The Sift: Minecraft's first new dimension in 14 years lands in 2027

On September 26, 2026, Minecraft Live ended with a sentence Mojang hadn't said since 2011: there's a new dimension. It's called the Sift. It joins the Overworld, the Nether and the End, and it's coming to Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition in 2027. You can walk into it three days after the show, on September 29, when Minecraft Dungeons II launches with the Sift built in.

This page is our running file on the Sift: what Mojang has confirmed, what viewers spotted in the footage, our best guess at the dates, and what a fourth dimension means for the servers on this list. We'll update it as the facts arrive.

Quick answers

What Mojang has actually confirmed

Strip away the hype and the confirmed list is short but solid. All of it comes from Mojang's own recap, Xbox Wire's write-up and the broadcast itself.

• A fourth dimension, for real. Xbox Wire's summary: the Sift is Minecraft's first new dimension in over 14 years, introduced in Dungeons II and becoming part of Minecraft in 2027.
• Two named areas. The Meadows and the Carapace. Mojang says other areas are being kept secret for players to find in Dungeons II.
• New mobs, both kinds. Companions and threats, all described as unique to the Sift. The broadcast showed the dimension running in Minecraft and, in Mojang's words, "even one of the mobs that calls it home".
• New rules. Xbox Wire describes shifting tides that affect your character and those around you, hazardous new blocks that change how you explore, and environments built to test your skills.
• A look of its own. Colorful rather than gloomy. Kotaku called it fuzzier and friendlier than the Nether and the End. PCGamesN's report from the show says the team wants it to feel peaceful, threatened by illagers but not evil in itself.
• Souls. The Dungeons II story opens with strange events, new enemies and souls flying through the Overworld. Following them is how heroes find the Sift.
• Both editions, next year. The minecraft.net recap says it plainly: coming to Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition next year.
• A whole-studio effort. Chief creative officer Jens Bergensten told the show that new dimensions matter enough for every team to be involved, per PCGamesN. Laura de Llorens, design director on Dungeons II, said the Minecraft team worked alongside the Dungeons II team so the Sift fits the Minecraft universe.

What viewers spotted in the Minecraft footage, as catalogued by the community on the Minecraft Wiki: a small blue, rabbit-like creature that the Dungeons II side calls a blub; pink and green grass with a sculk-like look; pale white trees with hanging foliage; and a distant forest of white trunks. Treat those block and mob names as placeholders until Mojang publishes its own.

The Sift in Dungeons II: the early look

Dungeons II is an isometric action RPG, so its Sift is a hand-built set of areas rather than generated terrain. But it's the same dimension from the same studio, and Mojang says playing it is the best way to get a feel for the mobs, blocks and biomes before the Minecraft version arrives. Dungeons II launches September 29, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PC (Xbox app and Steam), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and it's included with Game Pass.

The Dungeons II side gives a few more names, listed on the Minecraft Wiki's Dungeons II pages: areas called Lullaby Hills and Singer's Meadow, an Echo Den inside the Carapace, enemies such as sifters, sentinels, nesters and seedlings, and bosses including the Monarch. Whether any of that carries over to Minecraft, nobody outside Mojang knows yet.

Timeline: confirmed dates and our estimates

Confirmed dates are plain. Our estimates are marked, and they are estimates: Mojang's only words on the Minecraft release are "in 2027".

1. Nov 18, 2011

   Minecraft 1.0 ships with the End. It stays the newest dimension for over 14 years.

2. Mar 21, 2026

   Minecraft Dungeons II is announced at Minecraft Live: March 2026.

3. Aug 2026

   Gamescom: the Dungeons II gameplay reveal names the Sift for the first time and sets the September 29 date.

4. Sep 15, 2026

   Wilderness Bound (Java 26.3, Bedrock 26.50) releases: autumn forests, poplar wood, straw beds, cushions.

5. Sep 22, 2026

   26.4 Snapshot 1 makes Vulkan the default renderer on Java. No ice caves in it yet.

6. Sep 26, 2026

   Minecraft Live: the Sift is confirmed for Minecraft in 2027, and the Ice Caves drop gets its first look.

7. Sep 29, 2026

   Minecraft Dungeons II launches with the Sift.

8. Oct 27, 2026

   Minecraft arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 (Bedrock 26.60, with Vibrant Visuals).

9. Estimate: Dec 2026

   The Ice Caves drop (Java 26.4, Bedrock 26.70). The last three fourth drops landed on December 5, 2023, December 3, 2024 and December 9, 2025.

10. Estimate: Mar 2027

    The next Minecraft Live. Xbox Wire says future shows will cover the Sift and when it arrives, and the 2026 shows were in March and September.

11. Estimate: spring 2027

    First Sift snapshots and Bedrock previews. A guess, based on how Mojang tested its last big features in public for months first.

12. Estimate: Jun to Dec 2027

    The Sift ships in Minecraft. Our reasoning is below.

