Sony Says You Don't Own the Games You Bought. Crypto Says It Can Fix That
Sony’s court fight over whether players can truly own digital games highlights a broader problem: most digital “purchases” are revocable licenses controlled by platforms. Similar cases have happened across media, including remote deletion or editing of ebooks, movies, TV shows, and music libraries. Centralized intermediaries can alter or remove content without users’ consent, unlike physical property. Blockchain and Web3 are presented as a possible fix by letting users hold verifiable digital titles directly. But early NFTs often failed because the asset content still lived on company servers, metadata was public, and ownership did not equal exclusive access. Privacy tools such as encryption, TEEs, and FHE could make NFTs more like real property by hiding content and controlling access, but adoption has been slowed by poor integration, hype, and weak standards. The main barrier now is less technical than cultural and regulatory trust.
