- Minecraft creator Notch has called the ESA's comments about private Minecraft servers 'borderline evil'.
- The controversy began after an ESA executive described community Minecraft servers as illegal and comparable to piracy.
- Players argue that Minecraft has long supported legitimate community servers, making the broad claim highly controversial.
The debate over Minecraft servers being deemed “illegal” by the ESA just took a dramatic turn when creator Markus “Notch” Persson publicly criticized the association. Earlier this week, one of the top ESA executives claimed that community-run or private Minecraft servers are illegal during a California legislative hearing. While ESA may have now retracted its statement due to backlash, Notch had some thoughts of his own.
Notch Calls Out ESA “Incredibly Scummy” for Labeling Minecraft Servers as Illegal
In a recent X post, Minecraft creator Notch shared his own thoughts regarding comments by ESA Vice President Jennifer Gibbons, who, in the hearing, said that community-run Minecraft servers are illegal and not at all affiliated with Microsoft. When asked about his thoughts on the matter, Notch wrote, “I’m not part of either any more, but I feel like the ESA is being incredibly scummy by pulling this. I’ve never liked them, but even less so now.”
ESA’s remarks caused a community-wide meltdown as Minecraft players blasted social media with rude comments and slurs thrown around openly. However, when Notch was asked about the “illegality” of Minecraft servers, he further went on to say, “I did not wish for my work to be used against people. This is borderline evil.”
I’m sure players can agree that in-game servers are some of the most fun one can have, be it in SkyBlock or prison servers in Minecraft. But ESA thinks otherwise, as Gibbons also stated that Microsoft has received a ton of criticism due to these servers.
She went on to compare it to a gaming “black market” and argues that they represent a form of piracy. So, whether you’re on your favorite Minecraft survival server or even the modded servers, something that we all grew up with, these are claimed to be illegal by ESA
But let’s look back at all these years when Minecraft itself allowed its players to host dedicated servers using software officially distributed by Mojang. You can learn how to make a Minecraft server by using the official Java Edition server file as well.
Following the backlash, ESA clarified its position, explaining that hosting or distributing the copyrighted game content on private Minecraft servers without any authorization may break Mojang’s IP rights. Yet, users are still echoing the same frustration online and are praising Notch’s comments. A gamer even states that “I wish you had never sold the game, Notch :(“.
Some even called on Microsoft and Mojang to publicly clarify their support for the present community servers on Minecraft. Neither Minecraft nor Mojang has commented on the matter yet.
