Sony is opening up a new avenue for mainstream adoption for NFTs.
Entertainment and gaming giant Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent application to make non-fungible tokens (NFT) transferable between different games and hardware.
Originally filed in 2022 but published last week, the patent, titled “NFT Framework for transferring and using digital assets between game platforms”, lets users of Sony gaming products such as the PlayStation to enjoy an interoperable Web3 gameplay experience.
The patent application outlines how gamers can transfer in-game assets between various hardware devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and virtual reality (VR) headsets. Additionally, the application notes that “in some examples, the NFT can be used cross-generationally (e.g., from PS4 to PS5).”
Beyond technical outlines, the application also suggests examples on how NFTs can play a role in gaming achievements and tournaments. As the patent writes, NFTs may be a reward for tasks such as a victory in an esports tournament, and can be usable “by the first end-user entity across plural different computer simulations.”
According to the patent, Sony’s NFT framework of interoperability will also expand beyond products outside the Sony product ecosystem – which means under the patent, digital assets are fully transferable and usable between other gaming ecosystems, including Microsoft’s Xbox, and various “cloud-based video games.”
The patent also outlines a function that prevents gamers from repeating tasks to farm, or earn the same NFTs with different products or games. Sony’s proposed framework for NFT rewards prevents “performance of the task again in other instances of the computer simulation that are executed, and/or declining to provide additional NFTs for subsequent additional performances of the task.”
Sony has been making recent strides in involving itself in the Web3 space, making partnerships with blockchain firms and testing early-stage blockchain products. In February, Sony’s internet provider division Sony Network Communications entered a partnership with blockchain network Astar to establish a Web3 incubation program dedicated to companies who are focused on building decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO), and NFTs.
In November, Sony released motion-tracking wearables for users to control their metaverse avatars with their physical bodies in real time.
