Sony Interactive Entertainment files for NFT patent

Despite the fact that the popularity of NFTs has waned since the 2021 boom, Sony – one of the gaming industry’s most prominent players with a current market cap of $109.1 billion – has so far been cautious about entering the NFT space.

NFT framework for transferring digital assets between entities

The company’s recently published patent – ​​published by Sony Japan – examines the potential for how interoperability can flow between different games within the ecosystem.

“Current systems are technologically insufficient for the owner to use the asset across different games and platforms.”

“As further acknowledged herein, the functionality of the game may be enhanced by allowing players and/or spectators to exclusively use the asset and possibly transfer the rights to others via NFT.”

Although the technology is not currently deployed, Sony seems keen to explore how NFT technology can be used within its wider gaming ecosystem.

“Components included in one embodiment may be used in other embodiments in any suitable combination. For example, any of the various components described herein and/or depicted in the figures may be combined, interchanged, or excluded from other embodiments.”

The patent also explicitly outlines how these NFTs will be valid across all hardware – from virtual reality headsets to tablets, computers, mobile phones and consoles.

“The digital resource can then be used via NFT by the first end-user entity across multiple different computer simulations and/or across multiple different computer simulation platforms.”

The patent also discusses the possibility of coining progress in a particular video game, such as a certain level, score or collection of points, and then transferring or selling it via NFT – allowing players to promote the gameplay.

All this signals a likely push towards a more favorable Web-3 business model for one of the world’s largest gaming companies.

Sony’s Web3 push