A new patent filed by Sony reveals that PlayStation has been looking into the use of NFTs and blockchain technology in its games. The patent, titled Tracking Unique In-Game Digital Assets Using Tokens on a Distributed Ledger, was filed last year and published last Thursday, according to a report from Video Game Chronicle .
The filing details a system that could be used to track digital assets that are created, used, modified, and transferred within a game, as well as assets based on the gameplay of a particular game. It suggests that the systems and technologies would be used to verify the authenticity of the NFTs created by players, including assets based on specific characters, costumes, in-game items, and even gameplay moments like cutscenes, images, and audio clips. They could even buy, sell, or rent assets created by gamers and content creators, most notably Twitch streamers.
“The techniques and technologies described herein expand the capabilities of digital assets associated with video games, and of systems that create and manage such digital assets, by converting the digital assets associated with video games from being fungible to being non-fungible,” the patent reads. “The techniques and technologies described herein expand the functionality of digital assets associated with video games, and of systems that create and manage such digital assets, by tracking a history of the digital assets. Tracking the history of the digital assets can include, for example, tracking when, how, and by whom the digital asset was created, used, modified, rented to, rented by, sold to, purchased by, licensed to, licensed by, exchanged to, exchanged by, and/or other actions.”
It’s not clear if Sony actually intends to implement the idea, as patents don’t always turn into real products. The filing does show that Sony has considered the idea of experimenting with the tech, though.
