Mojang started testing ray tracing on the Xbox Series X and Series S version of Minecraft this week, but it turns out that this was never official. In a tweet, the folks at Minecraft admitted that this was all just a mistake, and ray tracing has now been removed from the Xbox console version of the game that Xbox Insiders came across (via The Verge.)
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
The news is upsetting for a lot of people, as despite this week’s “preview” and a tease that now dates back two years, it is looking like Mojang isn’t planning to support ray tracing on Xbox versions of Minecraft any time soon. Instead, it was just a prototype code, that’s since been pulled.
Originally trying out the ray tracing on Minecraft on Xbox consoles was a pretty complicated process. It required taking part in a multiplayer game with a device that comes with the additional resource packs that had already enabled ray tracing. That said, we do hope that Minecraft eventually does get ray tracing on Xbox, and believe that Minecraft’s vague tweet does hint that it could still be a possbility.
