Minecraft Says It Doesn’t Want Anything to Deal With NFTs, Blockchain
While some industries are still considering NFTs, the videogame community is making it clear that NFTs stand as "No F'n Thank" in their industry.
The latest company to stand against non-fungible tokens: Mojang Studios, the developer of the hugely popular video game, Minecraft.
In a statement put out today on the official Minecraft website, which is titled “Minecraft and NFTs,” the company made it crystal clear that it will not allow any kind of blockchain or NFT integration into its game.
Mojang Studios and Minecraft laid out a number of reasons as to why they are against NFTs. They made it clear that fake scarcity plays a major part in it. NFTs, also known as digital assets or non-fungible tokens, are digital assets stored on blockchain. A unique token is minted and connected to an media file to claim ownership of that piece which has turned NFTs into speculation assets.
The statement makes clear that Minecraft does not oppose monetizing, and uses the example of users paying for access to a Minecraft server as an acceptable use scenario. However, because NFTs would alter the game’s dynamics and give players who have monetary advantages in games, the Minecraft developer is opposed to the technology.
“To ensure that Minecraft players enjoy an enjoyable and safe experience, blockchain technologies are not allowed to be used into our Minecraft client and server applications, nor can they be utilized to create NFTs that are associated with any game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods,” declares the statement.
The developer also raised concerns about the trustworthiness of third-parties who mint Minecraft-related NFTs, and their tendency to cancel projects and to fraudulently inflate prices on NFT aftermarkets.
“No blockchain for block game,” as Molly White of the website Web3 is going Great succinctly stated. The website tracks the various scams, frauds, and drama happening in the Web3 world, which includes cryptocurrencies and NFT projects.
As White mentions, the value of existing (and illegal) Minecraft NFT projects tanked following the announcement of Mojang Studios' statement. NFT Worlds, also associated with a token, saw both the value of the token and its NFT floor prices fall by more than 70%.
Minecraft’s Mojang Studios is far from the first video game company to run far away from NFTs. Gamers have stated that they do not like the idea of purchasing NFTs on top of the games they already buy. And their anti-NFT opinions have made it necessary for the industry to follow suit. In the last month, Sony announced a loyalty program known as Playstation Stars which will reward gamers with digital collectibles. These digital collectibles do not constitute NFTs, according to the company.
“It’s certainly not NFTs. Absolutely not. You cannot trade them or sell them. This isn’t using any Blockchain technology and certainly not NFTs.” Grace Chen, Sony’s vice president of network advertising and loyalty spoke to The Washington Post.
Mojang Studios did end its statement by saying that they would monitor how blockchain technology evolves to be used in future scenarios and leave the door open, based on presently non-existent possibilities. But, at least for the near future, it’s a win for gamers who absolutely dislike NFTs.
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