Minecraft Owner Bans In-game NFTs to stop Profiteering

Minecraft developer Mojang Studios is taking a strongly-held position against NFTs. The studio, which is owned by Microsoft, declared that integrations of NFTs into Minecraft are not something they would allow or support.

"To ensure that Minecraft players have an enjoyable and safe experience, blockchain technologies are not allowed to be integrated inside our client and server applications, nor may Minecraft game-specific content, such as worlds, skins, persona items, or any other mods, be utilized by blockchain technology to create a precious digital asset," Mojang said.

Mojang claims that some companies have developed "NFT Implementations that go along with Minecraft World Files and Skin Packs." This suggests that Minecraft players could earn NFTs by playing on servers or through earning NFTs outside of Minecraft.

Mojang claims that these practices promote digital exclusion and scarcity, which is contrary to Minecraft's core values. "NFTs are not inclusive of all of our community and create a situation of the haves and the have-nots," the studio said. Mojang goes on to declaring that the speculative character of NFTs "encourages profiteering."

I strongly suggest that you read the entire blog post as it concisely spells out the many criticisms of NFTs and blockchain projects in a language that is easy to comprehend. (There are quite a few more quotes that I could have included.)

Valve has also taken a strong stand against NFTs and blockchain-based games on Steam. The majority of the gaming community has opposed NFTs. Frehtml5.co Ubisoft stopped making NFTs to Ghost Recon Breakpoint only a few months after the initiative launched. Epic Games said last year that it is "open" to blockchain games available on the Epic Games Store, and the first blockchain game made it to the store in June.

While Mojang doesn't completely shut the door to incorporating blockchain in the future, it ends by saying that "we have no plans of adding blockchain technology to Minecraft at the moment."

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