Minecraft Usage Guidelines

Minecraft's Usage Guidelines explain what you are and are not allowed to do with Minecraft's brand, characters, artwork, and game content — including videos, mods, and fan art. The most important rule for most players is that you can share gameplay videos and create mods for free, but you cannot sell Minecraft-related content for real money or connect it to NFTs or cryptocurrency. If you make money from Minecraft content (such as through YouTube ads), you should read the specific monetization rules carefully to ensure you stay within the permitted boundaries.

This document constitutes Minecraft's (Microsoft/Mojang) Usage Guidelines, governing permissible and impermissible uses of Minecraft's intellectual property, including game assets, video content, modifications, and community creations, with its legal basis rooted in Microsoft's broader Terms of Use and Mojang's IP ownership rights. The most significant obligations created include restrictions on commercial use of Minecraft content — users may create videos and stream gameplay but cannot sell in-game items for real money, charge for mods, or use Minecraft IP in NFTs or blockchain contexts — and creators are granted a limited, non-exclusive, revocable license to produce content under defined conditions. Notably, the document includes an explicit and broad prohibition on all NFT and blockchain integrations involving Minecraft IP, a provision that departs from the more permissive stance many gaming companies have taken and creates unusual risk for creators operating in the Web3 space. The guidelines engage consumer protection frameworks enforced by the FTC regarding deceptive practices in digital marketplaces, COPPA considerations given the platform's predominantly minor user base, and EU/UK IP law for international creators. Material compliance considerations include the absence of clear monetization thresholds for content creators, the unilateral right Mojang retains to revoke any granted permissions at any time, and the document's applicability to third-party developers building on Minecraft's API and modding ecosystem.