EA Patents To Fight In-Game Cheating Using Cryptography And Blockchain

Cheating in multiplayer titles has been a problem for almost as long as gaming’s existence. However, companies often explore unique ways to make their games more secure. EA has also published a new patent that may use tech like cryptography and blockchain to fight the growing problem. The proposed plan wants to make gaming more secure by wrapping each gameplay session in multiple layers of defense that are hard to penetrate.

The patent dubbed “INTERACTIVE VIDEOGAME VERIFICATION USING CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY PROTECTED TRANSACTION RECORDS” will secure multiplayer sessions between players by using cryptography. The system by EA will wrap each in-game transaction record made up of multiple events—like scoring a goal or killing an enemy—by cryptographically signing it with its private key. This will enhance its security like never before.

Such transmissions may occur periodically or upon occurrence of certain triggering events (such as a certain event in the simulated sports game, e.g., a goal in a game of soccer). Before transmitting the transaction record, the videogame client may cryptographically sign it with its private cryptographic key,” reads the patent.

During online record transmissions, malicious third-party cheating software or other methods will be unable to modify these in-game events due to cryptography. The receiving device could decrypt the sent records to verify and use them. Blockchain tech will also add another level of security, like the device that receives the record may store it in a cryptographically protected distributed ledger, such as a private or public blockchain.

The patent argues that games are currently not as secure as they should be since the integrity of multiplayer sessions can be affected by cheaters. Gamers using malicious software usually ruin the gameplay by using different hacks. Adding a layer of cryptography and blockchain will further prevent cheating software and cheaters in general from doing their shenanigans.

Since each player has full control over their videogame client device, the integrity of the session may be compromised, e.g., by a malicious software agent running on the videogame client device and modifying the gaming session state before reporting the state to the videogame server.”

It’s worth noting that the patent dives deep into the technical nook and cranny of the proposed cryptography system. Rest assured, we can rely on EA to bring more innovative tech to subdue cheaters that have been rampant in some of the publisher’s games in recent times.

All in all, EA is among the giants when it comes to securing innovative ideas before others. It has also published a patent for letting players voice characters in video games. Similarly, it secured another idea to let players play as videographers in-game to record gameplay.