Redwood City-based Electronic Arts (EA) announced Thursday that it is committed to increasing accessibility patents and providing more open source technologies. According to the video game Goliath, there are six audio and sound technologies and a light sensitivity analysis plugin – 23 in total – designed to “open gaming to more players.”

“These newly promised patents cover technologies to improve speech recognition, produce more personalized speech, and simplify the use of speech recognition technologies in computers and gaming devices,” EA wrote in its announcement. “These patented accessibility technologies could be used, among other things, to improve the gaming experience of players who have a speech impairment or who prefer or need assistance with verbal expression. They could enable these players’ speech to be better recognized and reflected in-game in a way that suits their age, emotions, language and speaking style.”

Today’s news coincides with International Day of People with Disabilities, which takes place this week. EA’s patent commitment began in 2021 – which I first reported on in 2022 – to help more people share in the company’s love of video games. In fact, in today’s post, EA writes that its primary goal is to “share our accessibility technology royalty-free with the entire industry so we can work together to meet the needs of our diverse gaming community at EA and beyond.”

“We believe video games should be accessible to everyone, and our brilliant developers are constantly looking for new ways to make that goal one step closer to reality,” said Kerry Hopkins, senior vice president of global affairs at Electronic Arts, in a statement Statement in the announcement. “By making this technology available to others royalty-free, we want to encourage the industry to work together to make video games more inclusive by removing unintended barriers to access.”

EA’s post includes a brief profile of Blanca Macazaga Zuazo, a player and quality insights technology software designer. She is described as “one of the key developers” of EA’s light sensitivity analysis technology called IRIS, a plugin of which is available as an open source version today. EA points out that Zuazo’s mission is to “develop, improve and evolve accessibility-based technologies to enable as many players as possible to play and have fun.”

“Honestly, it’s amazing,” Zuazo said of her contribution to breaking down barriers in video games. “I love open source projects. We use so many of them in our daily lives as software developers that it’s great to be able to do our own part, especially in improving accessibility. Before IRIS, there were no free and easy-to-use light sensitivity analysis tools. It’s incredible to be able to make this contribution because accessibility is important and it’s an incredible feeling to be able to help remove barriers.”

EA reiterated its commitment to inclusivity and the disability community, saying it wants people from every community to “experience the joy of gaming and break down barriers so we can all play, create, watch and connect.” The company added that its ongoing efforts to fulfill the patent promise “is an extension of this philosophy, as we believe that when it comes to gaming, a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Speaking of EA, I will be including a new documentary on Prime Video titled It’s in the game: Madden NFL. The EA Sports team gave the producers “unprecedented access” to the game’s developers over the years, from its early days in 1989 to this year’s work Madden NFL 25. I finished the show last night and really enjoyed it. As a big sports fanatic, I grew up with him Drive crazy and the other games from EA Sports for the Sega Genesis and later the Sony PlayStation. They represent some of the best times of my formative years; During the pandemic I picked up a Mega SG and a few old games from eBay – lots of them Drive crazy Title – to recapture the feelings of those childhood memories. These experiences are why, as a reporter, I found covering EA so exciting over time.