Acquired by Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, Minecraft marked its spot in history as one of the highest best-selling games of all time selling more than 238 million units. Its creator, Mojang, stated that it will not support non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in Minecraft as they’re “not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”
NFTs are tokens on the blockchain that aim to prove ownership of a unique digital item, whether it’s a piece of graphic art or a video game character from games such as Minecraft. NFTs were largely popularized last year with prices of some reaching millions of dollars.
Mojang argues that NFTs do not align with their values and thus will not be added into the game. The company provided a statement saying “The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players,”.
The company made it clear that they stand firmly behind the themes of accessibility and family friendliness present in the Minecraft community.
The following sources were used:
- Minecraft creator rejects NFTs, saying they create scenarios of ‘haves and have-nots’, CNBC
- Minecraft developers won’t allow NFTs on gaming platform, The Guardian