NFT Worlds received a kick in the teeth with Minecraft’s sudden announcement that NFTs are a ‘no no’ on their platform. Many say the announcement showed a total disregard for all Web 3 games currently being developed on Minecraft.
Many gamers will be over the moon with Mojang studios’ announcement, but what about developers who made NFTs and blockchain technology central to their game?
What about the gamers and community already vested in the games?
NFT Worlds launched in October 2021, is one such game. The Web3-based games’ plans are upended. However, the company vows to continue.
A statement by the company speaks of their contingency plans and a larger battle within the gaming space. The statement pulls no punches regarding large tech corporations. It reads;
“Make no mistake. This is a web2 vs web3 battle. It is a battle between two different visions of the future of the web: one that prioritizes shareholder value and profit margins above all else and one that prioritizes the spirit of innovation through independent creators.
Minecraft gaming platform says no to NFTs
They made their statement in a blog post. Minecraft pointed to their ‘Minecraft Users Guide’. They pointed out that all Minecraft players must have the liberty to the same functionalities and content.
The author then points out that NFTs can create scarcity and goes against the company’s laid down principles and the spirit of Minecraft. They elaborate on this by pointing out where Minecraft’s values of creative inclusion and playing together, a safe and inclusive experience, are in direct conflict with blockchain being used to create scarcity, exclusivity, plus the speculative nature of NFTs.
The following snippet states it in stark terms with no room for manoeuvre;
Blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our client and server applications, nor may Minecraft in-game content such as worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods be utilized by blockchain technology to create a scarce digital asset.
The statements also talk about how blockchain encroaches on long-term joy, and speculative pricing of NFTs encourages profiteering by creating an investment mentality. It further articulates how NFTs create a scenario of the haves and have-nots.
NFT Worlds Rails against Minecraft
NFT Worlds does not see this move in isolation but as a broader conflict between Web2 and Web3. One of the founders of NFT Worlds highlights the hypocrisy of Microsoft, Mojang, and Minecraft in a recent tweet regarding scarcity issues and Minecraft values.
What is NFT Worlds
The project sees itself as a “truly decentralized, cross-platform (computers/consoles), community-driven & developed play-to-earn gaming metaverse.” It consists of 10,000 3D voxel NFT worlds, each developing its vision using the Ethereum blockchain.
The game documents state, “We see a future where each world offers unique gameplay mechanics, experiences, play-to-earn competitions, community hangouts, and so much more.”
That was before, but what now?
Can NFT Worlds bounce back?
The game was doing well as a Minecraft client, with stats from April showing over 64,000 players (34,000 new to blockchain), 250,000 player hours, and 960,000 in-game WRLD tokens. We do not know how much effect this will have on the game, but we know that the token price has dropped from $0.032 to $0.015.
Coming back from this is not going to be easy. As NFT Worlds expressly states on their documents page,
“We didn’t want to have to reinvent the wheel by creating our own unproven game from scratch, while also having to innovate on the NFT integration & decentralized metaverse side of the platform we envisioned.”
However, the team are not willing to throw in the towel. They indicate the determination to continue to build a free-to-play metaverse with NFTs.
Already they are assembling a team of “the top visionary developers within the Minecraft development ecosystem.’ They also mention the full support of all ‘of our community. They also say what always goes a long way toward success or failure is money. According to the statement, they have a ‘war chest of funds to see them through.
Afterthoughts
The large Web2 corporations like Microsoft Minecraft and Mojang have the upper hand in all this until we have true decentralization. They have all the firepower, even when fact-checked about not wanting to create a scenario of the haves and have-nots. However, not all in the gaming industry are of the same opinion, Epic games announced they had no plans to remove NFT games.
We wish to send our support to all those projects and all our community affected by the Minecraft decision. Continue to fight.
