Minecraft nixes NFTs and blockchain within platform

Minecraft has announced that NFTs and blockchain technology will no longer be accepted on its platform.

In a blog post, Mojang Studios the platform behind Minecraft said, “To ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our client and server applications, nor may Minecraft in-game content such as worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods, be utilised by blockchain technology to create a scarce digital asset.”

The game developer said NFTs can create “models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft”.

“To ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications nor may they be utilised to create NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods,” the company said.

Mojang Studios will continue to monitor blockchain’s evolution to ensure “that the above principles are withheld and determine whether it will allow for more secure experiences or other practical and inclusive applications in gaming”.  

One of the reasons for this “ban” is due to some companies launching NFT implementations that are associated with Minecraft world files and skin packs. They could be used to create Minecraft collectable NFTs, allowing players to earn NFTs through activities performed on a server, or earning Minecraft NFT rewards for activities outside the game.

The company said, “Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together.

“NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots. The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.”

Mojang Studios also said some third-party NFTs may be unreliable and could be costly for its players.  

Backlash has already begun, NFT Worlds, which currently uses Minecraft and it's open-source ecosystem said on its Discord channel said, “First and foremost – this out of nowhere announcement by Microsoft/Minecraft to outright ban all possible uses of NFTs and blockchain technology within Minecraft feels like a step backwards in innovation and may even have painful downstream effects for them in the long run – we’ll see how that plays out.”

NFT Worlds said they are currently working to get in contact with the proper decision makers within the Minecraft policy enforcement team.

They said if they are banned due to this decision, they will “pivot” with two options. Firstly, they will transition into their own Minecraft-like game engine and games platform.

The second choice is a move to a GameFi platform as a service for any game developer or games studio to effortlessly implement the same GameFi technology.

Minecraft users have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts. One user said this announcement was “not a great day for the space” while others have praised the move.

Woke up to news of Tesla selling 75% of their Bitcoin and Microsoft/Minecraft banning NFT and Blockchain integration

Not a great day for the space, but we keep building ��

— JRNY Crypto (@JRNYcrypto) July 20, 2022

Interesting move by Mojang on minecraft x NFTs

The premise of protecting gamers, especially younger gamers, makes sense.

It does suck that A LOT of utility NFT projs. were building on minecraft though. A prev bullish case and pragmatic case for digi ownership is temp ��

— Unifriends �� (@UnifriendsNFT) July 20, 2022

Also clear Minecraft/Microsoft has done zero research on the topic.

“An NFT is a unique, non-editable, digital token that is part of a blockchain and often purchased with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.”

— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) July 20, 2022

Imagine spending hundreds of dollars on NFT skins in @minecraft for them to be rendered valueless by a single decision by a centralized corporation.

Proving the exact point they're against.

— Robbie Ferguson ⓧ - Hiring! (@0xferg) July 20, 2022