Minecraft Earth will come to an end this June

Minecraft Earth will come to an end this June
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

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Mojang Studios has announced that it will be shuttering mobile AR title Minecraft Earth little more than a year and a half following the game's reveal back in May of 2019.

In a statement posted to the Minecraft website, the developer understandably put the blame on the situation caused by the ongoing global pandemic, saying "Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play – two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation." They continued; "As a result, we have made the difficult decision to re-allocate our resources to other areas that provide value to the Minecraft community and to end support for Minecraft Earth in June 2021."

The app will get one final update this week, which will remove real money transactions, reduce ruby costs and include all completed unreleased content that was in the works at the time of the announcement, as well as reducing time requirements and granting a set of free Character Creator items to all players who sign in between now and the game's closure on June 30.

From that date, players will be unable to download or play the game anymore, and player data not related to Character Creator and Minecoin entitlements will be deleted. All players with current Ruby balances will find their purchases converted to Minecoins, which can be used in the regular (Bedrock) version of Minecraft Marketplace to purchase items. In addition, all players who have ever made a purchase in Minecraft Earth will be granted a free copy of Minecraft (Bedrock Edition) as a way of saying thanks.

You can check out a full FAQ related to Minecraft Earth's shutdown on the official Minecraft website.