Minecraft Earth AR Mobile Game Shutting Down on June 30: All You Need to Know

Minecraft Earth AR mobile game, launched by Microsoft two years ago, is shutting down. The developers say that the current global situation has prevented free movement and collaborative play – two things that are essential for playing Minecraft Earth. As a result of this pandemic, Microsoft has taken the tough decision to end support for Minecraft Earth and re-allocate resources to ‘other resources that provide value to the Minecraft community. The company also released its last update for Minecraft Earth that brings along reduction in-app costs for buying rubies and other perks.

Microsoft took to the Minecraft blog to announce the end of support for Minecraft Earth. The company says that it will discontinue all content and service support for the game on June 30. This means users will not be able to download or play Minecraft Earth after that date. The very next day, on July 1, Microsoft will delete the Minecraft Earth player data unrelated to Character Creator and Minecoin entitlements.

As for all ace players with ruby balances, they will be given Minecoins to purchase from the Minecraft Marketplace. The game makers explain in their blog, “All players with paid ruby balances will be granted Minecoins, that you can use on the Minecraft Marketplace to purchase skin and texture packs, maps, and even minigames. Plus, if you've ever made a purchase in Minecraft Earth, you will receive a free copy of Minecraft (the Bedrock version) so you can get a fresh start while grabbing some goodies from the Marketplace!”

Minecraft Earth was announced in May 2019, and Indian users were first given access in November the same year. As for the new update, and the last one that has released alongside, removes real-money transactions, reduces ruby costs, and also reduces time requirements for crafting and smelting. The update replaces unused crafting and smelting boosts with radius boosts of the same level and looks to grant a set of Character Creator items to players who sign in between January 5 and June 30.

What will be the most exciting tech launch of 2021? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.