Minecraft Blast testing phase expands: developing for new and lapsed fans

• Minecraft Blast is expanding its testing to the West this October, with a limited-time release coming to Canada and Australia.
• PocketGamer.biz plays the game early while learning more from Mojang and King.

Building on the foundations of a globally recognised IP, Minecraft Blast combines one of the world’s best-selling games brands with one of mobile’s biggest studios.

The blast-style puzzle game is being developed by King of Candy Crush fame, meanwhile Minecraft’s Mojang is bringing knowledge of the IP and overseeing how it's represented in the casual, combat-free format.

The latter isn’t providing programmers or getting involved in coding, but is hands-on at the design phase, helping translate Minecraft elements to the mobile format.

To learn more about the new game’s development progress, we visit King’s London headquarters just ahead of its second regional testing phase. We play the first dozen levels, test out boosters and building mechanics, and speak with King executive producer of new games Gavin Lammin alongside Mojang creative director Magnus Nedfors.

"We're wanting to spread the love of Minecraft to new areas and so we're trying to make games that appeal to a very broad group: the very broad group we call ‘everyone’. You should be able to play Minecraft wherever you are and whenever you want to," Nedfors begins.

He shares that Mojang has been looking to release a mobile-first Minecraft game for a long time, therefore. Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard - which included subsidiary King - has finally helped make this possible.

"The acquisition took quite some time for various reasons, but when it was about to come through, it was like: the day that goes through we want to talk to King," says Nedfors.

"I also know that some people at King were interested in collaboration as well, so we kicked off kind of the first day we could. That said, we didn't have the idea for this game then."

The project’s origins date back to November 2023, therefore, when talks began around potential opportunities. A dedicated development team was later established in March 2024, which Lammin considers the point at which King and Mojang "started more formally working together".

"Project Diamonds was the code name that we had for it back then," he reveals. "That’s when we really started prototyping, ideating and trying to align on the right fit that we wanted to pursue. We tried a lot of things between April and October 2024 - various different concepts within the casual space."

The studios had to consider what type of game would fit the Minecraft brand and also how best to optimise King’s mobile knowledge and experience. More than half a year later, the companies decided to move forward with a blast core and a hybrid meta. Thus, Minecraft Blast.

"While it's not a traditional match-3 game, it's not too far away from that either. Like, the core gameplays have a lot of comparables to what we know best in-house," Lammin explains.

"We felt it was the right thing for the game. I mean, I don't think you could even say blast was the hot thing back in October of 2024, so it was more just because we felt that was getting this blend of, it's a good fit for the IP but also it's it again leans into what we know best in puzzle."

Time to get building

It’s been 17 years since Minecraft first released on PC, and over the many years since it’s expanded across every platform from mobile, to Xbox 360, right up to the PS5. Continuing into the new generation, a Nintendo Switch 2 release is approaching later this month.

That’s a long time for one title to sell, and with more than 400 million units shipped to date, Minecraft easily lands among the world’s highest-selling games - far ahead of any individual Mario, Pokémon or even GTA release.

It’s a huge IP to be leveraged, even more well-known after 2025’s A Minecraft Movie, but brand power alone doesn’t guarantee success in the maturing mobile market. Even King, with its flagship Candy Crush Saga surpassing $20bn in lifetime revenue, has struggled to replicate success of this scale with more recent releases.

So, we ask whether Minecraft Blast really has the potential to break through the noise.

"IP helps in this area, but it's not IP alone that determines the success of a product," Lammin answers.

"It is a very challenging market. For us, that's why we're doing this step by step, in order to try and determine if we can crack that market and have a big successful launch. If it all goes according to plan, we will demonstrate that for each phase that we go through.

"We're trying to hit a super high bar. We really are pushing quality, not only for what we as King represent and the craft and care that we want from every game that we produce, but also to honour the brand and make sure that we're doing it justice."

We begin to play Minecraft Blast and discover two core elements - two aspects of the game that play into each other.

Firstly, players can complete puzzle levels to earn energy.

Being a blast game, clearing puzzles requires tapping on coloured blocks to destroy them. Tapping a collection of yellow blocks, for example, may turn them into a potion, TNT, a firework or even an End Crystal depending on their quantity.

