Minecraft Earth: block building game moves into the real world

Microsoft has launched an augmented reality version of the bestselling game, which follows Poki(C)mon Go on to the streets

Since its beta launch in 2009, the blocky, world-building adventure game Minecraft has been released on more than 20 different platforms, from PC to consoles to mobile phones, selling 176m copies. Now it's heading somewhere new: the real world.

News of a Minecraft AR (augmented reality) app leaked a few weeks ago, but now Microsoft has officially announced Minecraft Earth. It is being developed at the company's Redmond campus, using an array of its mobile, GPS and tracking technologies.