5 Video Game Patents That Might Surprise You

  • 2 months ago
From Apex Legends' Ping system in aid of accessibility to Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system, there are many surprising patents out there.

When it comes to safeguarding and protecting ideas, and inventions, developers and publishers will sometimes go that extra mile by taking out patents. As you might already know, developers can file patents to gain sole rights to a new innovation or creation, and protect it from being for a certain amount of time by competitors. It could be anything from a new feature in a game, something that's been developed for hardware, or an original element of gameplay. Once a patent file request has been approved, others can't create or use the same feature or replicate it without the owner's permission. There are now a number of video game patents out there right now that may well surprise you.
Transcript
00:00Ever wondered why that amazing bit of tech they use in games or an amazing system never
00:04made it into other games, like the Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor?
00:08Some of them literally transformed the game and you wonder why has nobody else used this?
00:13Do other gaming developers not play this game or know about it?
00:16Well it turns out if the system is THAT good, it's probably been painted by the company
00:20so no other gaming developer can use it without getting sued into oblivion.
00:24Which has happened and it is on this list.
00:27Now Apex Legends' beautifully simplistic ping system is one example of a patented
00:32system but, interestingly, it was done for a good cause.
00:36EA took out a patent on the much lauded ping system in Apex Legends.
00:41Patents tend to be used by companies to protect innovations but in this instance EA has patented
00:46the system as part of its Accessibility Patent Pledge, an initiative that opens up accessibility
00:51led patents to developers in a bid to encourage collaboration and drive forward accessibility
00:55in the video game industry.
00:57The ping system allows you to communicate with your teammates in Respawn's battle royale
01:01hero shooter by making points of interest, calling out the location of an enemy, and
01:05much more, as well as reducing in-game toxicity by offering an effective alternative to speaking
01:10over voice chat.
01:11The ping system also helps players with cognitive, speaking, and hearing disabilities.
01:15As you can see here, the patent filing gives a detailed rundown of the system.
01:19EA's EVP of Positive Play told GamesRadar in a recent interview that when you patent
01:24a technology or idea, you publish technical information that would otherwise have never
01:28been accessible to the public, and, as such, this equips developers with know-how and advances
01:33the state of art in game development.
01:38The Nemesis system introduced in Middle-Earth's Shadow of Mordor, and later refined in Shadow
01:43of War, put a refreshing and innovative spin on procedurally generated enemies.
01:47Instead of fighting nameless carbon copy foes, Shadow of Mordor pits you against various
01:51different members of Orc society, and each and every one is unique to your playthrough.
01:56With their own names and ranks, every Orc you come across will remember your encounters
01:59to add more depth to the action.
02:01It quickly became a huge selling point and trademark feature of Monolith's action RPG
02:05series.
02:06Many have wondered why Social Vendettas never made their way out of Mordor and into other
02:10games in the industry, and this, it would appear, is why.
02:14After several years of trying, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment successfully painted
02:18the Nemesis system, meaning that the appearance of similar systems outside of games produced
02:22by Warner Bros. is very unlikely.
02:27In The Medium, you take on the role of Marianne, who you control in both the real world and
02:31the spirit world in which developer Bloober Team calls dual reality gameplay.
02:36The screen is split in half so you gain two different perspectives in both worlds.
02:40Ahead of the game's release, many were quick to notice that Bloober described this dual
02:43reality style as never seen before and officially painted it gameplay.
02:48As it turns out, Bloober filed a patent for this dual reality gameplay back in 2016.
02:52As you can see from the filing, the developer painted it the method of simultaneous playing
02:56in single player video games, where the key feature of the invention is the way of playing
03:01in a video game for a single player involving simultaneous controlling of several character
03:06avatars placed in several virtual realities that constitute separately presented story
03:10universes.
03:11Currently active until 2039, it does make you wonder what kind of Bloober projects we
03:15might see using this style of gameplay in the future.
03:20One very prominent part of the Mass Effect experience is actually painted by the developer.
