Notes

Minecraft Developers Won't Allow NFTs on The Gaming Platform

Minecraft does not permit tokens that are not fungible (NFTs) to be used on the popular gaming platform, with the company describing NFTs as a threat to Minecraft's "values of inclusiveness and playing together".



NFTs provide ownership to an item that is unique to the digital world usually an image or a video, with the ownership recorded on a decentralised digital register known as a blockchain.



Digital files can usually be copied or deleted for free, but a NFT is a way to identify the owner of the original file for purpose of selling, buying, or trading the ownership - usually for cryptocurrency.



NFTs were the hot subject in January, as sales reached an all-time high of US$12 billion (AU$17.4bn worldwide). However, in line with the downturn in cryptocurrency, sales recently dropped to an all-time low of US$1bn (AU$1.45bn) in June.



Minecraft lets users create entire virtual worlds. It is extremely customizable. Over the 10 years that the game has been in existence, it has developed an extensive community of users who create skins, mods and maps for the game.



Minecraft represented an attractive potential market for NFTs, with a user base - estimated at more than 141 million as of August 2021 - already engaged in sharing unique digital items developed for the game.



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



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



"NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a situation of the haves and the have-nots. NFTs encourage profiteering and speculative pricing, which we believe is not compatible with long-term joy and success for our players.
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Mojang said the creations in Minecraft had intrinsic value and there had been instances where NFTs were sold at fraudulent or artificially exaggerated prices.



The studio was concerned that third-party NFTs might not be reliable and could end up costing players. The studio also expressed its concern that a Minecraft implementation built entirely on blockchain technology could vanish without notice, which could result in players losing their investments.



This is known in crypto as an "rug pull", when developers behind a crypto project end the project and make off with the proceeds. Blockverse, which is a third-party Minecraft project, appears to be an example of this. PC Gamer reported in January the project vanished after more than $1 million (AU$1.45m) was invested.



Mojang left the possibility of using "more secure" blockchain technology in Minecraft in the future but stated that it has no plans to allow it at present.



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



We've just posted the following announcement on Discord about the current @Minecraft and @nftworldsNFT issues. pic.twitter.com/ARbKABRK4A



One group working on NFTs in Minecraft claimed that the move was a "step backwards" in the field of innovation, and that they would need to switch to a different gaming platform if they were disqualified.



Roblox Another game of great popularity that lets you purchase items within the game, isn't yet announcing its position on NFTs. Craig Donato, chief business officer of the company, stated to VentureBeat that he could not find any reason why the game should not allow NFTs and that it was more a matter of when.



Square Enix and Ubisoft, two other gaming companies, are looking into NFTs. Square Enix announced this week that customers can purchase physical trading cards as well as digital versions of Final Fantasy VII for the 25th Anniversary in the year to come.


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