It's not often you hear of altruistic moves made by major videogame publishers, but if there was a time for it then today at the beginning of Gamescom2021 is as good as any. EA, in a bid to make gaming more accessible and a less hostile industry to develop the games we love so much, has pledged to 'not to enforce against any party for infringing any of [the] EA patents [listed below]'. Known henceforth as the Patent Pledge, the goal is to nurture the development of games to account for disabilities and other medical issues and mitigate against them.
The wording of the pledge (which EA claims to have made legally binding) is stark: the patents and any others that EA chooses to add to the list can be used perpetually and that the Pledge is irrecoverable, valid even if the patents are sold on at a later date. The only parties EA can choose to enforce the terms of the patent on are those who have brought a patent dispute or similar lawsuit of their own against EA.
The list of patents is short but sweet:
1. Patent No.: US 11,097,189
Title: CONTEXTUALLY AWARE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM IN VIDEO GAMES
Ping System that allows players to transmit contextually aware audio and visual communications generated via mappable controller inputs.
2. Patent No.: US 10,118,097
Title: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED IMAGE PROCESSING FOR IMAGES WITH SIMILAR LUMINOSITIES
Image processing that improves visibility of colors to optimize for color vision deficiencies.
3. Patent No.: US 10,878,540
Title: CONTRAST RATIO DETECTION AND RENDERING SYSTEM
Automatically detecting contrast ratios in pixel regions of rendered frames and updating regions having subpar contrast ratios to meet contrast ratio standards or thresholds.
4. Patent No.: US 10,790,919
Title: PERSONALIZED REAL-TIME AUDIO GENERATION BASED ON USER PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE
Generating personalized music based on a user’s hearing information and stylistic preference to best comport with that user’s hearing issues.
Title: CONTEXTUALLY AWARE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM IN VIDEO GAMES
Ping System that allows players to transmit contextually aware audio and visual communications generated via mappable controller inputs.
2. Patent No.: US 10,118,097
Title: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED IMAGE PROCESSING FOR IMAGES WITH SIMILAR LUMINOSITIES
Image processing that improves visibility of colors to optimize for color vision deficiencies.
3. Patent No.: US 10,878,540
Title: CONTRAST RATIO DETECTION AND RENDERING SYSTEM
Automatically detecting contrast ratios in pixel regions of rendered frames and updating regions having subpar contrast ratios to meet contrast ratio standards or thresholds.
4. Patent No.: US 10,790,919
Title: PERSONALIZED REAL-TIME AUDIO GENERATION BASED ON USER PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE
Generating personalized music based on a user’s hearing information and stylistic preference to best comport with that user’s hearing issues.
It's notable that this policy will only protect developers against EA. What it doesn't do is assert that the patents cannot be challenged by a 3rd party who would then bring suit against the developers using it. But that's an argument for another time.
This is an excellent move from EA who (it must be said) don't have the best reputation for developer- or consumer-friendly actions in the last 10-15 years. This may be a flash in the pan or part of a long-term desire to clean up their act but, whatever their reasons, any efforts to make gaming a more accessible hobby for all ability groups should be applauded.
SOURCE: EA Patent Pledge
