After championing the 3rd-party Bedrock server space for over a decade, Minecraft server network NetherGames, famed for their PVP and minigames, is set to permanently close on June 28th, 2026.
In their closure announcement, owners cited a combination of personal matters, and Mojang’s continued lack of support for non-featured servers as reasons for closure.
Over the years, Mojang has deliberately cut off non-featured servers from technical information they once provided freely, and despite repeated assurances that this access would be restored, it never was.
– Callum, NetherGames Closure Announcement
Other contributing factors to NetherGames’ closure include a general decline of community interest in Bedrock servers, and failure to achieve “Featured” status in 2024 after negotiations with Mojang fell through.
We did have a meeting with Microsoft in 2024 about the potential of becoming a featured server, but unfortunately we were eventually ghosted by our contact.
– Callum, NetherGames Closure Announcement
Evercraft reached out to a Mojang Community Manager for comment, but haven’t yet received a response.
With NetherGames leaving the space, there are very few remaining Bedrock-first Minecraft Bedrock servers. Most publicly available servers for Bedrock today are actually Minecraft Java servers using the GeyserMC compatibility layer. While this is good enough for some players, it’s not native BDS, and you can feel it.
Hopefully Mojang begins to support the Bedrock server space again soon, by improving BDS, writing more documentation, and adding/finishing new BDS features & protocols.