Sony is trying to carve a new niche within the NFT sector, as hinted by the company’s recent patent application. This new category of digital collectibles that Sony is planning to foray into, via its games, is called ‘Super Fungible Tokens’. The NFT sector, due to its highly speculative nature, has seen several ups and downs in recent years despite which these digital assets have managed to grab the attention of several global tech giants.
As part of Sony’s in-game mechanics, the company is planning to let gamers assemble all of their digital collectibles and create what’s called a Super Fungible Token. This move from the maker of games like God of War and Bloodborne could be vital in elevating the role of NFTs in gaming ecosystems.
“The creation of the super-fungible token corresponds to an ownership of a single gaming asset from the set of gaming assets by the player in the gaming application at a time instant,” Sony said in its patent filing.
The Super Fungible Token uses metadata to identify which gaming asset that is tied to it, is being used by a gamer. Users will be able to access one of the NFTs that are part of the Super Fungible Token, while the patent document also suggests that the functionality might work across games and publishers.
Once deployed, this feature could allow gamers of the Sony ecosystem to use their Super Fungible tokens in other games, as per the patent document. In addition, the trading of these assets in secondary markets would also circulate already combined packages of needed in-game NFTs to other players saving them the hassle to do so themselves.
In the gaming arena, NFTs let gamers collect and own in-game assets like tools and weapons, special edition skins, characters, as well as virtual properties. These can also be traded with other players, depending on the platform.
Research firm S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates that video game publishers have already generated over $3.6 billion (roughly Rs. 297,93 crore) per year in revenue through the sales of in-game NFTs. The firm has predicted that in the next three years by 2027, this revenue will cross $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1,24,141 crore).