Sony has released a patent for an in-game blockchain infrastructure to support trading and selling of digital assets. The patent contains a distributed ledger which uses unique identifiers and metadata for secure NFT trading for objects such as in-game used items, characters or video clips and images. The blockchain unlocks the possibility to view an asset’s history, such as previous ownership, visual appearance, and other metadata.
Sony has released the patent at the beginning of November 2022 to support secure in-game purchases of items and NFTs. The in-game blockchain infrastructure supports trading and selling digital assets while ensuring the legitimacy and history of the assets. Part of the data for each item is its unique identifier and history, like previous ownership, and other metadata.
How the in-game blockchain works
Sony’s blockchain works with a distributed ledger which uses unique identifiers and metadata. Changes to the properties of the digital asset, such as ownership, visual appearance, or metadata, can start a request to update the history. A new block can be generated for, and appended to, the distributed ledger identifying the changes to the history of the digital asset. The new block can include hashes of previous blocks.
Apart from items and characters that can be brought onto the blockchain, it also supports capturing gameplay moments such as video clips or images and distributing them as NFTs. This helps gamers to monetize their gameplay, in line with the current practices of gamers to record their play and stream that through YouTube for example.
