Entertainment and gaming console giant, Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent for a framework that will allow users to transfer and utilize NFT across multiple gaming platforms. The PlayStation maker’s NFT framework plans to integrate NFT into gameplay, with the technology representing skins and other popular in-game functionalities.
The latest move by the gaming giant aims to make assets more interoperable, not only between different games but also hardware like virtual reality (VR) headsets, computers and different consoles.
In fact, Sony has specified in the patent filing that the aim of the framework is to be interoperable between products outside the Sony ecosystem, such as the Xbox or a ‘cloud-based video game’, thereby making assets fully transferable and usable between different gaming ecosystems.
The development highlights Sony’s major step in bringing its video gaming arm PlayStation to Web 3.0 and its latest patent filing underlines its push to revolutionize the gaming experience, as the world embraces emerging technology. .
The patent filing has been titled “NFT framework for transferring and using digital assets between game platforms” and the patent application was submitted in September 2021 in the US. It was published this month.
The patent explores the possibility of NFT being played with and moved between games while allowing players to benefit in various games at the same time.
It would allow players of Sony products such as its flagship PlayStation to have an interoperable Web 3.0 gameplay experience. Earlier, Sony’s interest in crypto was evident through its numerous partnerships and trademark registration related to crypto and Web 3.0.
According to the abstract filed with the patent, the NFT is provided to the first end-user entity so that the digital asset may be used, via the NFT, across multiple different computer simulations and across multiple different computer simulation platforms.
It also added that the NFT’s ownership could be transferred to other end-user entities for their own use across different simulations and platforms. Once implemented, PlayStation 5 users will be able to experience NFT use cases via mainstream gaming titles. It may be noted here that the total number of active users on the PlayStation network was 112 million worldwide and that figure continues to grow every year.
The patent application also goes into detail about how NFT would work for achievements and tournaments, noting that “the task may include a victory in an esports tournament and the digital asset may be usable via the NFT by the first end-user entity across multiple computer simulations”.
According to Sony, if a player beats a certain boss in the game, he could be rewarded with a special NFT that gives him a unique or rare weapon, or any other reward like in-game skins, artwork, avatars, weapons or even video game skills.
Incidentally, this is not Sony’s first attempt to establish a framework for NFT. A patent published in November 2022 revealed that Sony was looking into the possibility of capitalizing on the surging esports industry with a wide range of in-game digital collectibles.
