Mojang's Minecraft will soon be coming to iOS and Android devices in the form of its all-new augmented reality game appropriately title, Minecraft Earth.
The release of Minecraft Earth - coined as a “Minecraft makeover" - will coincide with the popular franchise’s 10-year anniversary, arguably taking the game to new heights and, likely, impacting society in general, even more than it already has.
According to the announcement, the game will feature all of the content and mechanics that Minecraft fans have come to know and love, as well as plenty of new things to augment the reality surrounding them, including mobs, resource gathering, multiplayer collaboration (or destruction, for all of you trolls), as well as surviving the terrors that lurk in the shadows.
Not much else has been revealed for the game, other than the official reveal trailer below:
Minecraft Earth is scheduled to be released sometime this summer, and will be free-to-play. It has not been revealed as to how in-game transactions might work, but the game’s FAQ page is quick to point out that the game will not utilize loot boxes.
It really was inevitable, wasn’t it? We’ve come a long way from the simpler, early days of augmented reality, such as 2012’s Zombies, Run!, and are well on our way towards creating a world in which augmented reality is integrated into our daily routines, even more than it already is (*cough* Pokemon GO *cough*).
As a game, Minecraft Earth looks like a blast. Who wouldn’t want to visualize the castle of their dreams and walk around the halls of the “real life” version? On the other hand, there could potentially be some long-term societal impacts from spending so much time in an augmented state, even on a mobile device; maybe not as a direct result of Minecraft Earth, but from the even more immersive augmented reality experiences that are undoubtedly eventually still to come. For now though, we’ll just enjoy building forts in our backyards without the threat of breaking a sweat.
Interested in getting in on the ground floor? Players can sign up now for the Minecraft Earth limited beta using their Microsoft or Xbox Live account.