Before the Sift: the Ice Caves drop

The next drop is closer, and it's pure Minecraft. Per Mojang's recap, ice caves are a new cave biome alongside dripstone, lush and sulfur caves, generated under cold surface biomes. They're built of ice and calcite, with two new blocks: icicles, which grow on the ceiling, and ice crystals, which grow on the floor and give off a soft light. The new hostile mob is a frozen zombie variant with no name yet. Its hits deal damage plus a freezing effect, and some of them throw ice balls. The Minecraft Wiki adds a Potion of Freezing and an Arrow of Freezing to the list, and Kotaku reports that a regular zombie left in powdered snow turns into a frozen one.

Agnes Larsson, Minecraft's game director, framed the drop as part of the long-term focus on adventure. The Minecraft Wiki files it as Java 26.4 and Bedrock 26.70; the 26.4 snapshots that started on September 22 don't include it yet.

What a fourth dimension means for servers

Here is where we stop reporting and start thinking. Everything below is our read, not Mojang's.

1. Expect a longer update gap than usual

Servers don't run Mojang's software. Almost every Java server runs Paper, Spigot, Fabric or Forge-based builds, and Bedrock servers run third-party software that has to re-implement every new block and mob. Even a normal drop takes time: Paper's first 26.3 build appeared on Wilderness Bound's release day, but eleven days later its builds were still flagged as alpha. A dimension touches world generation, chunk storage, portals, mob AI and every plugin that lists worlds or protects regions. Owners should plan for weeks, not days, between the Sift's release and a stable server build, and for a stretch where players on the new version can't join servers stuck on the old one. Multi-version plugins soften that, but they can't add a dimension the server doesn't have.

2. Old maps get new land without a reset

This is the big one. Survival servers that never reset, and anarchy servers that would never dare, get an untouched dimension on day one: fresh terrain, fresh resources, fresh fights over both. 2b2t's world has been running since December 2010, which makes it older than the End. When the Sift opens there, it will be the first new dimension the map has received since the End in 2011.

Expect "Sift rush" events: coordinated day-one expeditions, races to the first bases in each named area, and a new arena for PvP. Servers with land claims will need to decide quickly whether claims work in the Sift, whether its resources reset with seasons, and whether the dimension needs rules of its own.

3. New mechanics are free game-mode fuel

Skyblock, OneBlock and Nether-only survival all began as constraints players put on themselves. The Sift's new rules, tides that affect players, hazardous blocks and companion mobs, are exactly the raw material for new modes: Sift-only survival, hardcore Sift runs, companion arenas, a race to the Carapace. Minigame networks will treat the new blocks and mobs as a palette for maps. RPG servers that already ship custom worlds through resource packs get a whole vanilla dimension of new assets to build on, with none of the client-side download cost.

4. Economies change

Every dimension has brought its own currencies of play: blaze rods and quartz from the Nether, shulker shells and elytra from the End. Whatever the Sift's equivalents turn out to be, shop plugins, auction houses and trade balances will need a pass, and the first weeks will be a scramble for whatever is rare. Owners who publish their Sift rules before release, what resets, what's claimable, what's banned, will keep their economies from breaking on day one.

5. Bedrock gets it on the same day

That matters more than it sounds. Bedrock's featured servers and the crossplay networks on our list reach the console and phone players who never touch Java, and Mojang ships its drops to both editions together. The Switch 2 version arrives on October 27, 2026, well ahead of the Sift, so 2027's newest console players will meet the dimension as part of the game they just bought. Bedrock server owners should watch the preview builds as closely as Java owners watch snapshots.

6. A player surge, and a listing that's ready for it

Big updates bring lapsed players back, and a new dimension is the biggest headline Minecraft has had in years. Lapsed players don't remember server addresses; they search. Between now and release the cheap wins are the boring ones: claim your listing, keep your version and description current, and say plainly whether you'll be ready on day one. We already track which version every listed server answers on, so the servers that update first will show it here first.

Servers to watch

Four servers on our list that a new dimension will test in four different ways. The numbers are live from our own pinger.

2b2t: fresh land on the oldest map

A world that has never reset gets its first new dimension. If the Sift has anything worth fighting over, this is where the fighting will be loudest. Read the 2b2t story.

Wynncraft: a custom world meets a vanilla one

Wynncraft built an MMORPG inside Minecraft with its own map, classes and items, all delivered through a resource pack. A vanilla dimension with new mobs and mechanics is new material for a team that already makes its own. Read the Wynncraft story.

Hypixel: what a minigame giant does with new mobs

The biggest Java network turns new blocks into new maps and new mobs into new modes. Its answer to the Sift will set the pace for every smaller network. Read the Hypixel story.

The Hive: Bedrock's day-one crowd

The Hive is the Bedrock giant on our list, and it's where console and phone players will look for the Sift the day it drops. Read the Hive story.

What to do now

Also announced at Minecraft Live

• Minecraft World, a theme park with the first Minecraft hotel and a rollercoaster called Escape the Nether, opens at Chessington World of Adventures Resort near London in 2027.
• Sound effects packs are coming to the Minecraft Marketplace.
• Minecraft launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on October 27, 2026.
• Minecraft Education turned ten.
• A community challenge to place 50 million straw beds and 200 million cushions across the Overworld.
• Jens Bergensten set out Mojang's "creator platform" goal: lowering the barrier to make, manage and share Minecraft content.

Spotted a mistake, or a source we missed? Tell us. This story was last checked on September 27, 2026.