When it comes to difficulty in video games, it's generally held that certain conventions are preferable. An experience that is too easy, too hard, or too inconsistent can lead to frustrating experiences like Final Fantasy 7 Remake's hard mode.

For many video games, a poor difficulty curve will be an eternal problem, but this is less and less the case. With more games than ever featuring an internet connection feature, it is possible to edit them and send out update patches regularly. This, presumably, is the purpose behind a new patent from EA that lays out a system for collecting data on difficulty in video games.

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Without too much jargon, the patent lays out a system by which "difficulty metrics" of different game aspects can be gathered and analyzed via artificial intelligence. This data can be translated into information readily available to game designers. The net result is that any games that allow for updates can be updated for, presumably, a better difficulty curve. This is only one of several patents EA has put forth recently to streamline trickier parts of game development, with other examples including a patent for a system to translate 2D images to 3D models directly.

The most obvious use of this technology would be to update games with poor difficulty settings. This could include lackluster challenge, frustrating or obnoxious challenge, difficulty spikes, etc. It should be noted however, that while the system collects information about different game elements and how "difficult" they are, it remains to be seen how effective they are at determining the cause for it. To use the above mentioned FF7 Remake hard mode as an example, some of the most frustrating elements are not so much individual roadblocks, but blanket effects. Like EA's patent to generate 3D terrain with neural mapping, the important data may not translate perfectly.

While the application for static games is obvious, it should be noted that this system could also alter online or mobile games rapidly based on difficulty metrics. Since these games often use difficulty as a sort of soft paywall, this system could let EA know to increase difficulty anywhere players progress too easily without paying. Making the most of these transactions is clearly priority one for the company, as evidenced by its automated sponsorship patent.

Taken together, these patents paint a picture of an increasingly automated game-making and updating process. Systems to automatically create 3D environments and models, a system to better put advertisements where they'll be noticed and remembered, and now a system that gathers artificial difficulty data as players are playing. While video game patents over game systems are often met with apprehension, it may behoove players to look at the patents behind the scenes too.

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Source: USPTO