03:25BioWare requested a patent for the dialogue wheel or graphical interface for interactive
03:29dialogue used to select your responses back in 2006, which was officially approved a few
03:34years later.
03:35Still currently active, this might go some way to explaining why other RPGs that came
03:39after this date continued to present dialogue choices in a list form.
03:43The wheel interface that presents you with a selection of different responses went on
03:47to be used in the entire Mass Effect trilogy, as well as the more recent Mass Effect Andromeda,
03:51and also found its way into BioWare's other franchises in both Dragon Age 2 and Dragon
03:55Age Inquisition.
03:59With the advent of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, lengthy loading times are quickly becoming
04:03a thing of the past, but for years we've found ourselves staring at a loading screen
04:07as we waited to get back into the virtual adventuring.
04:10Perhaps one of the most famous and well-known patents just so happens to be related to loading
04:14screens.
04:15Back in 1995, Namco took out a patent for the use of auxiliary minigames during loading
04:20screens.
04:21The idea to keep players busy with a minigame while they waited for the main game to load
04:24was a novel one, with the likes of the classic arcade shooter Galaxian popping up during
04:28the loading screens for games such as Ridge Racer.
04:31There were some ways around the patent, with the likes of FIFA including some distractions
04:35in between matches, but for the most part minigames rarely appeared to mitigate loading
04:40times.
04:41The patent eventually expired in 2015, opening up the door to include minigames in loading
04:45screens to developers everywhere once more.
04:49You may vaguely remember that Crazy Taxi was rather helpful with a big green arrow that
04:53points you in the direction of your destination.
04:56Using this arrow as a guide, you try to take your customers to their location in the requested
04:59time.
05:00Sega filed a patent for this directional arrow feature in 1998.
05:04As of 2018, it has now officially expired, but before it did expire, Sega did sue another
05:10game over a green arrow.
05:12How dare they?
05:13It was Simpsons Road Rage that ran afoul of Sega for this infringement back in 2003.
05:21Eternal Darkness from developer Silicon Knights and Nintendo released on the Gamecube back
05:25in 2002.
05:27Described as a psychological horror, the adventure included a sanity system which featured a
05:31meter bar.
05:32The meter depletes if your character stumbles upon an enemy or sees a gruesome situation.
05:37When this happens in game, various effects occur on screen and around the environment
05:41to show the character is being affected by these encounters.
05:44Prior to the game's release, Nintendo filed a patent for a video game and game system
05:48incorporating a game character's sanity level that is affected by occurrences in the
05:52game.
05:53This patent expired in November 2021, so get ready for more sanity systems to start popping
05:57up folks.
06:00Nintendo pioneered the design of the D-pad back in the 80s, and it was such a good design
06:04that it continued to form a part of Nintendo's consoles and handhelds throughout the years.
06:09Given its great design, it's not so surprising to learn that Nintendo patented its trademark
06:13multi-directional switch.
06:15While the patent expired in 2005, it is interesting to consider how this patent might have influenced
06:20the design of button layouts for other controllers for consoles such as the PlayStation and Xbox
06:25when it was still active.
06:28Midway Amusement Games took out a now expired patent with a rather interesting title back
06:33in 2000.
06:34It was called Unlocking Sequence in Video Games, and it was essentially a way to sell
06:39peripherals by locking game content that could only be accessed by using a particular controller.
06:44A video game system and method is provided which the enabled content of a video game
06:48depends upon the type of video game controller coupled to the video game console, the abstract
06:53reads.
06:54If you were to use a specific controller that's a matching type to the game you're playing,
06:59it would unlock extra features or secrets, in-game that are not otherwise available.
07:03Additional paid-for content is nothing new in the world of video games, but just imagine
07:06having to buy a controller just to get your hand on more features and secrets.
07:11How annoying.
07:12So, what's your favourite video game patent and is there any out there that you've heard
07:15about?
07:16Let us know in the comments below.