Get Minecraft and Minecraft Realms for free with the latest Chromebook Perk

Chromebooks have traditionally been dubbed “a web browser in a box” by naysayers and even early adopters who didn’t stick around, but they’ve rapidly evolved into dynamic devices for both creativity and gaming. To shine a light on their increased breadth of functionality over the years, Google has offered what are called “Chromebook Perks”. These Perks serve as incentives, help to enrich the user experience and give us all more ideas on how to best use our laptops.

Now, you can claim the newly re-released Minecraft for Chromebooks app entirely for free. The world’s most popular game (literally), usually priced at $19.99 USD on the Play Store, is now available at no cost to you for a limited time. The perk actually offers you both the Android version for your phone and a Chromebook-specific version for larger screens.

Claiming this perk is straightforward, but there’s a catch; it must be done from a Chromebook, not a Windows desktop. Obviously, the idea is that Google wants to promote Chromebooks, so being forced to claim it from such a device makes complete sense. Simply visit Perks page or the Explore app on ChromeOS before the end of September to get your reward.

What I like most about Minecraft lately is the 1.20 Trails and Tales update. It has a slew of new features such as archaeology, armor trims, the Sniffer and more. Google is also offering a second perk – a three-month subscription to Minecraft Realms, absolutely free (also until September 30, 2023). Realms provides you with a personal server that allows you and your friends to play together in a persistent online world. Unlike offline single player gameplay, you can continue building and interacting with others without having to wipe your progress. This service is typically priced at $7.99 USD per month, so three months of access represents around $24 of value.

Minecraft for Chromebooks and a Realms subscription is a combo that lets you enjoy Mojang’s game to the fullest, but if you don’t intend to keep Realms or are as forgetful as I am, remember to mark your calendar with an event for a few days prior to the charge (which is automatic thereafter if you don’t cancel) so you don’t get blindsided.

So, are you going to claim these Perks, or did you already buy Minecraft for your Chromebook back when we reported on it initially? Let me know in the comments section if you’re going to tie into Realms or if you’d rather just play in isolation these days.