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Author: Zen, PANews
On July 1st, Amber Japan officially rebranded as S.BLOX. Acquired in February 2022 by Amber Group, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Amber Group, and subsequently fully acquired in August 2023 by Quetta Web, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Group, the company operating the cryptocurrency trading platform “WhaleFin” has now become part of Sony Group.
Sony, with its mission “to inspire and fulfill curiosity,” encompasses businesses in “inspiring” gaming and network services, music, movies, “connecting” entertainment, technology, and service businesses, imaging and sensing solutions, and “supporting” medical and financial services. To emphasize its diverse portfolio spanning financial services, gaming, and entertainment, Sony Corporation renamed itself “Sony Group Corporation” in April 2021, the first name change in over 60 years.
Among its businesses, Sony’s gaming and network services, music, and movie sectors have seen rapid growth over the past decade. In the fiscal year 2021, their combined operating revenue surpassed half of Sony Group’s consolidated revenue for the first time, with overall operating profit contributing two-thirds to the group’s consolidated profit. With the evolution of blockchain technology, particularly the rise of metaverse and NFTs closely related to entertainment products, Sony has begun cautious exploration and expansion into the Web3 domain.
Metaverse
As a buzzword in the tech industry, the concept of “metaverse” entered the view of many industries and companies in 2021. Sony, as an entertainment giant, is no exception. In its corporate strategy for the fiscal year 2022, Sony anticipates growth in the metaverse and plans to create new entertainment experiences in this field. Sony’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida also revealed that the metaverse is a social and real-time network space intersecting games, music, movies, and anime, interested in launching more products with metaverse experiences for users.
Targeting the then-hot metaverse track, Sony quickly laid out its plans. First, in February 2022, it signed a three-year partnership with Manchester City, the English Premier League champions, to create the world’s first metaverse football stadium. Later, in April, it was disclosed that Sony and the family investment company KIRKBI behind LEGO each invested $1 billion, totaling $2 billion, in Epic Games, placing a significant bet on the metaverse. By the end of the year, Sony acquired Beyond Sports, an AI-based data analytics and visualization company positioned as a metaverse sports portal, providing real-time digital sports engagement solutions for leagues, broadcasters, brands, and end consumers across traditional media and metaverse platforms.
NFT
There has been no unified definition in the industry regarding what constitutes the metaverse or which technologies fall under this concept. Many envision a future metaverse with interoperable, digital asset properties such as NFTs playing a crucial role, enabling true digital ownership, economic activities, and social interactions. Moreover, NFT technology holds broad application prospects in entertainment products like games, music, and movies in the foreseeable future. Thus, since 2022, Sony has maintained a keen interest in the NFT arena.
In April 2022, Sony subsidiary Sony Network Communications established an NFT business company in Singapore, a joint venture with software development company Sun Asterisk, with Sony Network Communications holding a 70% stake. The new company aims to maximize value for customers, creators, and end-users in Web3 using NFT technology. According to the company’s website, its services include “NFT business strategy support,” “NFT issuance support,” “unique token issuance support,” “NFT game development support,” and “NFT promotion support.”
Sony Music, another division, has been exploring NFT technology since at least 2021 and participated in a $30 million Series A financing round for the NFT market MakersPlace that year. In 2022, it partnered with the Solana-based NFT platform Snowcrash (now transformed into an AI-driven music production platform) to announce plans for NFT series featuring legendary musicians like Bob Dylan. It also established RCA Records’ Greater China division to explore opportunities in streaming, NFTs, and the metaverse, signing artists such as Jackson Wang and Ellen Wong. Additionally, it filed trademark applications with Columbia Records for NFT support in media, music, podcast production, artist management, and music distribution services.
In gaming, Sony is focusing on developing NFT-related patents, including “Tracking Unique Digital Assets in Games Using Tokens on a Distributed Ledger” and “NFT Framework for Transferring and Using Digital Assets across Gaming Platforms,” aiming to track digital assets across different hardware platforms and publishers and exploring methods for cross-platform NFT use and trading. Sony also announced plans to build an NFT and blockchain system applicable to the PlayStation (PS) platform ecosystem.
Infrastructure
Entering 2023, Sony has expanded its business scope beyond NFT technology to encompass blockchain and Web3 industries.
In early 2023, Sony Network Communications, a business division of Sony Group, collaborated with Astar Network, a multi-chain smart contract network, to launch a Web3 incubation program focusing on projects practical for NFT and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). The incubation program, held from March to June, saw Startale Labs, headquartered in Singapore and the development company of Astar Network founded by CEO Sota Watanabe, involved. Interestingly, following the conclusion of the Web3 incubation program, Startale Labs received a clear investment of $3.5 million from Sony Network Communications. In September of the same year, both parties further deepened their cooperation by establishing a joint venture subsidiary, “Sony Network Communications Labs Pte. Ltd.,” focusing on blockchain technology research and development. Sota Watanabe remarked that the new subsidiary would advance the development of Sony Chain, a chain with potential to surpass Coinbase’s previously released Layer2 network Base.
Earlier this year, Startale Labs also raised $3.5 million in a follow-up Series A financing round, with investors including UVM Signum Blockchain Fund, Sony Network Communications, and Samsung Next Ventures, valuing the company at $63.5 million after the financing. Furthermore, according to the Singapore business information platform BIZFILE, Sony Network Communications’ shares in Startale Labs have been transferred to Sony Group, symbolizing a step forward in blockchain at Sony’s business strategy level.
Financial
In 2024, Sony began expanding its financial services into the cryptocurrency industry.
In March this year, Sony Bank, a subsidiary of Sony Financial Group, announced plans to launch “Sony Bank CONNECT” in summer 2024. This new smartphone application aims to provide privileges for digital securities and NFT holders, designed for easy and secure access to exciting experiences for all users. The app will connect to the market operated by SNFT Co., Ltd. “SNFT,” where users can display and enjoy their NFT holdings.
With the product launch, Sony plans to offer digital content to customers who participated in past activities and obtained NFTs, purchased specific digital securities, or responded to surveys. Additionally, they are developing a blockchain-based wallet and plan to expand its functionality based on customer feedback post-launch. Sony Bank stated, “Sony Bank CONNECT will continue to expand its functionality based on customer demand after launch, contributing to the future development of Japan’s web3 entertainment sector.”
Furthermore, Sony Bank started a concept verification in April this year, planning to issue stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies. This trial will take place on the Polygon blockchain. Due to advantages in reducing payment and remittance fees, Sony is exploring the use of stablecoins to promote the company’s intellectual property in gaming and sports. The stablecoin experiment will assess any legal issues related to yen-backed stablecoins and is expected to last several months. This development is entrusted to SettleMint, a blockchain company headquartered in Belgium.
The latest developments in cryptocurrency and financial services are reflected in the beginning, where Amber Japan, now renamed S.BLOX, was acquired by Sony. Future plans for reform or optimization include UI screen redesign, new application releases, and expansion of supported currencies and functionalities.
Since 2021, Sony has been continuously expanding the boundaries of Web3 exploration, from metaverse and NFTs to building infrastructure public chains, and now venturing into cryptocurrency. For a large entertainment conglomerate like Sony, carefully integrating emerging technologies into its various business sectors ensures it neither takes excessive risks nor falls behind due to conservatism. This inclusive attitude towards emerging technologies may well be the key to its sustained success over the past sixty years.
