i have the same problem what is happening

same on mint 21

Same here, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

someone managed to solve the problem ? I have this problem in Windows 10 pro

i'm having the same issue on linux mint

Any update guys? what is microsoft doing with our game?

For me, every single minecraft version says this. I even reinstalled the entire game and launcher but it doesn't work.

yeah i got this problem to (i'm on linux btw) but it's only aplying to 1.8.9 or lower versions. I checked with my freind  wich is on window and his minecraft works perfecly. And i olso reinstalled minecraft and it did nothing.

guys update minecraft launcher looks like the problem has been solved

same issue but on opensuse tumbleweed. but when i booted up my pc (restarted it after updating my sys) it just worked somehow. so nildson might have found the solution (guy below me) so read his comment. 

Yep this is working  -seems like they rolled it back to 2.3.462 so hopefully when the next update comes it is all good

And the bug is back with version 2.3.508....

Can't launch 1.8.9

Can also confirm - game is not launching. 😐

it looks like we're back on that bug

It's back.

Also not working for me with ubuntu

Bug is back for me too (Ubuntu 22.10)

We're tracking this bug and are working on a fix; it's a different root cause than before, so we're working to figure it out and have a fix as soon as possible. More as we get more info. 

Same on Linux Mint 20.3 with launcher v2.3.508-1.1.32

The launcher also sometimes quickly changes back and forth from play offline to play, with the problem connecting to servers error at the bottom.

Lunar still works for 1.8.9 though.

Here's some extra info:

I've also attached the launcher_log.txt

same on opensuse tumbleweed 

Its an internal Server Error at Mojang, they have to fix it im waiting for them to do it i hope it doesn't take long

Can confirm, unable to load any version's of 1.8.X on Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS

Remarkably, I was still able to play the legacy version prior me upgrading my machine from Ubuntu 20.04. Upon upgrading to the new LTE Release 22.4 this one came up. I was able to open 1.19 but not this legacy version for now. 

Same here on 1.6.4 started couple of days ago

Same for me, trying to run 1.8.9 on Debian 11.

1.19 works fine

Same here, 1.8.9 on manjaro 22.0

Is there any workaround for this? I can't launch (most) older versions of the game using the Flatpak version on Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS.

Oh cmon. What is taking so long to fix that? If this issue would also be on Windows you guys would have probably fixed it within the next day. But its just on linux so we don't care, we won't put that many resources into that because there are less linux users anyways and why can't they just shut up and switch to windows. And no please don't say that that's not true, cmon guys, minecraft is owned by microsoft.

I've been having the same issues, but on Debian 11 (Bullseye) loaded through the Linux (Beta) feature of Chrome OS (I've loaded the game before without issue, this is literally the exact same issue described here.) I've tried a multitude of things such as: Reinstalling the Launcher, Using an alternative launcher (MultiMC), and reinstalling the Linux feature, as well as trying different DNS servers, and using proxies (VPNs) I've had no luck, and the error message is just the very non-descriptive "Sorry, unable to start Minecraft." Error. Thought I'd include my issues with it to help pinpoint the issue in case that might be needed.

Fingers crossed a fix should be out on the Launcher's Beta channel early Friday (tomorrow).

Now I am getting "Game has failed to Launch" , "Java runtime is incompatible"
 (see screenshot)

if I try to run 1.8.9. I am using the latest build 1.8.0_352-b08

This is when using the latest minecraft launcher beta 2.3.520

Do you guys need linux testers?

To add to my last comment with help from icny's comment  - if i switch to bundled jre it works - so the only problem is that it does not respect/recognise a custom java runtime path. From the launcher_log.txt:

[Info: 2022-12-02 18:47:16.258226103: MinecraftJavaRunningContext.cpp(249)] Java Runtime Version : 1.8.0_352

[Info: 2022-12-02 18:47:16.258237775: MinecraftJavaRunningContext.cpp(250)] Java Runtime Version Required : 8
[Error: 2022-12-02 18:47:16.258246852: MinecraftJavaRunningContext.cpp(258)] Java Runtime mismatch! Please switch java runtime settings to use bundled jre.

I have been able to reproduce this on all versions between 1.6-1.8

Just tried 1.8.9 on the beta version of the minecraft launcher, works perfectly fine on Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS

looks likre its fixed while using the beta version of the launcher! i tested it

Looks like it's back in version 2.3.520-1.1.45. I can't launch older versions.

I'm on Launcher: macOS 10.15.0 2.3.520, Bootstrap: 1.1.45 and b.2.3.520-1.1.45. When I launch, the game crashes and this shows:

Description: Unexpected error

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index: 83, Size: 0
    at java.util.ArrayList.rangeCheck(ArrayList.java:653)
    at java.util.ArrayList.set(ArrayList.java:444)
    at net.aG.a(aG.java)
    at net.aG.a(aG.java)
    at net.aG.a(aG.java)
    at net.aG.f(aG.java)
    at net.dq.a(dq.java)
    at net.eI.b(eI.java)
    at net.minecraft.client.jc.a(jc.java)
    at net.dq.b(dq.java)
    at net.minecraft.client.bZ.c(bZ.java)
    at net.minecraft.client.bZ.a(bZ.java)
    at net.minecraft.client.gI.ar(gI.java)
    at net.minecraft.client.gI.az(gI.java)
    at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java)