Minecraft Earth, the free-to-play mobile game that blends state-of-the-art AR technology with a new version of Minecraft built on the Bedrock engine is now available for players on iOS and Android in Singapore.
In Minecraft Earth, you go out in the real world to find clusters of blocks, chests or mobs called tappables. As you travel, you will also discover adventures, which are slices of Minecraft worlds that you play in life-sized AR.
You will fight mobs, collect resources and experience points to progress, delve into other players’ creations, and collaborate with friends to create masterpieces together!
Released in Early Access first, more countries will be added each week until it’s worldwide by the end of the year. This will allow fans to play, test and provide feedback on the game to help shape the experience.
Early Access brings new features that players in the closed beta have yet to play, including:
- Adventures – small slices of procedurally generated, limited-time Minecraft worlds that you play in augmented reality in life size and are just one of the experiences that are optimized for social multiplayer.
- New mob variants, smelting and crafting – like the *adorable* Muddy Pig, Moobloom, Jumbo Rabbit and Cluckshroom, we’ll have new friendly and hostile mobs for you to meet. Through smelting, you’ll be able to work ores into ingots and with crafting you’ll get to create items you need (if you have the right materials of course), instead of having to collect the items outright.
Adventures are made possible by two critical Microsoft technologies. First, Azure PlayFab’s dedicated servers enable “Minecraft Earth’s” multiplayer gameplay by hosting both buildplates and adventures for you. Second, Azure Spatial Anchors (ASA) implement shared experiences and persistence of augmented reality content.
So, when you set off to your local park and find an abandoned mine with treasures, Minecraft Earth is using the ASA service to help guide different players to the same adventure.