What was Minecraft Earth? Looking back at the discontinued game's history

Minecraft Earth is the most interesting Minecraft spin-off. This mobile AR game was very different, even from the other spin-offs, Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends, which were traditional console games. Minecraft Earth never saw a full release and was only in early access for a short time.

This might lead to the valid question of what this game was and why it died so quickly. The answers to these questions can be found below.

---

What was Minecraft Earth?

Unlike other spinoffs, Minecraft Earth was meant to be a mobile game played through an augmented reality experience similar to the wildly popular Pokemon Go.

Players could walk around the real world and experience chunks that they could interact with. Each chunk would have randomly generated terrain, mobs, and items that players could collect and mine before moving on. There were even quests in the game called adventures that players could complete for rewards.

This is very different from the survival-oriented gameplay found in regular Minecraft, as well as the combat systems found in Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends.

There was a premium store with ruby currency, similar to Bedrock's Minecraft Marketplace and Minecoins. These rubies could be used to buy boosts, such as not dropping items on the next player's death or healing more from eating.

---

The History of Minecraft Earth

Closed Beta (Release through 0.4.2)

Just finished building my Minecraft Moobloom! byu/Yoyo_FunFair inMinecraft

Minecraft Earth's closed beta ran from July to October 2019. The initial beta version added many features and mobs that this game version would become known for, including the flower-covered moobloom and the mushroom-saddled cluckshroom.

Beta update 0.2.0 was a major release and added zombies, creepers, skeletons, and spiders for players to contend with, along with many of the game's blocks and items. This version also added challenges that players could complete for rewards.

Updates 0.3.0 and 0.4.0 followed similar patterns, focusing on adding items, blocks, and mobs from base Minecraft to the game, such as diamonds, tools, and weapons. Update 0.4.0 saw two additional updates, which were minor and focused on bug fixing.

---

Open Beta (0.5.0 through 0.33.0)

Rainbow items were exclusive to Minecraft Earth (Image via Mojang)

The first major open beta release was update 0.5.0., though it was only public in New Zealand and Iceland. It first hit app stores on October 17, 2019. This update fixed several bugs found in the game's closed beta, including issues relating to skins being reset and players being unable to break minecarts.

The next update to note is update 0.7.0, the first to be released in the US, one of Mojang's largest markets. Many of Minecraft's largest creators, including much of Hermitcraft, are from the US, so it should be no surprise that a large percentage of the playerbase is also there.

The next major updates are worth mentioning together, as they fleshed out the game's quest system, known as adventures. The first of these updates was 0.12.0, which added persistent health for adventures that players would need to keep track of and regain through food. The second is 0.14.0, which introduced adventure chests as rewards for completing adventures.

Then, the game saw mostly minor bug fixes and slow content additions until release 0.21.0, which came with a ton of new, unique content.

The most interesting of these additions is rainbow wool, which could be obtained by shearing rainbow sheep, also added in this update. Rainbow beds and carpet were also added, making this a fully-fledged new wool color that deserves to be in the base game and would make for a great Minecraft wool farm candidate.

---

The Final Version

The last mob variants added to Minecraft Earth (Image via Mojang)

The last update in the open beta was update 0.33.0, released in January 2021. This update added nine new mob variants, revamped crafting and smelting, and removed all real-money microtransactions.

The removal of microtransactions was an interesting choice, though respectable. This change, combined with the lowering of ruby prices in the game's premium market, allowed players to experience as much content as possible before the servers were shut down.

The mob variants added were:

• Cream Cows
• Dairy Cows
• Freckled Rabbits
• Fuzzy Sheep
• Gold Crested Chickens
• Long Nose Sheep
• Mottled Pigs
• Sooty Pigs
• Umbra Cows

---

Discontinuation

Minecraft Earth was unfortunately discontinued. The major reason for its demise is the strict quarantine much of the world was in then. The game's development cycle was from July 2019 to January 2021, putting it smack in the middle of the worst of COVID-19. Mojang has stated that quarantine killed the spirit of cooperation and exploration the game was trying to foster.

A secondary, but much more minor, contributing factor to Minecraft Earth's lack of popularity is that it was harder to make content around. Since much of Minecraft's popularity comes from the amazing YouTubers making content, AR games being harder to film was a huge drawback.