Electronic Arts is pledging to open the patents for some of its accessibility-related tech, including the much-celebrated Apex Legends ping system, the company announced today. EA states it will not file infringement lawsuits against individuals or companies who use tech that falls within the patents in the pledge.
Apex Legends' ping system allows players to participate in team-based games without having to speak or hear. It has been highly praised for its accessibility features and alternative to voice chat. EAs pledge announcement coincided with the issuance of a patent (US 11,097.189).
EA has opened patents on the technology it uses in Madden, FIFA and the ping system patent. This is to make them more accessible to people with low vision and colorblindness. This tech includes automated systems that improve visibility by detecting and modifying colors (US 10.118,097) and contrast ratios (10,878,540).
EA claims that this technology has not been yet developed.
EA has also opened some patents. EA is open-sourcing software that addresses issues such as brightness, contrast, or colorblindness in digital media. You can search the code on GitHub to find it and modify or build your own games.
We hope that developers will make use of these patents. And we encourage others who have the creativity, resources and innovation to do the same by making their own pledges that place accessibility first. Chris Bruzzo is EVP of Positive play, Commercial, and Marketing at EA. We are open to collaboration with other industry professionals in order to move the industry forward.
EA says it plans to add patents for future accessibility-related tech to the pledge, as well as open-sourcing more of its tech.
