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{{see also|MCE:Version history}}
 
{{see also|MCE:Version history}}
 
===Closed beta===
 
===Closed beta===
====iOS and iPadOS====
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====ps4 and ps5====
 
The closed beta for ''Minecraft Earth'' was launched for AR-compatible devices running iOS and iPadOS in the cities listed below.
 
The closed beta for ''Minecraft Earth'' was launched for AR-compatible devices running iOS and iPadOS in the cities listed below.
   
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|July 17, 2019
 
|July 17, 2019
 
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Stockholm, Sweden<ref>{{tweet|minecraftearth|1151537812803637249|Seattle and London are already live, and now it's time to welcome STOCKHOLM to the block party! Södermalm or Kungsholmen, which part of the city will prove to be the most creative?|July 17, 2019}}</ref><br />
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Stockholm, Sweden<ref>{{tweet|minecraearth|1151537812803637249|Seattle and London are already live, and now it's time to welcome STOCKHOLM to the block party! Södermalm or Kungsholmen, which part of the city will prove to be the most creative?|July 17, 2019}}</ref><br />
 
Tokyo, Japan<ref>{{tweet|Minecraftearth|1151598211460734976|TOKYO! Home of the historical and the hyper-modern, cat cafés and muddy pigs. Wait, what? Yes! Tokyo is the fourth city to join the Minecraft Earth closed beta.|July 17, 2019}}</ref>
 
Tokyo, Japan<ref>{{tweet|Minecraftearth|1151598211460734976|TOKYO! Home of the historical and the hyper-modern, cat cafés and muddy pigs. Wait, what? Yes! Tokyo is the fourth city to join the Minecraft Earth closed beta.|July 17, 2019}}</ref>
 
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Revision as of 22:05, 21 June 2021

Not to be confused with MINECON Earth.

Bring the Minecraft universe into the real world with augmented reality!

minecraft.net on Minecraft Earth

Minecraft Earth is a free-to-play augmented reality (AR) spin-off mobile game developed by Mojang Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. The game is about building structures and collecting materials by traveling to real-life locations. Minecraft Earth was released in closed beta on July 16, 2019, and gradually expanded its available countries over the rest of 2019, being released worldwide on December 11, 2019. The game received its final update, 0.33.0, on January 5, 2021, and will be discontinued on June 30, 2021, due to restrictions on outdoor activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] On July 1, 2021, all players that paid for Rubies will be given Minecoins and a copy of Bedrock Edition in return.[8]

Design

Minecraft Earth is an adaptation of the traditional Minecraft experience to an augmented-reality setting, similarly to Ingress and Pokémon Go.[9] The game itself was built on the Bedrock engine. It features many unique gameplay aspects and interactions similar to the main game.[9]

Minecraft Earth requires an Xbox Live account.[10]

The game uses Microsoft Azure Spatial Anchors along with OpenStreetMap to power location-based gameplay. This technology syncs the position of buildplates in multi-player by referencing objects in the real world, creating a seamless experience.[9][11][12]

It was announced that the Nether and the End were planned for Minecraft Earth in a future update,[13] but these plans were scrapped due to the game being discontinued on June 30, 2021.[8]

Gameplay

MC Earth gameplay

Gameplay of Minecraft Earth.

In Minecraft Earth, players can build structures with other players and "place them in the real world at life-size".[12]

In the map view, players can see their character, which can be changed with skins owned from the marketplace or generated using the Character Creator. Scattered around the maps are tappables. If a tappable is within a player's collection range,[more information needed] the player can tap it and collect items. There are multiple types of tappables, including stone, grass, pond, chests, and mobs.

Adventures

Main article: MCE:Adventure

Adventures appear on the map but can also be spawned using Adventure Crystals. Adventures are the survival aspect of Minecraft Earth. Players can fight mobs, collect additional resources that are unavailable with tappables, and collect rewards. Adventures can be played only in life-size mode.

Buildplates

Main article: MCE:Buildplate

Buildplates are worlds that players can use to build on. They can be shared remotely for viewing, and worked on by invited players in the same location.[9][11]

Buildplates can be 8×8, 16×16 or 32×32 blocks in size, and their build height limit is 221 blocks.[14] From ground level, a buildplate also extends downward in varying depth, depending on the buildplate. The minimum depth before bedrock appears after digging down is 3 blocks and the buildplate with the maximum recorded depth is 12 blocks[15]

Using the shop, players can buy new plots using rubies. Plots can also be earned via a leveling system.

