Minecraft Earth live gameplay shown during Apple keynote

Microsoft demonstrated the first live gameplay of Minecraft Earth during Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday.

The free-to-play mobile game, which will enter closed beta on both iOS and Android this summer, was shown during a co-operative building session in augmented reality.

As well as the ability to build in AR, Minecraft Earth will feature a location-based game in which players can gather resources and discover mobs as they travel the real world.

Over time, players will be able to breed unique mob variants and use them to populate their builds, Microsoft said.

The AR title will bring the Minecraft franchise closer to the realm of mobile hit Pokémon Go, which has been downloaded more than 500 million times, according to its creator.

Minecraft Earth coincides with the seminal building game’s tenth anniversary. Microsoft recently claimed that Minecraft sales have topped 176 million.

Apple’s WWDC keynote also confirmed that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One controller support will be added to Apple TV via its tvOS 13 update, releasing this autumn.