Over the years, the ever-popular Minecraft has been home to a lot of interesting and weird things, including a massive model of the Titanic, a futuristic cricket stadium and a faithful recreation of Elden Ring’s the Lands Between.
However, according to a fresh statement from developer Mojang Studios, one phenomenon that the game won’t be hosting in the near future is NFTs.
Sharing its view on the controversial technological strategy in a blog post, Mojang has explained its reasoning for not wishing for NFTs to become a part of the game.
Don’t Worry About Having To Kill An Ender Dragon NFT
Mojang begins the post by citing community feedback asking for more clarity regarding its rules surrounding the technology as the impetus for making the announcement, before going on to unequivocally state: “integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something we will support or allow.”
The post then offers some explanation of what an NFT is, with Mojang emphasising: “NFTs and blockchain have also been associated with speculation, where prices are driven up rapidly and as we have recently seen, may fall rapidly.”
It then moves on to an in-depth discussion of the developer’s policy regarding NFTs, outlining that the “models of scarcity and exclusion” often associated with the technology can clash heavily with the philosophy that Minecraft should be “a community where everyone has access to the same content.”
Going into more detail, the developer added: “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.”
Another concern is the third-party nature of many NFT initiatives, with Mojang specifying: “We are also concerned that some third-party NFTs may not be reliable and may end up costing players who buy them. Some third-party NFT implementations are also entirely dependent on blockchain technology and may require an asset manager who might disappear without notice.”
So none of these initiatives will be permitted in Minecraft for now, though Mojang does pledge to keep an eye on the technology going forwards to see if it grows to match better with what the studio wants for Minecraft.
Users on ResetEra mostly reacted positively to this news, with ghostcrew saying “I think this is a solid statement and hopefully paves the way for others to be 100% clear on their feelings and intentions around NFTs in their titles” and Shairi adding: “Great news! Well done, Mojang.”
Others shared an announcement from an existing Minecraft NFT initiative called NFT Worlds, the creators of which are now seeking clarification on whether they’ll be allowed to continue with their work in Minecraft or will have to abandon it in favour of their own Minecraft-inspired game.
ResetEra user DNAbro responded to this additional revelation by saying: “Oh, that’s just delicious.”
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