Buildplates function like personal realms and can be used anywhere. They run in the Bedrock Engine, meaning redstone, physics, and other mechanics are identical to Bedrock Edition. Players may invite friends to build with them locally and then share the world to others via a link.[9][11]

A player can interact with a buildplate in miniature and life-size modes. In miniature mode, the buildplate functions the same as creative mode in Minecraft, allowing the player to build structures and populate the buildplate with mobs. In life-size mode, the buildplate functions the same as survival mode, in which the player must use tools to interact with blocks, hostile mobs on the buildplate attack the player, and the player can lose health and life.

A planned feature for buildplates that was announced but never implemented was the ability to pin buildplates on the map for other players to view publicly.

Buildplates can also be shared via a link, so players don't need to be in the same location as the creator to see creations.[9] The links shared can be temporary or never expiring.[9] Mojang Studios claims to have a 24/7 moderation team, reviewing and looking at reports of inappropriate builds.[9]

Minecraft Earth adventures have their own buildplates, with predefined above-ground and underground structures and hostile mobs. Like user buildplates, an adventure plate must be placed somewhere on the ground before interacting with it. Adventure buildplates cannot be saved or moved by a player although multiple players can interact with the same adventure at the same time.

Challenges

Similar to advancements in Java Edition and achievements in Bedrock Edition, challenges are tasks given to player to guide the player. Unlike advancements, there are 3 types of challenges: Daily, Seasonal, and Tappable challenges, these challenges may involve individual tasks, the player would get rubies and experience after completing, the player would get credit while completing a challenge, For example, if player's task is to collect 6 ferns, and another challenge is to collect 4 ferns, and the player gets 2 ferns, it would apply to both tasks.

Gameplay differences from regular Minecraft

Inventory ME

Inventory in Minecraft Earth, showing that stacks of items and mobs appear unlimited in size and quantity.

Minecraft Earth offers somewhat different mechanics to players more familiar with Java or Bedrock editions of Minecraft. These differences include:

  • The game is basically two-dimensional; that is, while one can build upward and dig downward, a player cannot climb or descend unless a real-world structure is available for climbing and descending.
  • There is no daylight cycle. Buildplates and adventures always have the same lighting regardless of the real-world time of day. Some buildplates may be available with night illumination.
  • Inventory:
    • Inventory is effectively unlimited, both in inventory slots and the stack size of items or blocks.
    • There is no inventory crafting grid, and no way to repair damaged items by combining them.
    • There are no armor slots in the inventory.
    • Mobs can be collected, and achievements earned for collecting them. Occasionally a tappable drops a hostile mob that can be collected and placed on a buildplate.
    • Inventory is unaffected by death, as it is inaccessible during adventures. Only items in the hotbar and backpack (the items collected during an adventure), are lost.
  • Crafting:
    • Both crafting and smelting take time, sometimes several minutes (or even hours) depending on the item. Like smelting in regular Minecraft, the player can exit the crafting or smelting interface to do other things while the process completes.
    • Several items cannot be crafted at all, such as chests, crafting tables, armor, villager workstations, fishing rods, and anything related to enchantments or potions (anvils, enchanting tables, brewing stands, etc.).
  • Tools and melee weapons have infinite range. Ranged weapons can be crafted but are normally not needed.
  • Health and hunger are combined into one health gauge bar. Health is depleted by mob attacks, and restored by eating food.
  • Food cannot be cooked in survival mode (i.e. during an adventure), but must be cooked outside of an adventure. Food can be eaten during an adventure and outside of an adventure.
  • Iron ingots are available only by smelting iron ore, which is rare and never dropped by tappables. Iron ore can be obtained only via mining during an adventure, provided the adventure includes any iron at all, and rarely when killing zombies, similar to Vanilla Minecraft.
  • There is no way to craft or wear armor in the game. A player must use tactics rather than armor for protection. A player can obtain different clothing items but these offer no armor protection.
  • Chests cannot be found as items, crafted, or stored in the player's inventory. They exist only as tappables.
  • Ladders are available for construction but cannot be climbed.
  • Obsidian does not exist and cannot be created. Lava flowing into water forms cobblestone, but lava is unaffected by water flowing onto it.

