PRESS RELEASE
Microsoft has announced that Minecraft Earth Early Access is available in New Zealand from today, on both iOS and Android.
Minecraft Earth is a free-to-play mobile game that blends state-of-the-art AR technology with a new version of Minecraft built on the Bedrock engine. Early Access will bring an array of features including limited-time Minecraft worlds that you play in augmented reality in life size called Adventures, as well as new mob variants, smelting and crafting.
Full details from Minecraft.net can be found below.
What happened?
The day is finally here… Minecraft Earth Early Access is available in New Zealand NOW!
The goal is to make Minecraft Earth better over time, so the game is releasing in Early Access first, adding more countries each week until it’s worldwide by the end of the year. This will allow people to play, test and provide feedback on the game to help the developers shape the experience into how they want it to be. Early Access is just the beginning as the team explores new ideas to add to 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 optimised 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.