Where those boosters then land will depend on which block the player taps, and in the case of fireworks players can even decide whether they should face horizontally or vertically.

Each booster has varying degrees of power and can be combined, encouraging players to land them next to each other. Combining a potion and an End Crystal sends multiple potions firing across the board, for example, targeting optimal blocks to remove. There are various objectives like clearing mobs from the board.

"We feel like when you give agency to the player, it makes the overall experience that much more satisfying, especially if you try to then go back to another game and you get quite accustomed to this way of playing and then feeling like you can make smart moves as you're going through the level," says Lammin.

Secondly, players can spend the energy accrued from puzzles outside the board, developing a voxel-style Minecraft world.

Each time they build, be it a house, a balcony or a fence, the development comes in three styles, adding a customisation element which players can go back and change at any time. It means that by clearing puzzles, players can have a direct impact on the world, unlocking story beats and making a companion character safer from creepers.

"This is going to be a key vector for us in terms of how we showcase the brand both through the journey and also in the types of events - taking moments from the wider Minecraft world and fusing them into this format," Lammin explains.

There are also apples, sheep, skeletons that fire arrows at power-ups, and various other elements familiar to Minecraft fans, but this title is actually more about reaching newcomers than the existing base.

"There's a lot of players who kind of just know about Minecraft, and we hope that some of those people who pick this game up learn what Minecraft is about, and then you can communicate with other people about this universe without actually playing the same game necessarily," Nedfors suggests.

"Like, in my head, I kind of have the image of this game as a little bit older - it's a parents’ game, while Minecraft Vanilla might be a kids’ game. So, if we could make parents understand how the Vanilla universe works through this game and they can talk to their kids, so we kind of create the connection for everybody on Minecraft, that could be super nice."

At the same time, the overlap between Minecraft fans and casual mobile players has turned out to be "quite a bit larger than we suspected". The game may well yet suit Minecraft fans whose lifestyles have changed - those who have grown up with the game or become parents themselves and have little time to build.

"This is a bit of nostalgia, an easy way to re-experience what they love in a much more accessible way when they're going about their day-to-day business. So it's also for lapsed players in particular that already love or are familiar with the brand, as well as new players," Lammin suggests.

Testing, testing

It’s now almost three years since King and Mojang began discussions around a mobile Minecraft game, and two since they agreed on the blast concept, so we also ask how testing is going and the purpose of a slow, steady approach.

Minecraft Blast’s first test took place in Malaysia last November, having given iOS owners access to three chapters and around 230 levels for a limited time. According to Lammin, this was "a very early test" primarily about understanding how players engage with Minecraft Blast.

Almost a year later, the game has now returned to Malaysia with a second test showcasing seven chapters, new Minecraft-themed blockers, the game’s first in-app purchases and around 500 levels. Purchase options include boosters, hard currency and cosmetics, meanwhile all levels have been redesigned to reflect the changes made this past year - following lessons and balancing from the first playtest.

Alterations have also been made to the structure of story chapters, meaning those who played in the previous test have needed to start from scratch.

Next, the app will debut among Western players for the first time this month. Mobile gamers in Canada and Australia can expect to gain access later in October whether on iOS or Android.

It’s a limited playtest, not a soft launch, meaning they’ll be able to download Minecraft Blast for a window of just three or four weeks. Those who do so will maintain access to the game after testing ends, but new players won’t be able to join beyond the limited timeframe.

"It's mainly designed to validate player engagement, get player feedback, get some early learnings on how monetisation is received and also product market fit. Focus area is mainly retention, purchases and user acquisition," Lammin reveals.

"Anyone who spends money on the game as part of this playtest will retain that. Any follow-up test that we do, it will continue in terms of support for it."

The development team is also at work on competitive elements like leaderboards and weekly contests, as well as raid events inspired by classic Minecraft. The story, meanwhile, is being developed in collaboration between King’s narrative team and Mojang’s narrative director.

Finally, as progress continues and testing expands, we ask how close Minecraft Blast is to a full global launch. Lammin is unable to answer, suggesting it’s still "early, early days" for the game, but he hopes the tests will demonstrate potential for success.

"It needs to be an excellent product that players love and engage with," he concludes.