Minecraft owner bans in-game NFTs to discourage profiteering

Minecraft developer Mojang Studios is taking a strong stance against NFTs. In a blog post titled “Minecraft and NFTs,” the studio, which is owned by Microsoft, wrote that “integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something we will support or allow.”

“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 utilized by blockchain technology to create a scarce digital asset,” Mojang said.

According to Mojang, some companies have created “NFT implementations that are associated with Minecraft world files and skin packs.” The studio also suggests that there could theoretically be Minecraft “collectible” NFTs or that players could earn NFTs by doing things in Minecraft on a server or earning them outside the actual game.

Mojang argues these practices encourage digital scarcity and exclusion, which goes against the values of Minecraft. “NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots,” the studio said. Mojang goes even further by saying that the speculative nature of NFTs “encourages profiteering.”

I strongly encourage you to read the blog post in full, as it succinctly lays out many criticisms of NFTs and blockchain projects in language that’s easy to understand. (There are quite a few more quotes that I could have included.)

Valve has taken also taken hard stance against blockchain games and NFTs on Steam, and much of the gaming community has soundly rejected NFTs, with Ubisoft stopped making NFTs for Ghost Recon Breakpoint just a few months after launching the initiative. Epic Games said last year it’s “open” to blockchain games on the Epic Games Store, and the first blockchain game came to the store in June.

While Mojang doesn’t completely shut the door on incorporating blockchain in the future, it concludes by saying that “we have no plans of implementing blockchain technology into Minecraft right now.”