Minecraft says ‘No F-ing Thanks’ to NFTs

techcrunch.com:

One of the most popular games of all time, Minecraft declared today that it won’t support NFTs on its servers. Gaming has been touted as a potential use case for NFTs, so the Microsoft-owned game’s stance on blockchain technology could have serious ramifications for such developers.

“NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots,” Minecraft wrote on its website. “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.”

As developer Mojang Studios alluded to in its note, some companies have already attempted to build businesses selling Minecraft NFTs. The Polygon-based NFT Worlds is the most prominent example of this, selling NFTs of virtual land that can be used in custom Minecraft servers.

NFT Worlds explains on its website: “Currently using Minecraft and its sprawling open-source ecosystem, NFT Worlds builds on the backbone of a decades worth of open source development within the Minecraft community.” The project also built play-to-earn games, which pay out their own cryptocurrency $WRLD for every 30 minutes you play.

In the last 24 hours, the price floor of NFT Worlds has dropped about 66%.

— NFT Worlds (@nftworldsNFT) July 20, 2022

“This out of nowhere announcement by Microsoft/Minecraft to outright ban all possible uses of NFTs & blockchain tech within Minecraft feels like a step backwards in innovation and may even have painful