Fans of the block-building phenomenon Minecraft will soon have a new way to explore the game’s chunky universe. Developer Mojang has announced that a new spin-off title, Minecraft: Story Mode, is in development.

The narrative-driven adventure series is being created by TellTale Games, a specialist in the genre. The first episode is due out “sometime” in 2015, on Xbox and PlayStation consoles as well as PC, Mac and smartphones.



Previously responsible for the critically acclaimed episodic interactive dramas The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, Telltale has told fans that the new game will be a new original story, driven by player choice. It seems the game won’t feature “Steve” the name given to the generic lead character in the original Minecraft, which has now sold over 50 million units on PC, smartphone and consoles. In a blog post, Mojang explained: “We’re not intending on creating an ‘official’ story for Steve, or explaining the world of Minecraft in detail. It will be a cool game.”

It seems that the stand-alone game, which won’t require players to own Minecraft, is being developed with the help of the huge and very dedicated Minecraft community - although it hasn’t been made clear how that will work.



One thing is clear, however: Telltale won’t be using its experiences with The Walking Dead to make Minecraft’s zombies, and other creatures, more scary. The game will be aimed at the same family audience as the main title.



It’s unlikely this is the last Minecraft spin-off we’ll see, as the game brand continues to grow. It is already a huge merchandising hit, with books, clothing and toys all available, as well as a growing range of Lego sets. A Minecraft movie is also in development. In September, Sweden-based Mojang was purchased by Microsoft for $2.5bn; the ability to develop and expand the property was seen at the time as a major motivation for the purchase.

Mojang is promising more details early in 2015.

