Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
As gaming and communication have evolved over the years, so too have people realized the need for accessibility in games. Video games should be fun for everyone to enjoy and accessibility only serves to open the field to those who might otherwise be impaired in their enjoyment of a game. With that, it would seem that Electronic Arts is aiming to help build a better, more accessible gaming tech community. It has made five patents, including colorblind mode rendering techniques and Apex Legends’ ping system available for use in an initiative to increase accessibility across the industry.
Electronic Arts announced its Patent Pledge for Increasing Accessibility in a company blog post on August 24, 2021. With the pledge, EA is committed to helping increase accessibility throughout gaming by allowing other developers to make use of several listed patents in their own games and projects. There are five patents listed at the time of this writing, but EA suggested it could add more. Among them are the Apex Legends ping system, colorblind mode rendering tech, and an unused tech for generating real-time audio in support of those with hearing deficiencies.
There have already been groups that have adapted something similar to Apex Legends’ ping system into their games. You can find such systems in games like Fortnite and Borderlands 3. EA is not the first to dabble in a colorblind mode, either. We recently praised such a mode among accessibility options in our review of Psychonauts 2. That said, EA making these techs available to the industry is a fantastic move. Apex Legends’ ping system is among the best around for quick, contextual communication, and hopefully other developers will take up the opportunity to adapt this and other available techs to increase accessibility in their own games. Moreover, it’s EA’s hope that this move will spur other groups in the industry to also make their own accessibility tech available.
With groups like Steven Spohn and AbleGamers pushing loudly for accessibility and inclusion in gaming, here’s hoping EA’s move not only expands the accessibility factor in the industry as a whole, but truly pushes other developers and publishers to do the same.