Electronic Arts just made the decision to make 23 of its tech patents open-source, making them available to the public completely for free.
This allows other companies and developers to make use of the patents without fear of being slapped with an infringement lawsuit. The latest development more than doubles the total number of patents that the studio has made open-source since launching the pledge in 2021.
Electronic Arts' Tech Patents
The tech patents include generation and recognition tools for speech and audio. Electronic Arts said in a press release that they believe games should be accessible to everyone in the industry. It noted that leading teams are always on the lookout for new ways to help this happen.
Senior vice president of Global Affairs Kerry Hopkins added that they continue to work to enhance accessibility and inclusivity for players worldwide. The latest decision helps in removing unintended barriers to access, according to The Verge.
Some of the tech patents that have been made open-source include ones that can improve speech recognition, generate expressive speech audio from text data, and generate speech that mimics a player's voice. The latter is based on minimal sample speech data.
One of the systems uses machine learning to make a player's voice sound like it comes from an older person. Another is said to infer a player's emotion while playing a video game and will automatically adjust the game's background music to suit their emotional state.
On top of the patents, Electronic Arts also released an Unreal Engine 5 plugin that enables in-engine use of its photosensitivity analysis tech IRIS. The latter was made open-source last year, the Video Games Chronicle said.
Expanding Its Efforts
The original pledge statement by Electronic Arts said that through its pledge, they are committing that every developer in the industry can use the accessibility-centered technology patents without any royalty.
The company said that anyone can use the patents and implement its accessibility-centered IP in their own games in order to make them more inclusive.
The pledge also covers some of the studio's most innovative technologies that were designed to break down barriers for players who have disabilities or medical issues.
Electronic Arts noted that the latest development marks only the beginning of its efforts to improve accessibility across the video game industry. It also plans to start running accessible design workshops and expand testing capabilities.
The company had previously made similar efforts for the ping system that was originally found in the battle royale game Apex Legends. This gave players a way to talk about in-game strategy without using voice chat, according to Engadget.
