Minecraft developer Mojang has firmly stated its stance against incorporating generative artificial intelligence into its game development process. As the use of generative AI in game development becomes increasingly prevalent, with examples like Activision's use of AI-generated art in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Microsoft's development of Muse, an AI designed to generate game ideas, Mojang stands apart by prioritizing the human touch that has made Minecraft the best-selling game of all time, boasting an impressive 300 million sales.

During a recent event attended by IGN, Minecraft Vanilla game director Agnes Larsson emphasized the importance of human creativity in the development process. "Here for us, just like Minecraft is about creativity and creating," Larsson stated, "I think it's important that it makes us feel happy to create as humans. That's a purpose, [it] makes life look beautiful. So for us, we really want it to be our teams that make our games."

Echoing this sentiment, Ingela Garneij, executive producer of Minecraft Vanilla, highlighted the unique human element in crafting the Minecraft experience. "For me, it's the thinking outside of the box part. This specific touch of: what is Minecraft? How does it look? That extra quality is really tricky to create through AI. We even try to have remote teams sometimes and guide them in building things for us, which has never worked, because you have to be here working together face-to-face."

Garneij further elaborated on the necessity of human interaction in understanding the game's values, principles, ecosystem, and lore. "I mean creativity is... you need to meet like this as a person, as a human to really truly understand the values and principles and the ecosystem, the lore, everything. It's so massive Minecraft, it's a planet, it's massive."

Mojang continues to build upon Minecraft's record-breaking success, with the upcoming graphics update, "Vibrant Visuals," set to enhance the game's visual appeal. Despite the game's age of 16 years, Mojang remains committed to improving and expanding the original game without resorting to making it free-to-play or developing a "Minecraft 2." This dedication to the game's core values and human-driven development ensures that Minecraft remains a dynamic and evolving world, with no plans to integrate generative AI into its development process.

For more details on upcoming features and updates, be sure to check out everything announced at Minecraft Live 2025.