Universal Studios Appears to Be Working on NFTs for Use in Games (2024)

Universal Studios seems to be looking at ways to leverage NFTs in video games according to one of the company's latest patent listings. The media conglomerate holds a substantial variety of intellectual properties that could be immensely profitable for the company if handled correctly, and it's not surprising that Universal would make an attempt at getting NFTs into the equation.

One of Universal's most important assets is that it hosts an impressive array of amusem*nt parks strewn across the globe, including the famous Florida location, and it's possible that visitors in the future might end up getting even more value out of their trips. While the adoption of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens has had its own fair share of problems as of late, Universal may have figured out a way to make them relevant in the context of its theme parks.

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Specifically, Universal Studios' new patent listing describes the way in which certain upcoming game titles might implement NFTs by tying them with real-world activities. A visitor to one of Universal's rides or attractions might, for example, be provided with a redeemable NFT that would then unlock an exclusive in-game item. What's particularly curious is that the patent references items that could be taken to represent classic Harry Potter wands, staves, and similar items, which in turn implies that Universal would cooperate with the companies whose rides it hosts to bring more value to the customer via blockchain.

While NFT sales have plummeted, Universal's patent shows a potentially interesting way of using the technology that side-steps many concerns that gamers have historically had with blockchain technology. As the submitted patent implies, Universal may collaborate with the IP holders of rides featured in Universal Studios' amusem*nt parks, resulting in the visitors leaving with a bunch of thematically appropriate NFTs to use in certain video games. Since Harry Potter World is at Universal Studios, a future HP game may serve as a testbed for this implementation.

While the odds are good that Universal will eventually end up trying out NFTs in a video game collaboration of some sort, it may be worth underlining the fact that the long-awaited Hogwarts Legacy game has nothing to do with it. Everything suggests that the game will have a fairly straightforward monetization structure without battle passes or any other live-service elements, with no sign of NFTs referenced so far, and Universal itself has nothing to do with its production.

In the gaming industry itself, certain publishers are still trying to make NFTs happen, too. Notably, the Square Enix CEO recently doubled down on NFTs, suggesting that its future releases are bound to leverage the technology in some capacity. Whether any of these implementations end up enhancing their respective games, or if they end up being yet another way for companies to monetize their properties, of course, remains to be seen.

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