A patent filed by Activision Publishing Inc. on July 17, 2023, but published on November 16, 2023, shows that the company wants to tailor game recommendations based on the livestreams the person watches. The title of the patent was “Systems and methods for dynamically modifying video game content based on non-video gaming content being concurrently experienced by a user”.
According to the patent, Activision wants to “integrate gaming functionality with viewing a video program”. In other words, Activision wants to create a system that will automatically generate an interactive multimedia game for a user while they are watching a live stream.
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The generated game will be in the context of the viewed livestream and will appear on a second graphical user interface overlaid on the first. The viewer can choose to engage with the generated video game on the second graphical user interface or dismiss it.
According to the patent filing, the inventor of the technology is Josiah Eatedali.
The inventor is also behind a dozen gaming and media-related systems in the last decade. Eatedali is behind the patents filed for Twitch and Disney.
“There has yet to be disclosed systems and methods for actually integrating, effecting or modifying video play concurrent with a separate video stream or broadcast video,” Activision explained in the patent document.
“More specifically, there is a need to contextually integrate video games being concurrently experienced with video streams.”
Going through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) publication we discovered that the new patent is a continuation of a patent of the same name first filed on November 19, 2018. This is the fourth time that the patent of the same name has been approved.
What is the relevance of the Activision patent?
What I found really interesting about the technology is that not only will it generate a video game based on what you are watching, but it can also modify the content of the video game to match the experience of the broadcast video.
From the series of filing under the same title, it is evident that Activision doesn’t have this idea totally figured out. They quickly update their patent with every developing knowledge. Therefore, it will be hard to tell how this technology will be useful to gamers.
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Personally, whenever I tune into a livestream, it is because I don’t want to be actively involved. I just want to sit back and enjoy the fun rather than being the one racking my brain to figure things out. I also question how feasible it will be to watch a livestream and play at the same time—and enjoy both. That will be too much-divided attention.
Therefore, overlaying a second screen on the first is not something I think makes a lot of sense. If you want to understand how tough it is trying to focus on two different programs at the same time, try splitting your computer window into two and playing two different media on the two sides. Then, try to see if you can focus on the two.
“Watching video streams or broadcast video, while concurrently playing video games, is a popular activity,” Activision claimed. “People watching videos typically experience the viewed content in an inactive or passive manner, while video game-playing tends to be more active and engaging.”
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Perhaps, Activision wants to turn the passive act of watching video game broadcast videos into an active and more engaging activity. While I have my reservations, I am keen to see this idea come to life. It is important to mention that not all patent filings eventually turn into a product. Most of them just end as patents.
Nevertheless, Activision filing a patent on the same topic four times is a sign they have a deep interest in the idea. See the full details of the patent here.
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