NFT Worlds plummets after Mojang bans NFTs in Minecraft
On July 20, Minecraft developer Mojang announced a ban on the integration of NFTs into the game. This ban comes as a means to ensure that the player base has access to the same features and rules and that there are no discrepancies.
Mojang completely rejected the blockchain space, adding that NFTs will not be allowed to be integrated with in-game content and also banned both client- and server-side applications. It stated, “We have these rules to ensure that Minecraft remains a community where everyone has access to the same content.It added that NFTs can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with the guidelines and spirit of Minecraft.
This news affected various projects, existing and upcoming, but NFT Worlds was hit hard. The project was one of the forerunners in the NFT Minecraft space, and after Mojang’s statement, it saw a massive plunge in the value of its tokens and NFTs.
The rise and fall of NFT Worlds
NFT Worlds is an NFT collection of 10,000 unique Minecraft worlds. Each NFT contains a world seed which is a code generated by each Minecraft world. When a user buys an NFT, they can use the seed from their token contract and use it in Minecraft.
According to the official website, “NFT Worlds is a fully decentralized, fully customizable, community-driven, play-to-earn gaming platform where world owners can create their own limitless metaverse games or experiences for players or exclusive communities in their worlds.“
Players can also host their world as a destination within the Metaverse, and the project will have builders to help NFT holders build their Metaverse experience. NFT World uses Web3 to turn Minecraft worlds into tokens that can be sold through their own cryptocurrency known as $WRLD.
The project on had accumulated over 30,000 ETH in trading volume, resulting in $90 million. The project had generated over $75 million USD in transactions with the base NFT going from 3 ETH ($4619) to the current base price of 1.333 ETH ($2052). The token had reached a peak of $0.593152 on February 20, but following the ban, the coin is currently valued at $0.01374, according to .
In a NFT Worlds said the ban came “without warning.“It added,”Microsoft, Mojang and Minecraft have signaled that they do not consider creators, builders and players if a new idea or vision at any time conflicts with internal politics or the opinions of their ruling minority; regardless of their public-facing ideals around creators and developers they say they uphold.“
The future of NFT worlds
This is not the end of the road for NFT Worlds. It quickly announced that it would take on Minecraft in a “Web2 vs Web3” battle and develop its own game to replace what it lost in Minecraft.
“We are creating a new game and platform based on many of the core mechanics of Minecraft, but with modernization and active development [that] Minecraft has been missing for years. This is not a rewrite of an open source Minecraft clone, which would probably break the EULA or still risk legal action, this is completely from scratch. This transition will also come with a public-facing brand identity change that is more player-friendly.“
The game wants to update the graphics and optimize the performance with new mechanics while maintaining the same”playstyle, look and feel” of Minecraft. It will be free for players, and NFT Worlds will ensure backward compatibility with existing Minecraft server plugins to ensure a smooth transition from Minecraft to the new game.
The NFT debate
After the announcement, Mojang came under a lot of scrutiny. Many people pointed out how the blog post ironically talked about digital scarcity promoting exclusivity and argued that digital scarcity has always existed in Minecraft. For example, the skins in the game, since the creations and accounts are all owned by Microsoft.
It is notable that Microsoft only provides a limited license, while NFTs promote ownership. Another point Mojang made was that it protected the younger audience, but Minecraft markets its virtual currency called MineCoins that can be used in the in-game market.
Another move by Mojang that caught fire was the new moderation system that banned players and private servers. These servers are owned, maintained and managed by players who have paid for them, but Mojang made it clear that players do not own the servers.
When a Twitter user asked Epic Games to take a similar stance on the issue of NFTs, Epic’s CEO responded: “Developers should be free to decide how to build their games, and you should be free to decide whether you want to play them. I believe that stores and operating system manufacturers should not interfere by forcing their views on others. We definitely don’t want that.“
NFTs in games have become a hot topic of debate. Many companies have come forward to adopt them in their games, but have been met with criticism from various stakeholders. For example, Ubisoft’s internal team criticized the company’s entry into the NFT space. Given this strained situation, a company as big as Mojang banning NFTs could be seen as harmful. This could potentially cause players and investors to speculate before entering the space.
This story was written in collaboration with Linx Games
Linx Games is a community-driven blockchain game distribution platform for players and developers to interact, socialize and exchange ideas.
