i only tested it with chrome because i dont use any other browsers. you could try it i guess. to be honest, i think the problem is the news screen. when im not looking at it, the game loads without a problem. so again, you could try using another browser, and maybe you could even try just opening a random window. tell me if this helped and if you have any luck in the future.
i think i may have found a weird fix for this bug. When you press the play button, the game gets stuck on preparing. Ive been trying this thing where i press the play button and then switch to a chrome window (you should have the chrome window already open before you click play). When i do this, the game loads up and i can play. I stay on the chrome window until the game launches. This is the weird fix i found for this problem. Tell me if it works for you.
Mojang...why won't the new launcher work like it was supposed to? Im very upset by this. Please fix...PLS!!!