Minecraft Developers Won't Allow NFTs On Gaming Platform

· 2 min read
Minecraft Developers Won't Allow NFTs On Gaming Platform


Minecraft will not allow non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be used on the popular gaming platform, with the company describing them as antithetical to Minecraft's "values of creative inclusion and playing together".



NFTs confer ownership of a unique digital item, typically an image or a video, with the ownership recorded on a decentralised digital register known as a blockchain.



Digital files can be copied or erased for free.  games A NFT however identifies who the owner is for the purpose of buying, selling or trading the ownership.



NFTs sparked a boom in sales, reaching a peak of US$12bn (AU$17.4bn), worldwide in January. However, coinciding with the downturn in cryptocurrency, sales recently began crashing to a 12-month low of US$1bn (AU$1.45bn) in June.



Minecraft allows users to create whole virtual worlds. It is extremely customizable. Minecraft has been around for more than 10 years and has a large community of users who create skins, mods, and maps.



NFTs saw Minecraft as an attractive market. It has a user base of over 141 million, which is already engaged in sharing digital items that were created for the game.



Mojang, the Microsoft-owned development studio behind Minecraft has ended speculation that NFTs might be allowed in the game. In a blog post on Wednesday, the developers said blockchain technology was not permitted, stating it was antithetical to Minecraft's values.



The company stated that each of these uses of NFTs or other blockchain technologies creates digital owner based on scarcity, exclusion, which is not in line with Minecraft values of creative inclusion.



"NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots. NFTs encourage profiteering. We believe this is contrary to long-term joy, success and happiness of our players.



Mojang stated that Minecraft creations had intrinsic value, and that there were instances when NFTs were sold fraudulently or artificially at inflated prices.



The studio expressed concern that third-party NFTs might not be reliable and could lead to players losing their money. It also warned that it was worried about a Minecraft-based implementation based entirely on blockchain technology - which could lead to players losing their investment.



This is referred to in the crypto community as a "rug pull", where the developers behind a crypto project shut down the project and take off with the money. Blockverse, a third party Minecraft project, seems to be one example. PC Gamer reported in January that the project disappeared, despite having been invested over US$1m or AU$1.45m.



Mojang left the door open to using "more secure" blockchain technology in Minecraft in the future but said it had no plans to allow it at present.



We've just shared the following announcement on our Discord regarding the current @Minecraft & @nftworldsNFT situation. pic.twitter.com/ARbKABRK4A



We have just posted the following announcement on Discord regarding the current @Minecraft/ @nftworldsNFT status. pic.twitter.com/ARbKABRK4A



One group working on NFTs in Minecraft claimed that the move was a "step backwards" in innovation and that they would have to pivot to another gaming platform if they were banned.



Roblox, another very popular and customizable game, has yet to announce a position regarding NFTs. However, the company's chief business officer, Craig Donato, told VentureBeat in April he didn't see why the game would not allow NFTs and it was more a question of when.



Square Enix and Ubisoft also have plans to use NFTs. This week Square Enix announced that for the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII next year people would be able to get physical trading cards with digital versions as NFTs.