Microsoft has something new planned for Minecraft, and it looks like an augmented reality app for mobile phones. In a teaser video posted to the Microsoft Twitter and YouTube accounts, a woman accidentally swaps phones with a man sitting on a bench. She picks up the phone to discover a new Minecraft game, in which one of the game’s polygonal pigs is wallowing in the mud, overlaid on a real-world surface. The teaser gets a bit fantastical when a pair of Minecraft villagers appear nearby, hinting that the game world will inhabit our own reality. Microsoft promises more information about its mysterious Minecraft project on May 17. Today’s teaser coincides with the Microsoft Build conference for developers, which runs May 6-8. Microsoft has shown demos of Minecraft working with augmented and mixed reality before — the game is also supported on VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and Gear VR — but this teaser implies something a little different. It’s possible that Microsoft may take a page from Niantic, the developer of Ingress, Pokémon Go, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, to bring Minecraft gameplay to mobile AR gaming.<doc-sep>Microsoft has started to tease what appears to be a new Minecraft game for mobile devices. The software giant used a video at the end of the company’s Build 2019 keynote today to show Minecraft in augmented reality, running on a phone. In the video, Minecraft creative director Saxs Persson leaves his phone on a bench outside the Washington State Convention Center where Microsoft’s Build developer conference is being held. A passerby picks it up and is able to see Minecraft running in AR, suggesting that Microsoft is preparing a new game. It’s not clear what this Minecraft game will be, but it could be a killer app for augmented reality. We’ve not seen many apps or games since Pokémon Go that have demonstrated the potential for augmented reality, and Pokémon Go has been downloaded more than 500 million times. Microsoft isn’t commenting further about any plans for Minecraft AR. The teaser also notes that more information will be coming on May 17th, the 10-year anniversary of Minecraft. Microsoft has previously shown Minecraft running on the HoloLens headset, but that was simply a tech demo rather than a new game. Microsoft’s teaser feels like something bigger, especially as it’s clearly tied to 10 years of Minecraft. We should learn a lot more on May 17th.<doc-sep>While Microsoft spent most of the day focusing on enterprise solutions, including a way to protect elections from malicious software, it ended the Build 2019 keynote with a surprise announcement for a new augmented reality (AR) Minecraft experience coming to smartphones. The still-unnamed app was shown off through a teaser trailer displayed at the end of the keynote, alongside a date – May 17 – which Microsoft says will be the time that it will reveal more information. While the teaser is more a proof-of-concept than an actual product demonstration, it gives us a slight idea of what’s to come: an AR-based Minecraft game that looks, in some ways, like Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The teaser trailer shown at the end of the keynote showed someone accidentally switching phones with Minecraft Creative Director Saxs Persson before noticing an AR version of the game’s iconic pink pig and two of the game’s villager characters who shake their head in disapproval. Along the bottom part of the screen we can see the item bar that has been apart of the game's UI since the very beginning, which could point to a building aspect. Though, we'll have to wait until the game's formal announcement in a few weeks to confirm our suspicions. Congrats on 10 years, Minecraft Admittedly, the timing of the game’s unveiling on May 17 couldn’t be more impeccable: it’s exactly 10 years to the day that the game first launched. The 10-year anniversary is a good time as any to show off what's next for one of the world's most popular video games, especially as it sounds like the previous AR demo – the one shown off alongside Microsoft HoloLens – was merely a product demonstration. That said, considering everybody owns a smartphone and very few of us own a HoloLens, this is probably the better direction for the game.<doc-sep>
Why it matters: Microsoft owns one of the hottest IPs in gaming and based on a recent teaser, the company is looking to further maximize its investment with a mobile-based augmented reality version. Pokémon Go proved consumers' appetite for AR gaming and Microsoft could be poised to take the craze to a new level. Microsoft at the conclusion of its Build 2019 keynote on Monday shared a teaser video for what appears to be an augmented reality version of Minecraft. In the teaser, Minecraft Creative Director Saxs Persson accidentally leaves his phone on a bench outside the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle where the Build conference is taking place. When his bench mate reaches for her phone, she finds Persson’s device instead and discovers the Minecraft AR app running. We’re shown a brief glimpse of the app in action but will have to wait until next week to learn more. Microsoft is hosting a 10th anniversary bash for Minecraft on May 17 to celebrate the “past, present and exciting future of the decade-old franchise.” It’s safe to assume that this new app could very well be the centerpiece of Microsoft’s event. If there’s any question as to whether or not a Minecraft AR game could be a hit, one only needs to look back a few years to the staggering success of Pokémon Go. Launched in the summer of 2016, the augmented reality game from Niantic became a cultural phenomenon that is still going strong. As of this past December, the game had generated more than $3 billion in revenue.