Mojang Studios and Microsoft took a side on NFTs in the popular game Minecraft by banning the blockchain technology from its title, striking a big blow to emerging web3 stakeholders.
On July 20, the company released a preview of its changes to Minecraft’s usage guidelines that sent a message to the larger creator community: No NFTs in Minecraft. The devs say the tech trend is “not something we will support or allow” in its 3D sandbox.
This comes on the heels of ventures popping up to distribute and promote third-party servers with built in NFT integrations within Minecraft.
It’s been a talking point among the community as people grapple with the dangers of the products and having them exposed to vulnerable audiences within the game.
The issue made it all the way up to the developers who have outright prohibited NFTs in response to concerns of exclusionary practices from entering Minecraft.
“We have these rules to ensure that Minecraft remains a community where everyone has access to the same content,” the blog statement reads “NFTs, however, can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.
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“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 referenced how recent mods have made worlds and skin packs integrating NFTs that they believe would create environments that “are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”
TL;DR:"To ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications nor may they be utilized to create NFTs associated with any in-game content…"
— Minecraft (@Minecraft) July 20, 2022
Projects like NFT Worlds and Gridcraft, among many more web3 operators, stand the most to lose from the latest change of Minecraft’s guidelines.
While there’s still plenty of game devs and projects centered around NFTs in the larger industry, Mojang’s decision firmly rules out NFTs in Minecraft.