According to a new patent, Sony will introduce Blockchain and NFT technology into its games

Sooner or later, Blockchain technology and NFTs were supposed to appear in mainstream gaming franchises when NFTs became popular. At the time, NFTs were mostly used as digital art for trading on major platforms like OpenSea.

Some developers have also made NFT-focused games , in which your personal NFT worked in a simulation. Not only did these games use second-hand NFTs, but later some games went further and introduced their blockchain technology and tokens to be generated, traded and used in the game.

Passionate companies have built entire ecosystems around NFT games and they have exploded. However, there have been no signs of entering the mainstream gaming industry as no major company has adopted blockchain technology or incorporated it into their game in any way.

However, the trends have changed recently as Square Enix became the first major game studio to implement blockchain and NFTs in their upcoming game Symbiogenesis. And now it looks like Sony Interactive Entertainment, the largest gaming company , will soon follow the same path, as Sony recently filed a new patent that hovers around the same concept of introducing NFTs, non-fungible tokens or in-game currency for the game.

The registered patent is titled “Tracking Unique Gaming Digital Assets Using Tokens in a Distributed Ledger” and was filed with Sony Interactive Entertainment on May 7, 2021 and published on November 10, 2022.

The filing date indicates that Sony has been working on bringing NFT technology to its game for a long time. The description of the patent is as follows:

A system and method for tracking digital assets associated with video games. Digital assets may be in-game digital assets such as in-game items or characters. The digital assets may be video game digital media assets representing moments of video game gameplay, such as video clips or images.

A digital asset is created and a distributed ledger that tracks the history of the digital asset is created and stored on different devices. A unique token for a digital asset may include a unique identifier and metadata identifying properties of the digital asset.

Changes to properties of a digital asset, such as ownership, appearance, or metadata, can be specified in a history update request. A new block can be created for and added to the distributed ledger, identifying changes in the history of the digital asset. The new block may include the hashes of the previous blocks.”

This description mentions that this new patent will help the company make the in-game currency distinct and non-fungible, which is the main use case for any NFT, to give you a distinct identity that cannot be replicated or destroyed and that will always represent you. once it is minted against your ID.

In addition, the patent describes the shortcomings of the current in-game currency system and the limitations that the current system has, as well as how this new technology will help solve the problem.

Background (as described in registered patent)

People often find it worthwhile to own or use unique physical items associated with respected celebrities or events. For example, fans of veteran baseball player Babe Ruth, or baseball in general, often seek to buy and own baseballs signed by Babe Ruth, baseballs knocked down by Babe Ruth in an important baseball game, collectible cards featuring Babe Ruth, and the like.

Video games are becoming more and more popular all over the world. Experienced multiplayer video game players gain popularity in multiplayer matches or tournaments, which are often live or otherwise broadcast to large audiences. Similarly, notable players often live stream or otherwise stream gameplay of single-player or multiplayer video games, such as in which players perform or attempt to complete speed runs, in-game challenges, multiplayer matches, or other game activities.

Some players who are particularly experienced or charismatic may develop large loyal followings, like famous athletes, singers, actors or other celebrities.

In some video games, the player may use digital assets while playing. Such digital assets may include, for example, certain characters, costumes, or items. In conventional video games, multiple instances of the same in-game element exist in the same copy of the video game and/or in different copies of the video game.

These different instances of the same in-game item are traditionally interchangeable as they are indistinguishable from each other. For example, even though a particular in-game item is rarely obtainable in a video game, the in-game item is represented in the video game as a line of code that is identical to representations of other instances of the same in-game item. element in the same video game and/or other copies of the same video game. Thus, in traditional video games, no digital asset is different from other instances of the same in-game item.

As a result, in traditional video games, there is no way to know, trace, or authenticate the history of a particular instance of an in-game item. For example, in traditional video games, it is not possible to distinguish a particular instance of an in-game item that a famous video game player used to win a famous tournament from any other instance of the in-game item.

It will be interesting to see how Sony embraces the NFT ecosystem and how it affects gaming. What do you think about this? Are you looking forward to the main NFT games? Let us know in the comments section below.