Other differences:

  • Mini boosts are figurines that are tapped to the device's NFC reader giving temporary boosts to stats in-game, such as better defense or attack strength. Only five can be used at a time and the same boost.
  • Adventure crystals were added for people isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adventure crystals allow a player to experience a small, medium, large or huge adventure without having to go outside, provided the adventure has enough open area. Adventure crystals are a permanent feature and are not going to be removed.[16]

Microtransactions

The game has been confirmed to have full microtransactions. The in game currency is rubies, which is not to be confused with Minecoins.[9]

Rubies can be used to:[17]

Minecoins are also used as a secondary currency in Minecraft Earth, for purchasing skins and clothing.

In 0.33.0, the final update to Minecraft Earth, all microtransactions have been removed as the game is shutting down in June 30, 2021.[8]

Development

During Microsoft Build 2015, Microsoft's HoloLens team unveiled an augmented reality version of Minecraft.[18] On May 6, 2019, Microsoft released a video on YouTube, where some features from Minecraft Earth were shown.[19] On May 8, 2019, a trailer was released, showing some AR mods in Minecraft Earth. On Minecraft's 10th anniversary (May 17, 2019), Minecraft Earth was officially announced.

Release

Closed beta

ps4 and ps5

The closed beta for Minecraft Earth was launched for AR-compatible devices running iOS and iPadOS in the cities listed below.

Closed beta launch date City
July 16, 2019

London, England[1]
Seattle, Washington, United States[1]

July 17, 2019

Stockholm, Sweden[20]
Tokyo, Japan[21]

July 18, 2019 Mexico City, Mexico[22]

Android

The closed beta for Minecraft Earth was launched for AR-compatible devices running Android in the same five cities the iOS closed beta was launched in.

Date Cities of the closed beta launch Notes
August 22, 2019 Pre-registration for the full game on the Google Play Store and registration for the closed beta on the Minecraft Earth site becomes available.
August 30, 2019 London, England
Seattle, Washington, United States
Stockholm, Sweden
Tokyo, Japan
Mexico City, Mexico
This closed beta was launched in the same cities as the closed beta for iOS already was launched in.[23]

Early access

The early access of Minecraft Earth was launched for everyone to download in the App Store and Google Play in the countries listed below.[24]

Early access launch date Version Country
October 17, 2019 0.5.0 Iceland, New Zealand[2]
October 29, 2019 0.6.0 Australia, Mexico, Sweden[25]
October 31, 2019 0.6.1 Canada, the Philippines, South Korea[26]
November 5, 2019 United Kingdom[27]
November 12, 2019 0.7.0 United States[28]
November 19, 2019 0.7.1 Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland[29]
November 21, 2019 India[30]
December 11, 2019 0.8.0 Most countries worldwide,[3] excluding Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Mainland China, Myanmar, North Korea, and Sudan.[citation needed]

Discontinuation

On January 5, 2021, Mojang Studios released the final update to Minecraft Earth, 0.33.0, and announced that the game's servers would be taken offline after June 30, 2021, citing the current global situation. The game would then no longer be available to play even for users who keep the app installed after being taken off the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.[8]

System requirements

According to the FAQ page:

iOS / iPadOS Android
Operating system iOS 12.0 and later or iPadOS (all versions) Android 8.0 "Oreo" and later
Compatible devices

iPhone 6S and later

iPod Touch (7th generation)

iPad (5th generation and later)
iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
iPad Mini (5th generation)
iPad Pro (all models)

ARCore supported devices except for these

Videos

See also

Trivia

  • This will be the third Minecraft spin-off game to be discontinued, the first was Minecraft: Story Mode and the second was Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two.
  • This is the second game to use Bedrock engine, after Bedrock Edition.
    • Because of that, unused textures for shulkers (unimplemented due to The End not in the game), cameras, agents, etc. can be found in texture files.
  • One of the game's songs, "Earth", is featured as a newly arranged track in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as part of Challenger Pack 7.

