According to recent documents shared publicly, Sony submitted a patent application in 2021 for a system that uses blockchain technology (particularly NFTs) to manage digital assets in video games. That patent was publicised on November 10.
The Japanese multinational technology company cited the global appeal of gaming, and consumers wanting to own one-of-a-kind products connected to their favorite celebrities, pastimes, and esports tournament champions.
According to Sony, it is difficult to tell between an in-game item used by a prominent player to win a well-known tournament and any other in-game items in traditional video games.
Sony stated in the patent that it intends to employ a distributed ledger or blockchain to store digital media assets, gameplay, and video clips, as well as to add a unique token for each digital item with special identification and metadata that would define the digital asset’s attributes.
The patent filing demonstrates Sony’s interest in entering the expanding NFT gaming market. Axie Infinity, Alien Worlds, STEPN, and The Sandbox are a few of the most successful NFT games — sometimes referred to as Play-to-earn (P2E) games.
The Tokyo-based Sony is one of the biggest media and entertainment firms to establish plans for incorporating NFTs and blockchain technology into its games, even if it was not the first company to do so.
Sony has been developing NFTs for quite some time. The technology firm and Theta labs teamed up to release a series of 3D NFTs in May 2022. The limited-edition NFT collection can be viewed on Sony’s Spatial Reality Display, a tablet-style device.