EA has opened up two of its patents to the public, making them open-source and allowing non-EA developers to access technology previously owned by the AAA publisher. This move also benefits players who experience photosensitive seizures or require assistance with speech while gaming, as they now have unrestricted access to these patents.
Accessibility features in gaming have seen significant growth in recent years, as developers and software engineers strive to ensure that players with disabilities can enjoy their games. In 2021, EA pledged to ease restrictions on its patents, particularly those related to hardware or software designed to enhance a player's quality of life. Now, the 2021 pledge has been updated to include the announcement of these two patents being made available for free.
EA states that the primary goal of its speech-based patent is to "enable those players' speech to be more effectively recognized and reflected in-game in a manner that accurately represents their age, emotion, language, and speaking style." The second patent is an Unreal Engine 5 plugin named IRIS, which automatically alerts developers to moments in their games that could trigger seizures in individuals with photosensitive epilepsy.
"The sooner you start testing, the sooner you find potential issues," said IRIS engineer Blanca Macazaga Zuaz about the patented technology. While EA is not the only corporation to embrace accessibility features, its decision to provide the public with free access to these patents is undoubtedly a positive step forward.
Source link: https://www.gamespot.com
