Minecraft to ban NFTs from its platform
As Mojang Studios pushes for an NFT ban on Minecraft, Square Enix is making a new foray into the crypto scene.
While Mojang Studios campaigns for an NFT ban on Minecraft, Square Enix is taking a new step into crypto.
For a while now you could use certain NFTs in the classic game Minecraft. That is soon coming to an end. An official blog post from the legendary sandbox game reveals the company wants to say goodbye to NFTs on the platform.
The official reasoning: "NFTs don't include the whole community and create a haves-and-have-nots scenario." The "speculative prices" and the "investment mindset" that come with NFTs distract from the game and encourage "day trading." According to them NFTs are not "compatible" and don’t contribute to players’ enjoyment and long-term success. Furthermore, it states: "We are also concerned that some third-party NFTs aren’t reliable and players who buy them could end up losing money."
According to Statista, Minecraft is the most successful video game of all time, with a total of 238 million copies sold. Since 2014 the game, developed by Swedish company Mojang Studios, has been owned by tech giant Microsoft. With the ban, the acclaimed game could strike a sensitive chord with its users.
Square Enix NFT push
Hardly any community is as polarized as the gaming space when it comes to NFTs. While blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, or The Sandbox dominate the NFT space, more and more traditional game developers are taking steps in this direction, unlike Microsoft.
Back in January this year, Yosuke Matsuda, CEO of Square Enix, talked about the potential of NFTs in gaming. A few months later, Square Enix outlined its intentions in a financial report. So it isn’t surprising that the Japanese game maker is now getting serious about its NFT plans.
Together with the blockchain project Enjin, Square Enix plans to bring corresponding NFTs to market for the 25th anniversary of the legendary game "Final Fantasy 7." A press release also reveals that the non-fungible tokens will be linked to physical trading cards. Enjin sits on Polkadot and aims to build the metaverse in a decentralized way. The Final Fantasy collection will release in 2023.
Where opinions diverge
The outlook on NFTs remains mixed. The French gaming giant Ubisoft has previously tried to implement NFTs in its games and drew strong criticism. On the other hand, more projects in this space are entering the crypto world, like Square Enix. NFTs appear to remain on the list of hot topics in the gaming scene for now, even though opinions are divided.
