Microsoft’s Xbox Royalties Blockchain Gets New Functionality

Microsoft’s blockchain-based solution for gaming rights and royalties management will now be able to provide a financial system of record ranging from contract creation to payment and reconciliation.

Announced in a press release on 14 December, the platform will allow Xbox gaming partners and content creators to track and manage their payments and royalties. The blockchain-based solution is set to become one of the largest production implementations of a blockchain-based financial system of records.

The new blockchain capabilities will enable Microsoft to accelerate contract digitization, as well as generate statements and invoices with enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. Powered by artificial intelligence, its enterprise users will be able to process and record royalties with greater speed and transparency. 

Luke Fewel, the General Manager of Global Finance Operations at Microsoft, said that Microsoft’s gaming partners will be the first ones to benefit from the reduced manual overhead the platform provides. 

Processing time will be reduced by 99%, the company said, adding that the blockchain will enable real-time calculation of royalties. Various performance tests have shown that the platform is capable of processing two million transactions per day. 

Ernst & Young said that it wants to use the Xbox’s blockchain model to help its business-to-business enterprise clients create similar platforms. The firm also stated that companies that have contractually driven, multiparty cash flow distributions would benefit from automating contract-related calculations and processing.

“Blockchains could well become the glue that digitizes interactions between enterprises,” Paul Brody, EY’s Global Blockchain Leader, said. “Blockchain solutions like this help raise the bar for enterprise integration, from point-to-point integration to ecosystem-level automation.”