Following the Minecraft Live Mob Vote for 2022, the Sniffer was crowned victorious. The Sniffer and Rascal were the final two options, as they soundly beat the Tuff Golem in round one.
The second round saw the Sniffer take victory with over 1.5 million votes. The Rascal was defeated and joins the Tuff Golem in Minecraft purgatory.
Thanks to its resounding win, the Sniffer will be added in the game's very next update.
That follows the pattern set by the Mob Votes in 2017, 2020 and 2021. All winners are added as soon as possible, and that will be true of the Sniffer too. The question is: When will that be?
When will Mojang add the Sniffer to Minecraft?
During the Minecraft Live from October 15, Mojang revealed that the 1.20 update, which will be the next one, will not arrive till 2023. That makes sense, as there's only a couple of months remaining on the year, and it would be difficult to get the Sniffer up to speed in time.
Mojang did not give an official release date, though. Many are speculating that the Sniffer could be in January, but that appears too soon. Nevertheless, it's likely to arrive sooner rather than later.
That could mean December 2023, which is over a year away, but something sooner is more likelier.
The Sniffer should arrive in that update barring any unforeseen circumstances. It doesn't happen very often, but mobs get delayed at times. The Warden was announced for 1.17 but didn't arrive till Minecraft 1.19.
However, the Sniffer is a Mob Vote winner, which almost guarantees that Mojang will add it in the very next update. Even if that means delaying the update, Sniffer should be in 1.20. There will also probably be a lot of additions related to the Sniffer.
The mob is supposed to sniff out and dig up seeds for players. Right now, no seeds are underground. Pumpkin seeds only come from crafting pumpkins into the ground. It's the same for melon seeds.
Wheat seeds come from grass. Beetroot seeds come from harvesting the plant. Potatoes and carrots grow, but that's by planting the item and has nothing to do with seeds.
The game is lacking in that department, so the Sniffer should remedy that. Either Mojang will make some plants grow underground (carrots and potatoes make perfect sense), or a lot of new plants and seeds are going to be added for Minecraft 1.20.
The latter is very likely, but that also probably means the update will take longer to be released. Mojang probably didn't do a whole lot of in-game development for the mobs, as they couldn't predict which one would win the vote.
As they've now confirmed update 1.20 and the mob that will be in it, players can expect more information in the coming months. If the expected January release date is true, it may be just a month or so before an official release date is announced.
