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Minecraft Earth will shut down in June

Throughout 2019, Microsoft experimented with building a real world, augmented reality Minecraft game designed in the same vein as Pokémon GO. Called Minecraft Earth, they finally opened it up to everyone in November of 2019. In just a few months, it’ll shut down and all player data will be deleted. So what happened? Writes the […]

Throughout 2019, Microsoft experimented with building a real world, augmented reality Minecraft game designed in the same vein as Pokémon GO. Called Minecraft Earth, they finally opened it up to everyone in November of 2019.

In just a few months, it’ll shut down and all player data will be deleted.

So what happened? Writes the Minecraft Earth team:

Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play – two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to re-allocate our resources to other areas that provide value to the Minecraft community and to end support for Minecraft Earth in June 2021.

In other words: this game just isn’t going to work in a pandemic. Pokémon GO might be doing just fine thanks to a strong foundation of super dedicated players and a steady stream of curious newcomers, but it’d be pretty damned hard to go from zero to sixty with a real world game when everyone is supposed to be staying at home.

What happens next:

  • The team is releasing one final patch that removes all in-app purchases and makes all in-game mechanics easier/faster
  • On June 30th, the game shuts down. Even if you’ve got it installed already, it’ll stop working.
  • On July 1st, they’re deleting all player data.
  • Anyone who has spent any money in Minecraft Earth is getting a free copy of Minecraft Bedrock version, and players who have unused Minecraft Earth rubies will get an unspecified amount of Minecoins that’ll work in Minecraft-proper’s marketplace

It’s a disappointing end to what was really a pretty cool concept — but if they’re announcing its shutdown barely a year after launch, the data probably suggest there’s not much else they can do.

This will be our last update, so we made it a good one! Please enjoy and thank you for being a part of the community!

🏆 Introducing the Super Season
🎩 New Character Creator items
⏱ Reduced time for crafting & smelting
🐑🐄🐖🐇🐓 So many new mobs

https://t.co/OBpzUcz2Ckpic.twitter.com/Dnl9R9HQLP

— Minecraft Earth (@minecraftearth) January 5, 2021

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