NFT company will make its own Minecraft game with the same "playstyle, look and feel" following Mojang ban

An NFT company has hit back at Mojang after it decided that "blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated" in Minecraft by vowing to make its own Minecraft-like game.

As we reported earlier in the week, Minecraft developer Mojang has explicitly banned all NFT technologies from anything to do with its game, confirming that "integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something [it] will support or allow" including "NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods". 

NFT Worlds, a company that sells Minecraft seeds - the codes used to generate the worlds you play within - as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called the decision "a step backwards in innovation", telling its Discord users that it was trying to "find an alternative outcome".

Declaring that "Microsoft, Mojang and Minecraft have signaled they have no regard for creators, builders and players", NFT Worlds now says it is "diving head first" into developing "a new game and platform based on many of the core mechanics of Minecraft, but with the modernization and active development Minecraft has been missing for years".

"This is not a rewrite of some open source Minecraft clone, which likely would violate the EULA or still risk legal action, this is entirely from the ground up," the company explained in a statement (thanks, PC Gamer). "This transition will additionally come with a public facing brand identity change that is more player friendly.

"While the playstyle, look and feel of this will be very familiar to Minecraft players; the game mechanics, graphics, performance optimizations and overall improvements will usher in a more accessible, ownable and enjoyable playing experience. Best of all, we’ll be completely untethered from the policy enforcement Microsoft and Mojang have over Minecraft. We truly become our own open game and platform."

The statement goes on to add that game access will be "100 per cent free for players and there will never be any credit card pay barriers for content". Whilst work is underway and the team develops ways to "introduce new non-crypto player-attracting features", the existing launcher and play pages for the company will remain online.

"Make no mistake, this is a web2 vs web3 battle," the company added. "We’re fighting for a future with a player owned and operated economy, where all participants benefit from their contributions to the ecosystem. We recognize this is a monumental task".

Starting from scratch? Here's our list of best Minecraft seeds to check out.