Minecraft Live Reveals the Sift, First New Dimension in Over 14 Years

Mojang Studios confirmed during the 26. September 2026 edition of Minecraft Live that the Sift, the first new dimension added to Minecraft in over 14 years, will come to Minecraft Java & Bedrock Edition in 2027. Players will enter the dimension for the first time in Minecraft Dungeons II, which launches on 29. September 2026.

The Sift joins the Overworld, the Nether, and the End as the game’s fourth dimension, according to Mojang’s recap of the show. The dimension was first announced at Gamescom and received a deeper showcase during the broadcast, which included a brief in-development look at it running in Minecraft, Xbox Wire reported. Viewers also saw a glimpse of one of the mobs that calls the dimension home.

What the Sift Contains

Mojang describes the Sift as “beautiful, vibrant, and teeming with souls.” Xbox Wire describes a new reality with a colorful look, new mobs that act as both companions and threats, all of them unique, and new rules to learn once players step inside. Shifting tides within the dimension can affect the player’s character and those around them, hazardous new blocks change how exploration works, and new environments put player skills to the test.

The dimension’s named areas so far are the Meadow and the Carapace. Mojang said it is keeping the Sift’s other areas secret for players to discover in Minecraft Dungeons II.

The studio is not yet detailing how players will access the Sift in Minecraft itself, or how the dimension will differ from its Dungeons II version, according to Xbox Wire, which reported that future Minecraft Live events will share more on the Sift and its arrival timing.

Debut in Minecraft Dungeons II

Minecraft Dungeons II, the sequel to Minecraft Dungeons, is where players will first visit the Sift. Rifts appear throughout the sequel’s world, and stumbling into one transports the player to the dimension. Where the first game built its missions as discrete levels, Dungeons II introduces an interconnected world and adds jumping.

Design Director Laura de Llorens presented the sequel’s crisis premise during the show: the world’s ecosystem is out of balance, angry illagers are everywhere, and they have formed an Illager High Council. Art Director Ullis Linder and Game Director Måns Olson showed the new interconnected Dungeons world. In the game’s opening stages, strange events upend the natural order of the Overworld, new enemy types appear, and souls begin to fly through the world, according to Xbox Wire’s account.

Minecraft Dungeons II launches for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC, is included with Game Pass, and supports Xbox Play Anywhere across console and PC. It is also available on Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Other Announcements From the Show

Mojang also previewed its next game drop, which adds ice caves, a new cave biome like the existing dripstone, lush, and sulfur caves. The freezing caves are filled with ice and calcite blocks along with new icicles, which grow naturally on the ceiling, and ice crystals, which grow on the ground and emit a soft light.

The same drop introduces a frozen zombie variant that does not yet have a name. Its hits deal damage and apply a freezing effect, and some of the zombies throw ice balls. Game Director Agnes Larsson said during the broadcast that adventure remains a main focus area in Mojang’s long-term vision for Minecraft.

Sound Effects Packs are coming to Minecraft Marketplace. Chief Creative Officer Jens Bergenström outlined the studio’s creator platform goal of lowering the barrier for more players to become Minecraft creators, with improvements to the tools and systems used to create, manage, and share game content.

Away from the games, Minecraft World opens in 2027 at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in London. Mojang and Merlin Entertainments described plans for what they call the world’s first Minecraft World Hotel, with a deep-sea diner and themed rooms, and Escape the Nether, described as the world’s first Minecraft rollercoaster, with indoor and outdoor sections.

Mojang also used the show to confirm that Minecraft comes to Nintendo Switch 2 on 27. Oktober 2026, to mark the 10th birthday of Minecraft Education, and to set a community challenge that tasks players with placing 50 million straw beds and 200 million cushions around the Overworld.