Microsoft Teased An Upcoming AR Minecraft Game For Your Phone

It looks like Microsoft is trying to take a page out of Nintendo’s playbook in bringing its most successful title to a brand-new platform.

I’m talking, of course, about Pokémon Go, and how Nintendo successfully translated the pocket monster craze into augmented reality technology (AR) which is becoming prevalent on mobile phones. The concept is pretty simple: catch Pokémon in real life. That’s it. And that concept alone was one of the most lucrative during its peak, topping almost 113 million players worldwide, as well as earning $2.2 billion in in-game gifts.

Of course, Microsoft, although somewhat late to the party, is now teasing an augmented reality game of their own. The tech and software giant released a video at the end of their Build 2019 keynote today, in which we are shown this:

Minecraft, in full augmented reality. What a time to be alive. The video starts out with Minecraft’s creative director Saxs Persson leaving his mobile phone on a bench, whereupon a kid passing by picks it up, only to see the game running in augmented reality.

There was no more information made available for the augmented reality Minecraft, although we can assume that this an entirely new title. What is certain is the hype this will generate, as there are still quite a large number of people in the world playing Minecraft. Believe it or not, that number is still bigger than Epic Games’ Fortnite; by Microsoft’s latest tabulation, Minecraft had 91 million monthly players worldwide. Sure, battle royal is still bigger as a genre, but then again what genre does Minecraft not encompass?

Despite there not being any more information, Microsoft has stated that more will be revealed on May 17, which is the 10-year anniversary of Minecraft. Microsoft is expected to hold a large celebration for this momentous event, although sadly, Minecraft’s creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, won’t be in attendance, probably due to his previous controversial statements.

This AR game isn’t alone in new titles for Minecraft, though. Microsoft is also reportedly working on a dungeon crawler called Minecraft Dungeons, which will play more linearly than the original title. While this one doesn’t have a release date either, it’s safe to say we will probably hear more on May 17.