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They mentioned ABI and the ability to create mods, which are Rust things.

Here's a thought experiment: Would Minecraft have been as popular if it had been written in Rust instead of Java?

I mean, we already have a sort-of answer, because the "Bedrock Edition" of Minecraft is written in C++, and it is indeed less popular on PC (on console, it's the only option, so _overall_ it might win out) and does lack any real modding scene

Indeed. Java is sufficiently dynamic/decompilable a game written in it can be heavily modded without adding specific support. C++ is much harder (depending on the game engine), though not impossible. If you do add modding support then everything is much better regardless of language, though (see Factorio, written in C++ and with a huge modding scene, because it was basically written with modding in mind. Lua is certainly helping with that, of course).

I actually disagree with that. Decompilation based mods can completely change anything and everything about the game. Scripting based mods can only change things within the boundaries allowed by the devs of the original game.

True, a limited modding API can be a problem. But in something like minecraft it's not a a free-for-all with mods either, it's just that the community writes their own modding API, but has to deal with breakage whenever the game updates.

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