If you thought that Minecraft isn’t the sort of game you could ever associate with the phrase ‘super duper graphics,’ well… you’re totally right, because it’s not getting them anymore.
Now, of course, Minecraft is a game that needs no introduction. It released around a decade ago, a humble-looking (well, that’s putting it politely), unassuming title that nobody could’ve really seen coming. Mojang certainly couldn’t have seen its phenomenal success coming, that’s for darn sure.
Much like Pokémon, it was a little obscure and didn’t really look like much, but it took off in an astonishing way. It’s one of those titles that you’re bound to have at least tried, even if you’ve somehow resisted the great tide of peer pressure and not bought it yourself. Minecraft’s world of (almost) boundless creativity is one that you can lose yourself in for periods of time only the biggest MMORPGs around can rival.
With a movie on the way (in another three years or so) and the game's popularity still rising, it’s clear that Minecraft mania is going nowhere. Needless to say, the game’s been buoyed along the way by all kinds of updates, mods and other shenanigans. Character skins, textures and everything in between can be tweaked to the player’s liking, through both official and fan-made content. Sadly, though, there’s one thing that players aren’t going to be getting (officially, at any rate): the Super Duper Graphics pack.
This much-anticipated and super ambitious content pack was set to deliver an entirely new aesthetic to the familiar Minecraft world. It was announced way back at E3 2017, but the team have announced on the official site that they’ve had to cancel it.
“Super Duper was an ambitious initiative that brought a new look to Minecraft but, unfortunately, the pack proved too technically demanding to implement as planned,” the post explained. “…unfortunately, we aren’t happy with how the pack performed across devices. For this reason, we're stopping development on the pack."
That’s a darn shame, whichever way you slice it. The post goes on to explain that the team recognizes how excited the fanbase was about the Super Duper pack, and the team felt the same way. After all, it must be as invigorating (and daunting) for developers to create such paradigm-shifting content for such a well-established title as it was exciting for players to get to experience it.
Nevertheless, they sign off with the promise that they’re “looking into other ways for you to experience Minecraft with a new look.” What exactly this could mean, there’s no saying just yet. One thing’s for sure, though: Minecraft always has something surprising in store. As anyone who’s had a survival run suddenly and unceremoniously ended by a darn Creeper explosion from behind will tell you.