Everyone, regardless of physical or medical issues, should be allowed to enjoy gaming, and Electronic Arts is attempting to facilitate as much by openly sharing five tech patents with all game devs, promising in a so-called “patent pledge” that studios using these listed tech patents will not face any legal repercussions from EA.
“Through our patent pledge, we’re committing that every developer in the industry will be able to use our accessibility-centered technology patents — royalty free. Anyone can freely use these patents and implement our accessibility-centered IP in their own games to make them more inclusive. This pledge covers some of our most innovative technologies designed to break down barriers for players living with disabilities or medical issues. This includes those with vision, hearing, speaking or cognitive issues.”
The patents in question include tech that automatically detects and modifies the colors, brightness, contrast, and colorbindness features of a game; tech that modifies or creates music based on player hearing preferences; and the popular ping system that’s used in Apex Legends. The pledge post further points out that additional patents may be made open source at a later time.
