New Minecraft Update Finally Allows Players to Sit Down

Minecraft's new update is getting a lot of praise for adding a simple, long-awaited feature: Players can now sit.

This game has been around for 20 years and players can create beautiful homes, deep mines, and thriving civilizations, but they couldn't sit down until now. They can sleep in cozy beds, but there was no place to rest their weary legs after a hard day of mining for diamonds or slaying monsters (with the exception of boats and mine carts).

The news was revealed as part of a deep dive into the game's upcoming update, which will also add things like straw beds, a new biome, and more. Players will be able to sit via a new cushion. The developers said that they can foresee players using these cushions in creative ways that likely stretch beyond their own imagination. The update is expected to arrive to all players this fall, but players with access to preview builds of Minecraft can try the new sitting feature today.

Players were pretty thrilled, as they've been asking for this for 17 years. It's probably silly to other people, but Minecraft players love to roleplay and this now ensures they don't need to use mods or a flimsy solution to do something as simple as sitting down. "[The] ability to sit down without mods feels MASSIVE," one fan commented on the announcement video on YouTube. "The way I cheered at the announcement of being able to sit, you’d think Mojang announced an End Drop," said another.

In other Minecraft news, Microsoft began restructuring Xbox earlier this week. As part of those plans, Minecraft leadership will now report directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who believes the IP has been "massively underinvested" in, despite the fact there are numerous spin-offs, loads of merchandise, and a film that made just shy of a billion dollars at the box office.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.