Minecraft Bans NFT, Citing its Contradiction to the Spirit of the Game

Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, July 21 (TMTPost) – Popular sandbox and building game Minecraft’s developer Mojang announced that it would no longer allow the use of blockchain technology on its game client and servers.

In addition, Minecraft specifically mentioned that it had banned the creation of non-fungible token (NTF) content related to its game, believing that NFT goes against the spirit of Minecraft. The company believes it is Minecraft’s spirit to encourage players to play together while NFT artificially excludes games by creating scarcity.

NFT, similar to other applications of blockchain technology, contradicts Minecraft’s spirit of “inclusive creativity” and “play together” since they promote digital ownership that is based on scarcity and exclusivity. NFT would not offer tolerance towards everyone in Minecraft’s community but would rather create a world where there must be the rich and the poor, the company said in the announcement. Speculative investments that come along with the fluctuating prices of NFT will shift the focus of the game to profit-making, which goes against what makes Minecraft successful, Mojang said.

Mojang also expressed concerns over the security threats that might come from third-party NFT. The company mentioned that there are some third-party NFT that relies entirely on blockchain technology, which means there are risks of the asset managers disappearing without any notice. Some people are also inflating the prices of NFT using fraud-like measures. Mojang said that the company now understands the inherent value of content created in games and that it is working to provide a marketplace where their value can be recognized properly.

Mojang stressed in the announcement that the company pays close attention to the development of blockchain technology to ensure the company could properly ensure the principles mentioned above and evaluate whether blockchain technology can bring a safer, more inclusive and achievable gaming experience to its games. However, Mojang does not have any plan to bring blockchain to Minecraft so far, the company said.