Electronics giant Sony has filed a patent that describes the usage of NFT (non-fungible token) and blockchain technology to track the history of in-game digital assets. The filing describes the usage of this tech in order to record the story of modifications and ownership of the digital assets from a given game.
Sony Might Use Blockchain to Track in-Game Items
Sony has filed a patent to use NFT and decentralized ledger technology in order to record the movements and changes undergone by in-game digital assets. The filing, titled “Tracking Unique In-Game Digital Assets Using Tokens on a Distributed Ledger,” introduced in July 2021, describes a system that mints a token to follow the history of each one of these assets in a given environment.
According to the description, each one of the actions that the player executes on the item will be tracked, including trades and modifications on its structure. In this way, the company can gather intelligence on what actions players execute more commonly on which items, and their frequency.
The patent also makes reference to “video game digital media assets representing moments of gameplay of a video game, such as video clips or images,” introducing the possibility of users creating their own NFT moments to trade. These would also be tracked by the proposed system.
NFT Moments Marketplace
These moments, created of in-game video or images, would be treated as media products, and composed of important interactions that can be classified according to their rarity. For example, the filing explains that videos of important tournaments and moments of reaching achievements could be sold, and will be assigned a classification according to an AI-based system.
While the patent was introduced last year, the company has still not reported about the usage of this or a similar system and has not launched a marketplace for the aforementioned moments.
The use of NFTs for gaming applications has been received negatively by some sections of the gaming community, which criticize it for several reasons, including the supposed waste of energy and sustainability issues. However, Sony has allied with other companies to use NFTs before. In May, the company partnered with Theta Labs to use 3D NFTs to showcase the possibilities of its SDR tablet.
Also, Sony filed a patent to allow wagering with bitcoin on its Playstation series of consoles in May 2021.
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