Sony Group is looking for its Sony Pictures and Sony Music units and a new global incubator to help it enter the blockchain and Web3 sector.
“Web3” is a term that describes the vision of a decentralized Internet, based on blockchain technology and collectively controlled by its users.
Last week, Sony Block Solutions Labs, a joint venture between the Japanese conglomerate’s former Sony Network Communications Labs unit and Startale Labs, a Sony company created with the express purpose of “building new network infrastructure using blockchain technology,” said it had developed the Soneium blockchain as an infrastructure network on which the company wants to “accelerate Web3 innovation.”
“While the Internet has helped improve convenience around the world, it has led to the centralization of a huge amount of information and the online economic sphere,” Sony said. “Web3 allows that concentrated power to be decentralized. Today, Web3 faces two challenges: the current Web3 technology and service community is limited to a few core users, and there are numerous use cases that have yet to gain traction to become mainstream with the general public. The creation of killer use cases is eagerly awaited.”
On Wednesday morning Tokyo time and early evening Los Angeles time, Sony said it would launch the “Soneium Minato” public testnet and an “ambitious” developer incubation program called “Soneium Spark” to “catalyze ecosystem growth and accelerate adoption by leveraging its vast global reach and technological expertise around the world.” [the] entertainment, gaming and consumer electronics sectors”.
The two initiatives will work closely with developers. “While the testnet provides a robust environment for building and testing decentralized applications, Soneium Spark enhances the project’s growth through expert mentorship, access to cutting-edge infrastructure, and strategic industry partnerships,” the company said.
He also highlighted strategic partnerships with Web3 companies set to benefit from this push, including Astar Network, formerly known as Plasm and a decentralized blockchain platform for Web3, financial technology and services platform Circle, Web3 collective Optimism, development platform Alchemy, The Graph, which indexes blockchain data and makes it more easily accessible, and services platform Chainlink.
It is important that Sony subsidiaries, such as its film and music units, participate in the incubation program. “We opened our testnet as a first step to foster a creator-centric fan community that can connect different values through Soneium,” he said. Jun Watanabe, President of Sony Block Solution Labs. “Let's work together to create new value in Web3 towards a world where Web3 services are used in people's daily lives.”
Among the Web3 apps that have caught the attention of users is Flickplay, which allows users to unlock digital assets and create videos with them using augmented reality (AR).
But skeptics have said the space has yet to prove its viability. X owner and executive chairman Elon Musk said in late 2021 that Web3 “feels more like a marketing buzzword than a reality right now.” Critics have also expressed concern that a decentralized internet would make it harder to prevent hate crimes and speech, or warned of a blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFT bubble.