Sony Entertainment’s NFT Framework Patent: A Look into the Future of Digital Ownership
Sony Interactive Entertainment made waves in the web3 space with their recent patent application covering their framework for minting, transferring, and acquiring digital assets between game platforms. Your favorite web3 publications are only giving you surface-level information from the application. That’s not what we are about here, so buckle in.
We will journey through the nitty-gritty of what Sony has their sights set on. There is much to unpack from skins, digital asset distribution, tournaments, GUIs, and more.
For all of you that would like to follow along with what is being covered below. Here are some resources.
Patent Application: https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2023039557&_fid=US393703479
Drawings: https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2023039557
Sony’s patent application is composed of 7 drawings and one massive body text that explains in detail;
- Definition/Classification of an NFT
- Figure 1: block diagram of an example system
- Figure 2: schematically illustrates an NFT
- Figure 3: illustrates an example GUI for awards
- Figures 4 &5: example GUIs
- Use Cases
- Closing thoughts
I would also like to state that I am not a patent expert, nor is any of this to be considered financial advice. I am simply speculating on the potential directions Sony could go with this patent application, and what I’ve seen in NFTs that Sony seems to be emulating.
Figure 1 Breakdown
I omitted an analysis on figure 1 because it simply just covers the type of hardware that would be necessary to interact, mint, distribute, and receive NFTs. Feel free to read the brief description on Figure 1 via the patent application here
Sony’s classification of an NFT
an NFT might represent the artwork or an asset in the game (such as a character or weapon or other game asset), but current systems are technologically inadequate for the owner to use the asset across different games and/or platforms. Accordingly, as further recognized herein, the functionality of the game may be enhanced by enabling gamers and/or spectators to exclusively use the asset and possibly transfer its rights to others via NFT as described further below.
TRANSLATION: Sony fully acknowledges that there is or very well could be a demand for interoperable game assets. Interoperable sounds like a scary word and is definitely hard to verbalize the first few times you say it out loud. Interoperability simply means that information can pass between two different systems.
For example, when the surgeon requests your health records from your General Practioner they have the capacity to view and ingest your records despite your GP and the surgeon using entirely two different systems.
How does this apply to gaming you ask?
One application could be that the skin you just got for beating the boss in Diablo is now available for you to use in Fortnite. Or, as Sony mentions,
The digital asset may be provided and/or maintained in a standardized format. The standardized format may be readable to insert the digital asset in different computer simulations that may include different video games of different titles. Additionally, or alternatively, the standardized format may be readable via different video game platforms such as, for example, PlayStation and Xbox. The digital asset may be usable by the first end-user entity across different video game platforms based on the first end-user entity’s ownership of the first NFT.
In some examples, the NFT can be used cross-generationally (e.g., from PS4 to PS5).
TRANSLATION: Sony goes on to explain that they don’t just want to support PlayStation. They want the digital asset usable across Microsoft, Nintendo, VR headsets, AR headsets, Smart TVs, Mobile Devices, and multiple operating systems.
I have listened to many people make the argument that a centralized entity would be passing up millions if not billions of dollars by adopting this type of open framework for digital assets to move freely between games, consoles, and operating systems. Which I completely understand, yet as more become ‘woke’ to the idea of true ownership of in-game assets. I believe that will be the watershed moment, and it looks like Sony wants to front-run that.
Loaning and Renting Digital Assets
Still further, if desired the method may include receiving a request from a second end-user entity to use the digital asset in at least one computer simulation, where the second end-user entity may be different from the first end-user entity. In these examples, the method may then include verifying via the NFT that the second end-user entity currently holds the use rights for the digital asset responsive to receiving the request and then permitting use by the second end-user entity of the digital asset in at least one computer simulation responsive to the verifying.
TRANSLATION: I may be reading between the lines a little too hard here, but, we know Sony wants us to be able to send NFTs to secondary users. What this does open the door for is a type of rent/loan system for their digital assets. Projects have explored this idea in the past. To allow someone to try out an experience/game you can loan/rent your NFT to them. Depending on mechanics you may or may not receive a partial reward based on the secondary user's usage of the NFT. Pretty cool right?
Figure 2 Breakdown
Figure 2 illustrates a data structure 200 configured for inclusion in a block chain 202. The data structure 200 in the embodiment shown is configured as a non-fungible token (NFT) that relates to or is derived from a digital asset 204, such as an image, an audio recording, an avatar, a video game weapon, a replay video of a game event played by the user, a visual collector’s version cover of game, special artwork for the game, or other digitally-embodied asset that might be generated or composed by an artist or other content creator or game developer. Other example digital assets will be discussed further below. For example, in certain implementations the digital asset 204 may be from a computer simulation such as but not limited to a computer game, and may represent a game character, weapon, skin, or other aspect of the computer game.
On the surface, this reads as a fairly traditional way to store, assign, and validate a NFT. I want to draw your attention to a specific line “or other digitally-embodied asset that might be generated or composed by an artist or other content creator or game developer”.
Is Sony considering allowing outside artists and content creators to make custom _____ (fill in the blank) for games? This would be big.
The idea that Sony is willing to potentially pull open the curtain to a creator economy of this level would actually change gaming as we know it.
Lastly, the line “a replay video of a game event played by the user” seems to emulate the concept of what NBA Top Shot was doing. Being able to turn a replay into an NFT has a lot of exciting prospects. I could see spectators collecting famous kill shots or victories from various tournaments from their favorite esports players. This is an entirely new collectors market.
