Will Minecraft Story Mode: Season 3 Ever Happen?

Minecraft: Story Mode won the hearts of many players when it released in 2015, as did its sequel, Season 2, in 2017. But it's been nearly two years now without any news of a third season. Will Minecraft Story Mode: Season 3 ever happen? Will we see these beloved characters in a story-driven Minecraft game ever again?

The odds are not very good.

Minecraft: Story Mode was developed by the now-defunct Telltale Games, best known for bringing The Walking Dead to consoles. Telltale laid off much of its staff on Sept. 21, 2018, in a move that not only left many talented developers without jobs, but also left The Walking Dead: The Final Season in limbo. Fortunately, some happy news came along for The Walking Dead's farewell. Skybound Entertainment reclaimed the license (as the studio is owned by The Walking Dead's creator) and brought some ex-Telltale staff on to finish the game.

But things didn't end so blissfully for other Telltale properties, including Minecraft: Story Mode.

A port of Story Mode was being planned for Netflix, but that was canceled. Then Telltale titles started disappearing from digital storefronts. Finally, this past June, Minecraft: Story Mode was pulled down, too. There is now no way to buy Story Mode or Story Mode: Season 2 digitally. And because Telltale Games is now dead and gone, the likelihood of the property making a reappearance — much less getting a third season — is slim to none.

Could there be another story-focused Minecraft title someday? That's certainly a possibility, though it would be on Microsoft to provide that experience going forward. The truth is (with the exception of Square Enix's Life is Strange series) there aren't other developers making Telltale-like games. And given the trouble Telltale found itself in toward the end, it probably wouldn't be wise for a studio to saddle itself with a bunch of licenses in a similar manner, either.

So no, you're probably not going to get Minecraft Story Mode: Season 3. But who knows: maybe the folks at Microsoft might surprise us someday with something similar.