Electronic Arts is offering free use of five patents it’s been awarded for technology to help people with visual, hearing and other disabilities play video games. It’ll also freely offer code it’s created that helps adjust games for color blindness, brightness and contrast issues. The initiative marks the first time the game maker has offered its accessibility technology free to anyone who’d want to use them.
The company’s announcement Tuesday coincides with its being awarded a patent for the “ping” communications system it built for its 2018 competitive online shooting game Apex Legends. In the game, players alert one another to important information by aiming their character’s gun at it and then hitting a special button. If they’re pointing at a piece of land, they alert teammates to a certain location. If they’re pointed at an enemy when hitting the button, then the team is alerted about an enemy’s position. And it’s all done without needing to chat with voice and through microphones.