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[IbizaPocholo]

EA Patent May Allow Gamers to Boot New Games Instantly

EA files new patent that may end the need to download games before playing them, meaning gamers might never have to see another boot screen again.

gamerant.com

EA has filed a patent, available for view on the US patent and trademarks office website, that was approved on February 16 this year. The patent suggests the company will use streaming technology to eliminate the booting wait time for new games. The patent works like so: A new user attempts to boot up a game they have never installed before, this request is received by an online server. The server then instantly streams the game directly to the user's device. If the server determines that the resources available to the local device are sufficient to allow the user to simultaneously download a local copy of the streamed game, it will then initiate the download. Once this download is complete, the server then seamlessly transfers the control of the game from the streamed version available on the server, directly to the local device. This would allow for users to boot games instantly, without having to download or install them.

 

[Captain Toad]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

 

[RPSleon]

Great idea, shame ea has the patent for it. Ugh

 

[Portugeezer]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

Or they pay EA, I guess?

 

[ReBurn]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

Probably, unless they pay or devise a way to implement the same thing in a different way.

 

[Hugare]

Its a good idea on paper

But if I have a good enough internet connection for streaming + downloading at the same time, I would rather wait 1h until it finishes the download instead of 4-5h streaming the game with input lag + blocky image quality

Especially considering that 90% of EA games are multiplayer focused

Besides, it will be locked to a paywall such as EA Vault or something, otherwise there would be lots of people hammering EA servers

I dont see much value, but I can see how "start playing NOW" can be a good marketing phrase

 

[ReBurn]

Its a good idea on paper

But if I have a good enough internet connection for streaming + downloading at the same time, I would rather wait 1h until it finishes the download instead of 4-5h streaming the game with input lag + blocky image quality

Especially considering that 90% of EA games are multiplayer focused

Besides, it will be locked to a paywall such as EA Vault or something, otherwise there would be lots of people hammering EA servers

I dont see much value, but I can see how "start playing NOW" can be a good marketing phrase

I think you'd probably still have the option to wait for a game to download before you play it. Nothing says you'd be forced to start playing if you don't want to.

 

[Andodalf]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

This specific iteration of the idea. Very similar ideas could work

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

EA probably thinking every minute those suckers are downloading the game is a minute they aren't buying card packs.

 

[CitizenZ]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

Just like anything that is a patent, if they own it, anyone can use it.... for a price.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Way too many patents given out in the tech world.

I think one of those old game companies (Atari???) had a patent granted for having pixels go from one side of the screen and reappear on the other side of the screen.

 

[jroc74]

I could have sworn both Sony and MS also talked doing something like this.

 

[Hugare]

I think you'd probably still have the option to wait for a game to download before you play it. Nothing says you'd be forced to start playing if you don't want to.

I'm aware.

I'm just mentioning that be streaming, you'll be playing the game with input lag + blocky image while waiting longer for the game to download. Way longer.

Plus, if it's an online game, the online experience will be worse and the download will take even longer

So I thinkt that I would rather wait for the game to download in order to play it.

But maybe someone would preffer this option, I dont know

 

[Mistershine.]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

They could just have less automation. They could always do it the other way around as well, start installing first and then start streaming.

 

[Axelon]

Way too many patents given out in the tech world.

I think one of those old game companies (Atari???) had a patent granted for having pixels go from one side of the screen and reappear on the other side of the screen.

I think someone has mini games while on the loading screen patented as well. So dumb. Luckily that's not needed near as much with SSDs.

Like what's said above, it wouldn't be great to download at the same time as streaming. I'd see it more useful for playing the game right away, then when you're done, download it. Kinda like I do with gamepass cloud on the phone.

 

[Woo-Fu]

I'd say just the opposite. By patenting it EA has ensured that gamers won't be able to do this in cases they otherwise would have been able to.

 

[Boss Mog]

If you can't download a game in under 10 minutes then you probably can't stream it in 4K. And if you can download it in under 10 minutes then it's simpler to just wait the 10 minutes. There's always plenty of stuff to do during those 10 minutes; you don't actually have to stare at the screen for it to download.

 

[Fess]

If you can't download a game in under 10 minutes then you probably can't stream it in 4K. And if you can download it in under 10 minutes then it's simpler to just wait the 10 minutes. There's always plenty of stuff to do during those 10 minutes; you don't actually have to stare at the screen for it to download.

It's no issue downloading a game while streaming unless your internet connection is bad. And yeah 10 minutes is nothing but sometimes it can take an hour or more to download a game just because the servers are packed. For me it was a real eye-opener when newly bought games can start instantly without install/download time on Stadia, Geforce Now, Xcloud. 4K or not, it's good enough. And latency today is barely even noticable. This is honestly an awesome idea but it's unfortunate that EA has managed to patent it, it should be a standard feature on all platforms.

 

[Withnail]

I've heard this idea a lot. So if EA gets the patent, does that mean other publishers won't be able to do this because EA "owns" the idea?

Streaming while downloading isn't the main idea here, PS Now allows you to do that today. I think the innovation is the seamless switching from one to the other when the download is finished which would indeed be very impressive and not something that I've heard other people talking about.

 

[Areiz]

EA Patent May Allow Gamers to Boot New Games Instantly

EA files new patent that may end the need to download games before playing them, meaning gamers might never have to see another boot screen again.

gamerant.com

EA has filed a patent, available for view on the US patent and trademarks office website, that was approved on February 16 this year. The patent suggests the company will use streaming technology to eliminate the booting wait time for new games. The patent works like so: A new user attempts to boot up a game they have never installed before, this request is received by an online server. The server then instantly streams the game directly to the user's device. If the server determines that the resources available to the local device are sufficient to allow the user to simultaneously download a local copy of the streamed game, it will then initiate the download. Once this download is complete, the server then seamlessly transfers the control of the game from the streamed version available on the server, directly to the local device. This would allow for users to boot games instantly, without having to download or install them.

This is not like the 0 time loading patented by Sony months ago?

 

[BaneIsPain]

I'm sure EA managed to have some sort of micro transaction of this feature.
Pay up suckers.

 

[RedVIper]

I think the innovation is the seamless switching from one to the other when the download is finished which would indeed be very impressive and not something that I've heard other people talking about.

Don't find it that impressive, you just wait for a loading screen or something and change from running it in the cloud to running it locally.

If it can switch mid gameplay I'd be super impressed though.

 

[Impotaku]

EA wanna make sure that those fifa whales have instant access to that lootpack casino as fast as possible, time is money all those potential losses from them waiting to buy packs.

 

[Boss Mog]

It's no issue downloading a game while streaming unless your internet connection is bad. And yeah 10 minutes is nothing but sometimes it can take an hour or more to download a game just because the servers are packed. For me it was a real eye-opener when newly bought games can start instantly without install/download time on Stadia, Geforce Now, Xcloud. 4K or not, it's good enough. And latency today is barely even noticable. This is honestly an awesome idea but it's unfortunate that EA has managed to patent it, it should be a standard feature on all platforms.

Personally I think this would only appeal to a very small percentage of gamers though. For me input latency and image quality matter infinitely more than having to wait to download a game. And games are interactive unlike movies so you can't buffer anything in advance so the slightest hiccup in the connection will impact the experience.

 

[Fess]

And games are interactive unlike movies so you can't buffer anything in advance so the slightest hiccup in the connection will impact the experience.

Shouldn't be a problem if you have decent internet connection, your bandwidth should be enough to handle both the download and streaming, I think Stadia at full 4K only require like 35mbps. It should be about the same with other streaming techs. And it's just to get started, once enough is downloaded I assume it'll switch over to the local version.