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Minecraft Java edition code no longer obfuscated [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-10-30  

Minecraft, created by Markus "Notch" Persson long before it became the most successful game of all time and a $2bn payday to Microsoft, was written in Java. Notch obfuscated the code to prevent others from swiping it, though with success it didn't stop fans building a vast ecology of hacks and other additions to the basic game. After 16 years of would-be modders having to decompile it and study the mess, the code obfuscation is to be removed by Microsoft.

Modding is at the heart of Java Edition – and obfuscation makes modding harder. We're excited about this change to remove obfuscation, as it should make it quicker and easier for modders to create and improve mods. Now you won't have to untangle tricky code or deal with unclear names. What's more, de-bugging will become more straightforward, and crash logs will actually be readable!

The code is well-understood all the same, with various SDKs already making it straightforward to work with, and Microsoft publicly mapped the obfuscation years ago. Microsoft warns that there are no changes to the license; the source is accessible, but it's not free.

My experience of Microsoft-era Minecraft isn't great. Just setting it up on a new computer takes a long time and is prone to confusing failures: last time I tried it seems like I had to log into three different Microsoft things, one of them twice, and install things in right order, which is not enforced. The installer had a "Don't use this installer before logging into the Microsoft store" warning on it, like a post-it note on a grimy gas station card reader. How about "deobfuscating" all that next?

Previously:

• Ending an endless game: an interview with Julian Gough, author of Minecraft's epic finale

• Already regretting assigning Bret Easton Ellis to review Minecraft's photorealistic texture pack

• Minecraft is for the children

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/10/30/minecraft-java-edition-code-no-longer-obfuscated.html

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