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Minecraft Developers Won't Allow NFTs on Gaming Platform

Minecraft will not allow tokens that are not fungible (NFTs) to be used on the game platform, with the company describing NFTs as a threat to Minecraft's "values of inclusiveness and playing with others".



NFTs confer ownership of an item that is unique to the digital world usually an image or a video, with ownership being recorded in an electronic register that is decentralised and referred to as a blockchain.



Digital files can be copied and deleted for free, but the NFT is used to identify the owner of the original file. This is usually for cryptocurrency.
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NFTs were the most talked about topic in January, as sales reached a record US$12bn (AU$17.4bn around the world). However, coinciding with the downturn in cryptocurrency, sales dropped to the lowest level of one billion dollars (AU$1.45bn) in June.



Minecraft which allows players to create entire virtual worlds, can be highly customisable. Over the more than 10 years it has been in existence, it has developed an enormous community of players who design skins, mods and maps for the game.



Minecraft offered a lucrative market for NFTs, with a user base of more than 141 million by the end of August 2021 - already sharing exclusive digital items developed for the game.



Mojang, the Microsoft-owned studio for development behind Minecraft has ended speculation that NFTs could be permitted in the game. The developers have stated that blockchain technology is not allowed in Minecraft and stated that it was contrary to Minecraft's values.



The company stated that each of these uses of NFTs or other blockchain technologies creates a digital owner based on scarcity and exclusion, which isn't in the spirit of Minecraft values of inclusion through creativity.



"NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a situation of the haves and have-nots. NFTs encourage profiteering and speculative pricing, which we believe is incompatible with long-term joy and success for our players.



Mojang said that Minecraft creations had intrinsic value, and there were instances where NFTs were sold in a fraudulent manner or at artificially high prices.



The studio stated that it was concerned third-party NFTs may not be reliable and could end up costing players. It also expressed concern that a Minecraft implementation entirely built on blockchain technology could disappear without notice, which could result in players losing their investment.



It is referred to by the crypto community as an "rug pull", where the developers behind a cryptocurrency project shut down the project and then take off with the money. Blockverse, an unofficial Minecraft project, seems to be an instance of this. PC Gamer reported that the project vanished in January after more than US$1m (AU$1.45m), had been invested.



Mojang left the door open to using "more secure" blockchain technology in Minecraft in the near future, but stated that it has no plans to permit it at the moment.



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



We just shared the following announcement on Discord about the current @Minecraft and @nftworldsNFT issue. pic.twitter.com/ARbKABRK4A



One group working on NFTs in Minecraft claimed that the move was an "step backwards" in terms of innovation and that they would have change to a different gaming platform if they were to be banned.



Another wildly popular and similarly customisable game, Roblox, which allows for in-game purchases of items, has not yet announced a position on NFTs. Craig Donato, chief business officer of the company told VentureBeat that he didn't think there was a reason why the game should not allow NFTs, and that it was more than a matter of when.



Square Enix and Ubisoft, two other gaming companies, are exploring NFTs as a possible option. This week Square Enix announced that for the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII next year players will be able to get physical trading cards with digital versions as NFTs.


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