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EA letting other devs use their patents for accessibility features like Apex pingsThey want more devs to share and help improve accessibility
They want more devs to share and help improve accessibility
Electronic Arts have offered to let other developers use five of their technology patents for accessibility features for free, saying they hope this will encourage “to build new features that make video games more inclusive”. The patents they’re offering include the ping system fromApex Legendsand colour blindness tech they use inMadden NFL. It’s unpleasant that they patented them in the first place, and that companies even can patent features that make games more accessible, but I guess at least they are sharing now.
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EA say in theirPatent Pledge For Increasing Accessibilitythat they promise “not to enforce against any party for infringing any of the listed EA patents.” They’re starting with five patents, and say they may expand the pledge to include more later.
One patent is for a “contextually aware communications system”, which EA manifested in the Apex Legends ping system to easily call out items, enemies, locations, and such. That’s a handy feature even for people who don’t have accessibility needs. Three patents cover tweaking colour and contrast for visibility. And the fifth patent is for tech which could tailor music to a player’s hearing issues. If you want more info on these, the pledge has links to the full patent filings.
It’s mostly patents they’re sharing, the techniques and ideas behind game features. Developers will need to implement these themselves, write their own code, this is largely just EA stepping back and saying ‘go wild, we won’t sue’. But they have actuallyshared code for a colourblindess solution, which is a nice touch.
“Our accessibility team has long been committed to breaking down barriers within our video games, but we realize that to drive meaningful change, we need to work together as an industry to do better for our players,” said Chris Bruzzo, EA’s EVP of positive play, commercial and marketing.
Also in the spirit of sharing knowledge, Microsoft last year releasedtheir Xbox accessibility guidelines. These are a set of talking points, questions, and suggestions that can make a game friendlier, covering everything from subtitles and sound to haptic feedback and difficulty. Again, developers still have come up with solutions themselves, but it’s helpful to have a company with years of experience point out potential pitfalls.
