Minecraft Earth is a free-to-play augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed by Mojang Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios for Android, iOS and iPadOS. The game is about building structures and collecting materials by traveling to real-life locations.
Minecraft Earth is not a port of an existing game. It is an adaptation of both Bedrock Edition.[6] The game itself is built on the Bedrock engine. It features many unique gameplay aspects and interactions similar to the main game.[6]
The game uses Azure's new Azure Spatial Anchors along with Open Maps technology to help with the experience. This helps map out where certain objects should be along with pinning players' builds.[6][8]
It has been announced that the Nether and the End are planned for Minecraft Earth in a future update.[9]
In Minecraft Earth, players can build structures with other players and "place them in the real world at life-size".[10]
In the map view, players can see their character, which can be changed with the skins owned from the marketplace. 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, chests, and mobs.
Adventures also appear on the map but can also be spawned in 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.
Buildplates are worlds that players can use to build on. They can be shared, and worked on by invited individuals.[6][8]
Buildplates can vary in size, reaching up to 200 feet (60 meters).[6] Using the shop, players can upgrade the size of their plot, or buy a new plot. Plots can also be earned via a leveling system.
Buildplates can be 8×8, 16×16 or 32×32 blocks in size, and their build height limit is 221 blocks.[11] From ground level, a buildplate also extends 3 blocks downward. Bedrock appears after digging down 3 blocks.
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.[6][8]
Once a build is complete, if the player wants to have a persistent hologram of their world pinned somewhere, it would need to be reviewed before its pinned. Mojang Studios claims to have a 24/7 moderation team, reviewing and looking at reports.[6]
People who are not invited can interact with the pinned world locally; once they leave said world everything is reset.[8] Only invited individuals can change the real world and take resources from it, non invited players cannot collect resources.[8]
Buildplates can be seen through the world as pinned worlds, and can be opened to explore and interact with.[8] To get their own, players must level up or purchase them through the store.
Buildplates can also be shared via a link, so players don't need to be near the pin to see creations.[6] The links shared can be temporary or never expiring.[6]
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.
Gameplay differences from regular Minecraft
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 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.
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.[12]
Microtransactions
The game has been confirmed to have full microtransactions.
The in game currency is rubies, which is not to be confused with Minecoins.[6]
Minecoins are also used as a secondary currency in Minecraft Earth, for purchasing skins and clothing.
Development
During Microsoft Build 2015, Microsoft's HoloLens team unveiled an augmented reality version of Minecraft.[14] On May 6, 2019, Microsoft released a video on YouTube, where some features from Minecraft Earth were shown.[15] On May 8, 2019, a trailer was released, showing some AR mods in Minecraft Earth. On Minecraft's 10th anniversary (May 17), Minecraft Earth was officially announced.
Release
Closed beta
iOS and iPadOS
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]
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 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.[19]
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.[20]
