The company posted an article on its blog entitled "Minecraft and NFTs" and acknowledged that some developers and companies have begun to launch NFT projects that use Minecraft world files and skin packs. The post suggested that Minecraft creators could make use of the game to develop and sell collectible NFTs. These NFTs could be earned through the activities on the Minecraft server, or as rewards for their efforts in the real world.
Mojang has stated in its post that blockchain technology was not allowed to be integrated into Minecraft client and server apps. They also can't be used to create NFTs associated to any game content, such as skins and worlds.
"We will be watching closely how blockchain technology evolves in the future to ensure these principles are withheld, and to determine if blockchain technology will provide safer gaming experiences as well as other inclusive and practical gaming applications," the company stated. "However we do not have any plans of implementing blockchain technology into Minecraft right now."
The traditional game industry has begun to distance itself from NFTs over the past few months after a backlash from players and a plummeting crypto market. Sony announced last week that it was launching a digital collectibles feature in its new PlayStation Rewards program. However, Sony clarified emphatically that its collectibles are "definitely not NFTs." Ubisoft has been the first major game publisher to play with NFTs last fall, shut down its experiment after four months. Valve is the Steam marketplace's owner, said last October that it would not allow any games that utilized blockchain technology or NFT. However, Epic Games, Fortnite creator, has recently opened doors to these products on its gaming store for PCs.
Microsoft hasn't provided a clear opinion on the subject in relation to its gaming properties prior to this point. However, Microsoft Gaming CEO and Xbox chief Phil Spencer said last year that he was "leery of the near-term kind of fear surrounding NFTs" as well as the potential for fraud, scams and the pyramid scheme nature crypto market. This could lead to consumers losing huge amounts of money quickly. Spencer also told Axios last fall that NFTs had the potential to be exploitative and that the market contained "a lot of things that probably are not things you want to see in your store."
Mojang's blog post expresses similar sentiments. Minecraft servers list The company stated that each of these uses of NFTs or other blockchain technologies creates digital owner based on scarcity, exclusion, which isn't in line with Minecraft values of inclusiveness and creativity. "NFTs are not inclusive of our community and create a scenario of the haves and have-nots.
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