Figure 3 Breakdown
As shown in Figure 3, the GUI 300 may include a prompt 302 indicating that a unique skin (the digital asset in this example) has been placed at a virtual location within the video game’s virtual world. The skin itself may be established by, e.g., avatar garments and/or skin patterns of a particular appearance. In some examples, the prompt 302 may also indicate that only one end-user entity can find and own the NFT for the skin itself. The end-user entity might be the single end-user or gamer, or plural end-users on a team that are acting in concert to jointly perform a task as might be the case in an electronic-sports (e-sports) video game for instance. As also shown in Figure 3, the prompt 302 might further indicate that only the acquiring end-user entity may use the skin, whether in the same video game, in different video games on the same platform (e.g., PlayStation, Nintendo, or Xbox), or even in different video games on different platforms. The GUI 300 may also include a selector 304 that may be selectable via touch, cursor, or button input to begin the first level or stage of the game itself after the prompt 302 is read.
TRANSLATION: There it is in black and white. A confirmation pop-up affirming that you could potentially get a scarce item that you can equip, hold or use on your existing console or others. For me personally, that is a surreal sight. It’s the thought that has always been in the back of my mind and is yet to be realized. Now I am looking right in the face of it. Say it again with me interoperability.
Figure 4 & 5 Breakdown
Next suppose the end-user entity from above is the first entity/user to actually find the skin at its designated virtual location within the video game’s virtual world. In this context, being the first one may mean the first entity to have found the skin among any and all instances of execution of the same game across multiple different consoles/devices (e.g., after the game’s public release), any and all platforms that execute the game, and/or any and all users that have played the game as located anywhere in the world. Based on being the first entity, the GUI 400 of Figure 4 may then be presented on the entity’s local display.
TRANSLATION: Speedrunners rejoice, it seems like Sony has a strong understanding of supply and demand. It never occurred to me to do super limited drops to even the extreme of potentially only releasing one unique skin that only one player across all platforms can get. Oh, the demand for such an item, I can almost feel the saliva from those drooling over the idea of it, or is that me?
Say it again interoperability.
Use Cases
Suppose a cross-platform e-sports tournament is being hosted at a particular location, such as a stadium or other large in-person venue. Also suppose there are different winners for different stages, rounds, or brackets of the tournament and that each winner will be awarded as special digital asset (e.g., trophy) or even blockchain-based currency.
In this case, the NFT for the associated digital asset(s) may be transferred from a local datacenter in the stadium to the eventual winner over a local area network, Bluetooth, or near field communication to reduce latency. Then the winner of each stage or round may ante-up the NFT he or she just won to buy in to play the next round or stage of the same tournament, and that NFT may be placed into a virtual escrow account maintained by the tournament host in order to register the respective player for the next round.
Then an NFT for the winner of that next round may be minted, where this new NFT for the winner of the next round represents all of the previous NFTs that were used as the buy in. The smart contracts for each respective NFT that was used as a buy in may thus indicate that once aggregated into another NFT for the winner of the higher round, that respective NFT from the lower round is void or no longer has value.
This process may continue through higher and higher rounds of the tournament until one NFT is provided to the eventual winner of the entire tournament, with that NFT encapsulating all lower-round NFTs.
TRANSLATION: I love this take on a burn-and-mint process for tournament play with a touch of wagering and if you win it all you receive an NFT that is an amalgamation of all the previous rounds. I am assuming you could even do something like this with dNFTs that evolve through each round of the tournament that you win.
Remember what I said about Sony possibly exploring the idea of independent artists being able to make custom items/skins for games? Well, it doesn’t feel so far away now or near as speculative.
As another example incorporating present principles, suppose an end-user is also a digital artist. That person might create a certain skin or other digital content and then mint it into an NFT in a standardized format for use by the person’s avatar across all games and platforms adhering to the standard. Thus, the NFT may be used to allow the person to use the skin itself from one game to another and may in a way become the player’s “virtual identity” based on the uniqueness of the skin. If desired, the person might also vend or transfer the skin rights to someone else via the NFT, and the original owner/creator may then receive notifications according to the NFT’s smart contract that the skin got used somewhere else by a subsequent transferee. The original owner/creator might even receive royalties according to the smart contract for each subsequent transfer and/or use.
Game progress NFTs?! 👀
As yet another example, an NFT representing reaching a certain level, score, and/or points accumulation in a particular video game may be minted. The NFT may then be transferred to someone else, who may then resume the game where the transferor left off
according to the NFT so that the transferee begins gameplay at the same level, with the same score, and/or with the same points accumulation as the transferor.
TRANSLATION: This is a really interesting idea. I know of several pay-to-win games that this model would be an excellent fit for. You may never get all the money you put into the account back BUT you could get something back, which is absolutely better than nothing. Today the process is actually quite shady, you have to work with a black market middleman that basically works as an OTC escrow service but with only hearsay as the operating agreement for trust. Thankfully, the blockchain and smart contracts fix that.
Closing Thoughts
As much as I love to see this patent application, I am still a bit apprehensive about its adoption. I feel that we will need a major catalyst event before we see true gaming adoption. It is still a hard sell to a centralized entity to adopt this new model in gaming. We are on the fringe of the race to zero in gaming. You can count on one hand the number of successful free-to-play games that have achieved true mainstream adoption. Their revenue model is also built on the premise of centralization. You are going to buy DLCs and skins from us and that’s it. Roblox is probably the closest thing we’ve seen where independent creators can build custom maps and skins that can be resold in the Roblox marketplace.
On the other hand, all it takes is for one group to do it successfully and then you may not have a choice. It will be an adapt-or-die moment. As I mentioned before I am no patent expert, and this is just an application. From my understanding, what Sony is patenting is the framework for handling, distributing, and minting NFTs. The nuances of reading between the lines are completely speculative and not what is being patented.
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