EA has patented a system that would potentially feed the player advertisements and content based on their in-game playstyle.
Filed back in October of 2020 (and published on July 7 this year), there’s no current indication that EA actively plans to use the patent, rather that the company is just interested in the idea (via OPAttack and Exputer).
According to the patent itself, a “persona system” would create a profile for the player based on “gameplay information” and then use that to generate dynamic content or “additional production recommendations” – or more simply, adverts.
Essentially, it looks like the idea is to gather data based off the games that players engage with, and how exactly they engage with them, to then target specific pieces of content and adverts that EA believes would be most suited to them.
“Some example trends that may be determined from gameplay data may be related to exploring the environment, engaging in combat, searching for collectibles, completing challenges or obtaining achievements and so on,” adds the patent. These factors could then be put into “persona archetypes,” which would group a player’s current playstyle, like “competitor, explorer, completionism.”
Players could then be grouped into categories, like those who play online competitive games the most, or the people who try to find every collectible in a single-player game, for example.
“Using a player persona derived from gameplay data from multiple games,” continues the patent. “Examples may tailor content presented to or suggested for the player.”
The types of content EA then says it would throw at players can range from new games, in-game content, DLCs, add-ons, or content packs for similar titles.
That said, the prospect of this system isn’t solely focused on adverts for game content, with EA saying that the building of data across players could inform the creation of specific tailor-made content. For example, a game space focused on exploration over combat, with algorithms building the content based on player preferences.
There are even more ideas going on within the patent itself, so those curious can check out all the diagrams, claims and documents here.
Where this type of patent could fit into EA games remains to be seen, but titles like FIFA, the new free-to-play Skate and Apex Legends seem like candidates.
In other news, Xbox Veteran Jerry Hook has founded new Triple-A studio Jar Of Sparks in conjunction with NetEase.
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