

The company stayed mum about how it plans to make money off its free game, though it promised that any purchasing schemes will be "player friendly."įor now Microsoft is focused on its trial "beta" period this summer. Microsoft said Minecraft Earth is meant to be different from its sibling, and the company does have plans to add to the new game over time. The game's even been brought to the classroom, to help kids learn coding, for example.

Part of Minecraft's appeal has been the mountains of things you can do, which has encouraged its often-young players to explore engineering, architecture and math. Repeating the success of one of the world's most popular games is an immense challenge. Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Stickiness The company even made prototypes for Microsoft's HoloLens.

Part Minecraft's success is you can play it on PCs, mobile devices, consoles and VR headsets. And every so often, the game will encourage them to go on an "adventure," where they can dig for rare building materials, fight zombies or breed pigs. One of the key things players do in Minecraft Earth is seeking out "tapables," an equivalent of its predecessor's "blocks," that they collect as they're walking around in the real world. Microsoft said this is made possible by its new " spatial anchors" technology that maps the real world for its HoloLens 2 headsets. Once you're done, you can put those building plates anywhere in the real world, and you can invite friends to help you keep building or exploring what you've made. In Minecraft Earth, people build massive creations on something called a "build plate," or a digital plot of land.
MINECRAFT EARTH MINECRAFT AR THEVERGE CODE
He said the inspiration bled all the way down to the game's code name, Genoa, which is the Italian port city where Christopher Columbus was born and where the explorer Marco Polo began writing manuscripts of his travels while in prison. McHugh said his team spent the past 18 months developing Minecraft Earth to feel familiar to existing players, but offer new experiences as well. Microsoft is hoping to blend the game world of Minecraft with the real world in a way similar to what Pokemon Go did.
