Microsoft Corp. showed a video hinting that its popular Minecraft video game will soon add augmented-reality features, saying more information will come on May 17.
The clip, screened at the software maker’s Build developer conference Monday in Seattle, showed a user leaving a mobile phone on a bench and another person picking it up and using it to view a 3-D Minecraft hologram. May 17 is the 10th anniversary of the original release of Minecraft, a cult-favorite game that lets players build virtual worlds. The company showed the video to close Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella’s keynote speech.
Mobile augmented-reality games, which overlay digital elements on real-world scenes using a phone’s camera, surged to popularity following the 2016 debut of Niantic Inc.’s Pokemon Go.
Visitors play the Minecraft computer came, produced by Mojang AB, on Microsoft Corp. Xbox One games consoles during the EGX gaming conference at Earls Court in London, U.K., on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. Sony Corp. will begin selling its PlayStation TV set-top box in the U.S. and Europe next month with almost 700 games available, including select Angry Birds, Borderlands, Lego and FIFA soccer titles. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg