The video game studio Electronic Arts (EA) decided to give up all its accessibility patents for videogames, among which its “Ping” system stands out, which facilitates communication to people with hearing, cognitive and speech disabilities, granting other companies of video game and developers of the sector their technologies for free.
The videogame company expects the supply of the patents “encourage to create new features that make video games more inclusive” (…). “We hope that developers take full advantage of these patents and encourage those who have resources, innovation and The creativity to do the same as us, creating its own assignments that give priority to accessibility,” said Chris Bruzzo, executive vice president of Positive Play, Comercial and Marketing at EA.
Among the five technologies assigned by EA is its “ping system”, used in Apex Legends, aimed at reducing the toxicity in the game in communication functions and to make it more accessible to people with auditory, cognitive and speech disabilities.
Three of the patents covered by the assignment are related to a technology that makes video games more accessible to players with vision problems and are already used in Electronic Arts videogames, such as Madden NFL and FIFA franchises.
It is also opening the source code of a technical solution that similarly addresses the problems of daltonism, brightness and contrast in digital content. The code can be found at Github, where developers can obtain it to use in their games.
The fifth patent included in the assignment is related to personalized sound technology, whose objective is to help players with hearing problems by modifying or creating music based on their auditory preferences and that suits the limitations they may have.
Fuente: dpa
