hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!

2comments