Electronic Arts Opens Patents for Accessibility-Related Technology
Recently, Electronic Arts (EA) announced their intent to open patents for accessibility-related tech, including the Apex Legends ping system. Additionally, EA says that it will no longer file infringement lawsuits against people or companies for using the tech under the accessibility pledge.
Apex Legends Ping System
First off, if this is the first time you’re hearing about Apex Legends, welcome! In short, the technology called “the ping system” in Apex allows people to play together without hearing or speaking. This way, non-verbal individuals or those that don’t wish to interact do not have to.
FIFA and Madden Low Vision and Colorblindness Systems
In addition to opening its patents, EA announced they’re also open-sourcing code they’ve developed that helps address issues with brightness, contrast, and colorblindness. As seen in the screenshot on the right, when the player sets their color blindness mode to deuteranopia, they get a much different picture than in standard mode.
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Personalized Sound Technology
Last but certainly not least, the pledge for the “personalized sound technology” patent (US 10,878,540) refers to technology that will modify or create music for people based on their listening preferences and level of hearing. At this time, however, EA says they’ve not developed it just yet.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, EA has no plans to share or help other developers implement its technology beyond sharing them. In fact, they, “absolutely respect individual developers and their own expertise in determining how to use our accessibility inventions in a way that works with their software,” says Chris Bruzzo, EVP of positive play, commercial, and marketing at EA. Though, he continues and states the company will plan to add patents for future accessibility-related tech to the pledge and making their tech more open-source.
Resources & Further Reading
Sanchez, K. (2021, August 24). EA is opening the patents for some of its accessibility tech. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/24/22638535/ea-accessibility-patent-pledge-apex-legends-ping-system.
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