Microsoft seemingly began testing raytracing in Minecraft earlier this week, but it was actually a mistake. The feature has now been pulled.
The feature appeared in a preview update on Xbox consoles, but it was quickly removed after news spread about its inclusion. The update included a raytracing preview for both Xbox Series X and Series S consoles but, according to Microsoft, it should never have appeared in the first place.
“The previous Minecraft Preview build available to Xbox Insiders inadvertently included prototype code for raytracing support on Xbox consoles,” the company confirmed. “This early prototype code has been removed from Preview and doesn’t signal near future plans to bring raytracing support to consoles.”
The previous Minecraft Preview build available to Xbox Insiders inadvertently included prototype code for raytracing support on Xbox consoles. This early prototype code has been removed from Preview and doesn’t signal near future plans to bring raytracing support to consoles.
— Minecraft (@Minecraft) March 31, 2022
That’s right – just because they’re testing it, doesn’t mean Minecraft will be getting raytracing on Xbox consoles anytime soon – even though Microsoft teased raytracing support two years ago.
Although Microsoft has now nixed the update and explained that it won’t be coming to your Xbox consoles anytime soon, it does mean that Microsoft is clearly working on the feature. Essentially, it could make its way to Xbox consoles… eventually.
Raytracing is currently only available in Minecraft when playing on Windows and is boosted by Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling process to improve frame rates. A comparison of Minecraft with raytracing switched on and off shows just how impressive this feature could be:
Elsewhere, a long-lost Minecraft update was recently found by Minecraft historians. The Secret Saturday update (Alpha 1.1.1) appeared for only 3 hours back in 2010.
Considering the now-elusive nature of the recent raytracing update, it begs the question of whether Xbox users will one day preserve this now-defunct Minecraft version. Or has auto-update relegated it to the mists of time?
Want to read more about Minecraft? Check out our beginner’s guide for all the basics as well as our hints and tips for survival.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.