Sony Interactive Entertainment wants to rent out non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to gamers and stream viewers according to a recently published patent. The latest patent from Sony suggests that the company may introduce NFTs to the PlayStation ecosystem on PS4 and PS5 in the near future, and PlayStation Stars members may already have a glimpse of what’s to come.
A PlayStation survey caused some controversy due to questions involving interest in NFTs in August. Two months later, PlayStation Star’s loyalty program launched with digital collectibles that share similarities with NFTs despite lacking monetary value. These digital collectibles led some PlayStation fans to believe that NFTs would eventually make their way to PlayStation services. Furthermore, a Sony patent published in November 2022 suggested that PlayStation has developed NFTs and blockchain technology. The company’s plans for NFTs have become even clearer with the latest patent.
A new patent from Sony suggests that the company wants to rent NFTs to PlayStation 5 players and stream spectators. Specifically, the patent describes an interconnected system that provides users with an offer to rent an NFT that displays artwork or an asset from popular PlayStation 5 games. This limited time offer will be displayed in the console user interface with terms of ownership for both a player and a spectator. Sony’s patent system indicates that different prices for the NFTs will be offered to players and spectators respectively. When the rental period expires, the NFT will be returned to the market for others to rent or buy.
Players who rent out NFTs to others in the market can also profit from the transactions. The NFT market will be directly accessible from a PlayStation 5 console by navigating the user interface. However, the patent itself focuses more on the necessary systems and executables that allow gamers and streaming spectators to rent NFTs on a console.
The patent’s first filing was made on July 6 last year, which means that Sony has been preparing the use of NFTs on consoles for quite some time. The general perception surrounding NFTs has been mostly negative from gamers, but Sony may eventually introduce an NFT marketplace to the PlayStation 5 to further gauge its viability. The PlayStation Star digital collectibles may have been another way Sony gauged interest in NFTs without requiring players to make transactions.
Konami is developing an NFT marketplace after conducting its own research, and Sony may do the same according to its PlayStation blockchain technology patent. However, Sony has yet to publicly confirm plans to introduce an NFT marketplace or rental program through PlayStation 5 firmware updates.
