Minecraft’s End Poem Is Now Public Domain

While Minecraft isn’t a game really made to end, there is a sort of ending for players to find. After traveling to the End dimension and defeating the Ender dragon, players are treated to one of the only glimpses of a story in Minecraft, the End Poem.

This poem was originally commissioned for use in Minecraft back in 2011, and was written by Julian Gough. One would imagine that Mojang (and now Microsoft) would have had the rights to this poem. However, Julian recently revealed that he never actually signed over licensing of the poem to either Mojang or Microsoft.

The twitter thread above explains the entire situation, but long story short Julian never actually signed over the rights to their poem, making them the owner of it completely.

Julian has now decided to move this poem fully into the public domain, meaning that anyone, including Minecraft is able to use it however they would like. Its important to note that this wasn’t intended to be an attack on Minecraft or anyone involved with the game. Julian simply felt it was right that everyone should have equal access to the poem they wrote so long ago.

If you have never beaten the Ender Dragon and would like to see this poem for yourself, the full text can be found here.