Gallery

Screenshots

References

  1. a b c "LONDON and SEATTLE, you're up! As the first two cities to go live in the Minecraft Earth closed beta, all eyes are on you and your life-sized minetacular (specblockular?) creations!"@minecraftearth on X, July 16, 2019
  2. a b "Minecraft Earth is here! Starting today, we will begin to roll out early access from country to country, starting with: 🇳🇿 New Zealand 🇮🇸 Iceland Not a citizen of either land? Stay tuned as we announce the next countries soon!"@minecraftearth on X, October 17, 2019
  3. a b "We've saved up all our wool to roll out the red carpet. Over the next 24 hours, Minecraft Earth early access will become available in countries all across the world! Navigate over to your app store of choice to start crafting in real life."@minecraftearth on X, December 11, 2019
  4. https://apps.apple.com/app/id1467316099
  5. a b c Google Play Store
  6. Google Play Store
  7. Google Play Store
  8. a b c d e "Minecraft Earth is coming to an end" – Minecraft.net, January 5, 2021
  9. a b c d e f g h i https://theverge.com/2019/5/17/18627341/minecraft-earth-ios-android-free-ar-game-features-pokemon-go
  10. https://earth.minecraft.net/sign-up
  11. a b c https://windowscentral.com/how-minecraft-earth-gameplay-works
  12. a b "Earth FAQ"Minecraft.net, May 17, 2019.
  13. https://playminecraftearth.com/minecraft-earth-q-and-a-nether-end-breeding-adventures-crafting
  14. Pyroclasm on Build Plate Height
    Minecraft Earth developer Pyroclasm provided this information when asked about it on the Minecraft Earth Discord server.
  15. This is the default 8x8 jungle buildplate rewarded for reaching level 15.
  16. "Hey, we absolutely will keep them! We added them because they're a great experience and we know players are really enjoying them!" - SevralTimez
  17. https://playminecraftearth.com/how-to-find-rubies-in-minecraft-earth-for-free
  18. "HoloLens games are too good for HoloLens" – The Verge, June 17, 2015.
  19. "What's Minecraft up to?"
  20. "Seattle and London are already live, and now it's time to welcome STOCKHOLM to the block party! Södermalm or Kungsholmen, which part of the city will prove to be the most creative?"@minecraearth on X, July 17, 2019
  21. "TOKYO! Home of the historical and the hyper-modern, cat cafés and muddy pigs. Wait, what? Yes! Tokyo is the fourth city to join the Minecraft Earth closed beta."@Minecraftearth on X, July 17, 2019
  22. "The Minecraft Earth closed beta is now live in MEXICO CITY! Five cities are up and running – we can't wait to see what you create!"@Minecraftearth on X, July 18, 2019
  23. "Minecraft Earth closed beta now on Android" – Minecraft.net, August 30, 2019
  24. "Minecraft Earth Early Access" – Minecraft.net, October 17, 2019
  25. "Early access is in full swing and rolling out around the world! We're working around the block to bring everyone into Minecraft Earth. Here are today's countries:
    🇦🇺 Australia
    🇲🇽 Mexico
    🇸🇪 Sweden
    More info on our early access plans 👇 ..."
    @MinecraftEarth on X, October 29, 2019
  26. "Queued up and ready to go! Today, three additional countries join the Minecraft Earth early access. Say hi to:
    🇰🇷 South Korea
    🇨🇦 Canada
    🇵🇭 Philippines"
    @minecraftearth on X, October 31, 2019
  27. "Tea, crumpets – and now also Minecraft Earth! Early access has arrived in the 🇬🇧 United Kingdom. Jolly good! Read more at: ↣ https://redsto.ne/minecraftearth ↢"@minecraftearth on X, November 5, 2019
  28. "Hey 🇺🇸 United States, we found your Minecraft Earth invite, it was behind the couch this whole time! Welcome to early access! More information at: ↣ http://redsto.ne/minecraftearth ↢"@minecraftearth on X, November 12, 2019
  29. "More countries need to join the early access? Well, alright then! Now LIVE in:
    🇯🇵Japan
    🇦🇹Austria
    🇧🇪Belgium
    🇩🇰Denmark
    🇫🇮Finland
    🇫🇷France
    🇩🇪Germany
    🇮🇪Ireland
    🇮🇹Italy
    🇱🇺Luxembourg
    🇳🇱Netherlands
    🇳🇴Norway
    🇵🇹Portugal
    🇪🇸Spain
    🇨🇭Switzerland
    Learn more: ↣ http://redsto.ne/minecraftearth ↢"
    @minecraftearth on X, November 19, 2019
  30. "Time to get to tappin', players of 🇮🇳India! Minecraft Earth early access has arrived and is going live across the country. Enjoy!
    ↣ http://redsto.ne/minecraftearth ↢"
    @minecraftearth on X, November 21, 2019

Minecraft Earth