Back in 2021 EA made an initial 15 patent pledge to make accessibility patents available for other studios to use. This allowed studios to use tech that had previously unaccessible to them and allows studios to use patents without fear of being sued or having to pay. EA’s original patent pledge statement read:
Through our patent pledge, we’re committing that every developer in the industry will be able to use our accessibility-centred technology patents royalty free.
Now, EA have made 23 more patents available which includes multiple technologies such as:
A speech recognition system that improves the accuracy and efficiency of speech recognition by using personal phoneme mappings for each user, to better understand accent and other pronunciation variations such as those resulting from speech impairments.
A system that generates expressive speech audio from text data, and provides more control and personalization of the generated speech based on desired speaking style and speaker attributes.
A system that can generate speech in the voice of a player, for their avatar, based on minimal sample speech data as compared with existing techniques.
EA would go on to say in their pledge that:
Anyone can freely use these patents and implement our accessibility-centred IP in their own games to make them more inclusive.
This pledge covers some of our most innovative technologies designed to break down barriers for players living with disabilities or medical issues. This includes those with vision, hearing, speaking or cognitive issues.
With this pledge, also states in their pledge that making patents that, “At Electronic Arts (EA), we want to make sure that gaming is inclusive for everyone and that nothing comes between our players and our shared love for video games. To do this, we need to reduce or eliminate as many barriers to access as possible and empower our gamers.”