Minecraft Key Art
Image: Mojang

Update [Tue 21st Mar, 2023 03:30 GMT]:

An update has officially arrived for Minecraft Bedrock Edition - resolving several issues including the one that was causing the game to get stuck at 66% when loading at launch.

"Fixed an issue that could cause the game to get stuck at 66% when loading at launch (MCPE-168284)"

You can see the patch notes in full on the Minecraft.net feedback page.


Original article [Thu 16th Mar, 2023 11:35 GMT]:

Players are reporting issues with the Switch version of Minecraft following this week's version 1.19.70 update.

The problem was brought to our attention by a reader via email, and over on the Minecraft subreddit, some players, after updating their game, are not able to load Minecraft on the Switch. The initial loading screen gets stuck at 66% and stays there indefinitely while the loading wheel just keeps spinning.

A ticket has been raised on Mojang's website with a handful of pictures from those who've been met with the 66% loading screen.

We've looked into this and, while we could initially get on after updating and loading up the game, once we rebooted and reattempted to log on, we were stuck on the same loading screen.

Minecraft loading screen
Image: Nintendo Life

Some users have reported that closing the game, putting the Switch in airplane mode, restarting the console, and booting up Minecraft while still in airplane mode has allowed them to get back into the game. We've also tested this method out, and we were able to get on by following these instructions. However, some players have tried this method and are still not able to play.

There's a chance this issue isn't just related to the Switch version of the game, either. A few Xbox users have also said that they can't play Minecraft after updating it to the latest patch.

Mojang has yet to comment on the issue, but with the issue raised on the Minecraft website, we're sure a fix will be coming soon. We'll update this article as soon as it's fixed.