It doesn’t matter that the world’s largest video game companies like Activision or Tencent are making inroads into the world of NFTs; the developers of Minecraft want those tokens as far as possible from their blockbuster game.
On July 20, Mojang Studios, the team behind Minecraft, said that it will not support or allow the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the game.
Mojang Studios argued that the use of NFTs in the game could privilege some users and undermine others, as the NFT usage model can create scarcity and exclusion within the player community. This scenario is a risk they are unwilling to take, as they say on an update to their community guidelines:
“NFTs, can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft,[…] NFTs are not inclusive of all our communities and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”
NFTs and Crypto Don’t Have a Place in Minecraft Lands.
According to the company’s statement, the use of blockchain technology and NFTs do not fit Minecraft’s values of creative inclusion and co-play, as they allow players to earn rewards through other actions outside of the game.
In addition, Mojang Studios argues that the use of in-game NFTs will change the focus on the fun that the game offers, as users would be more concerned with the speculative price of their NFTs rather than enjoying themselves as they have been doing for the 12 years that the game has been around.
They also mentioned that they are against NFT implementation due to the problems of hacking and scams by the companies that manage these assets, which creates the danger of those tokens being prone to “disappear without notice.” This has happened with many crypto games that use blockchain technology and NFTs to attract users through play-to-earn mode.
The Door Is Not Close Forever
Although Minecraft developers are currently adamantly against integrating blockchain technology into the game, they said they will study its evolution over time to see if a future implementation turns out to be interesting or beneficial. However, they have no intention of doing so in the short term.
Mojang Studios’ unexpected decision is already wreaking havoc on other projects built around the Minecraft ecosystem. NFTWorld is one of them: Until today, the project didn’t have any problems with the developers and maintained good communication with them.
A few hours after Minecraft’s announcement, NFTWorld’s native token dropped more than 58%, causing uncertainty among players who now do not know what the future will hold for them in that game.
