Mojang likely to reveal Minecraft 1.20 update release date in coming weeks

The Minecraft community has patiently awaited the upcoming 1.20 "Trails & Tales" update since its announcement, and it now looks like they won't have to wait much longer. Mojang previously stated that the update would be ready by the end of Spring 2023. However, given the recent spate of snapshot and preview betas in the last few weeks, the 1.20 update may very well be close at hand.

Though Mojang is yet to make an official announcement surrounding update 1.20, there are certain signs that indicate it may arrive quite soon. Mojang has followed a trend with recent major updates, and we're seeing them again with the 1.20 betas, so it's possible that Minecraft 1.20 could have its release date unveiled as early as late April or early May.

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Recent Minecraft snapshots point to 1.20's imminent release

The strongest indicators that point to Minecraft 1.20's upcoming release are the Java Edition snapshots and Bedrock Edition previews. Specifically, the recent betas introduced new achievements/advancements as well as new in-game music. Though these implementations have appeared many times over the game's development history, they tend to get introduced towards the end of a new update's development cycle.

For example, Minecraft 1.19 was released on June 7, 2022. However, on April 20 of the same year, snapshot 22w16a introduced new music to the game by Lena Raine. The music addition pre-empted the official release in just a few weeks, and now the community is seeing new music and advancements appear in snapshot 23w17a and its Bedrock Edition equivalent, causing them to believe that it may be forecasting an upcoming announcement of the completion of the 1.20 update in just a few weeks.

Considering how many significant Minecraft updates are released in June each year, it's likely safe to say that the Trails & Tales update may very well follow suit. Aside from a few small implementations in recent betas, the majority of changes made in the experimental lead-ups to update 1.20 have largely fixed bugs and performance issues. This would seem to indicate that all of the new primary features may already be in the snapshots/previews, meaning Mojang is simply doing some housekeeping before the 1.20 update's big debut.

Considering how quickly summer is approaching, it's only reasonable to assume that Mojang's latest addition to Minecraft's long-running history is getting close. Fans won't know for sure until the developers make their official announcement, but the writing very much appears to be on the wall for Trails & Tales. It is highly unlikely that Mojang has made such a sizable change in its content release and development cycle, so many members of the game's community are holding out hope for news in the immediate future.

Only time will tell if the Trails & Tales update holds up to previous releases, and after more than a few months of waiting, the community is ready to pass its judgment on the latest major content update to decide if it was worth the wait.