When Bitcoin emerged as a volatile money-maker to the masses, the focus was, naturally, on the price of the cryptocurrency.
When tech onlookers were keen to highlight, though, was the underpinning technology. The blockchain was created as a way to allow cryptocurrencies to be governed by a public distributed ledger to ensure that transactions were valid and that values couldn’t be artificially inflated or deflated.
The blockchain is the true masterstroke of the creation of Bitcoin and its many other peers. So, it’s not a surprise that massive companies are looking into how the tech can work for them, either by expanding their options or enhancing what they have.
For Sony, it’s a case of creating its own ambitious platform, Soneium. It’s a firm demonstration of Sony’s embrace of Web3, and it may end up being the first of many such applications in entertainment.
Blockchain and the Reasons for Soneium
By its very nature, a blockchain can increase security and enhance the reliability of a network.
As a decentralized digital ledger, records are stored across the network’s devices, and it ensures that they can’t be tampered with or altered without due process, as detailed by the Investopedia article.
All of the blocks of data need to be confirmed and recorded, with those moves being transparent for all on the network to see.
With smart contracts and cryptocurrencies also a feature, digital items and values can be transferred across the network without issue.
For Sony, the aim with Soneium is to essentially try to create the watershed moment that powers up the Web3 industry.
As TechnologyMagazine reports, the director of Sony Block Solutions Labs, Sota Watanabe, says that they need to provide solutions that billions can use in their everyday lives.
This will prove the value of Web3 and, in turn, make it mainstream. With Soneium and investment in its development, Sony hopes to help achieve mainstream status for Web3 over the next few years.
From there, they can leverage its blockchain for its diverse range of IPs, businesses, and entertainment products overall.
If fully realized, Soneium could enhance its entertainment services and products, including film, television, and gaming.
Applying the blockchain to entertainment
In some corners of entertainment, the ability of the blockchain to run randomized games, offers transparency as to their odds and winners, and instant transfers of value present significant benefits.
This could be the case for the ever-popular collection of WowPot jackpots. With these on the blockchain, whenever one of the multi-million prizes is won, the winner could get the payout instantly, and the transfer be verified by the blockchain.
Furthermore, other players would be able to see the payout history of the game.
It’s a level of transparency that isn’t essential in online casino gaming due to the rigorous regulatory bodies that run the show, but with massive jackpots like WowPot, many would be intrigued to see when it last paid big and to where.
Aside from transparency, true digital ownership is another huge perk of basing operations on a blockchain.
Copying and sharing products online has been a much-maligned aspect of the internet in the entertainment industry for decades.
With NFTs and specialized smart contracts, digital items can become individual, granting access to truly unique products.
Copying, sharing, and IP infringement would be decreased, and creators could even account for a kind of sell-on fee if they really wanted. Either way, truly unique digital items can be made.
The blockchain is a truly magnificent bit of tech, and entertainment companies and individual creators of entertainment products would do well to start exploring its benefits before the Web3 boom arrives.