Sony Interactive Leisure just lately revealed a patent that features using blockchain expertise to trace in-game digital belongings, probably recreating the shortage of real-life gadgets which might be signed by well-liked celebrities and sports activities icons.
The patent was first filed again in 2021, solely to resurface to the general public simply this November. Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company. The corporate is primarily identified for its manufacturing of iconic gaming consoles referred to as the PlayStation in addition to a wide range of different technological merchandise comparable to televisions, telephones, cameras, and plenty of extra.
The blockchain patent is known as “Monitoring Distinctive In-Sport Digital Property Utilizing Tokens On a Distributed Ledger”. It indicated using phrases comparable to blockchain, report digital media belongings, and distributed ledger which all are extremely synonymous with NFTs and blockchain.
NFTs are non-fungible tokens which have a singular signature recorded inside the blockchain. It’s at present utilized in varied web3 functions to offer authenticity and possession amongst customers. This digital asset is taken into account to be extremely worthwhile, amassing over $250 million in sales in 2021.
For most individuals, this patent would possibly imply simply one other gaming-affiliated company taking a step into web3. It’s, nonetheless, there’s something totally different concerning the expertise it’s pursuing that barely units it aside. There are just a few takeaways within the uncovering of this patent submitting.
First, the apparent. It highlights that Sony is very curious about pursuing the house of NFT artwork and NFT gaming regardless of earlier makes an attempt in making an attempt to distance itself beforehand. Sony differentiated its newest PlayStation Stars rewards program from NFTs, citing that they don’t seem to be tradeable or sellable for revenue.
The big leisure and media firm since then, has taken deliberate steps into venturing into web3. In Could 2022, Sony initiated a partnership with Theta labs to launch a 3D NFT assortment. PlayStation additionally beforehand surveyed clients into what sort of NFTs are they curious about shopping for, indicating future plans on having its personal assortment obtainable on its gaming console.
Furthermore, the patent particularly describes expertise with the potential to trace the historical past of an in-game merchandise. The corporate states that it seeks to emulate the shortage derived from “Baseballs autographed by Babe Ruth” into the world of GameFi. Which means that we’d probably see NFT skins or gadgets which have a digital footprint of a well-known esports gamer or streamer.
Relying on which aspect of the fence you might be, this may very well be both alarming or an thrilling financial prospect. For corporations, the prospect for his or her collaborated Esport gamers or streamers comparable to Ninja or Pokimane place their digital footprint into the pores and skin in Fortnite means a brand new worthwhile enterprise.
Nonetheless, as showcased by public sentiment, this would possibly imply extra methods clients will expertise costly in-game gadgets. The concept is that customers will have the ability to use the precise rifle Dr.Disrespect utilized in his streams, however this may not be somebody’s cup of tea primarily as a result of it’d imply a streak of extra monetized costly digital gadgets to avoid.
Edmond is a passionate author for Video video games, GameFi and Web3. He has labored for prime GameFi corporations and online game/crypto information web sites.