EA adds more tech patents to its accessibility program

Electronic Arts is expanding its accessibility program with the addition of 23 technology patents that other companies and developers are free to use without facing infringement lawsuits. This expansion more than doubles the total number of patents EA has published since initiating this pledge in 2021, and includes speech and voice generation and recognition tools.

“We believe games should be accessible to everyone, and our industry-leading team is always looking for new ways to make this happen,” Kelly Hopkins, EA’s global SVP, said in a press release. ” “By making this technology available to others, we continue to work to remove unintended barriers to access and strengthen accessibility and inclusion for players around the world.”

Examples of open technology patents include systems that can improve speech recognition, generate expressive voices from text data, and generate voices that mimic a player’s voice based on minimal sample audio data . One system uses machine learning to make the player’s voice sound older, while the other system “infers the player’s emotions while playing a video game” and tailors the game to best suit the player’s emotional state. automatically adjusts the background music.

According to EA, these patents can be used to improve the gaming experience for players with speech impairments or those who struggle with verbal expression, and can be used to better match the player’s age, emotions, language, and speaking style. It is said that there is a possibility that people will be able to communicate in a way that is expressed in Alongside this announcement, EA Unreal Engine 5 plugin that allows you to use IRIS within the engine — EA’s Photosensitivity Analysis Technology — Helps game developers identify frames that may impact photosensitive players.