EA Patents a New, Non-Linear Battle Pass System

Electronic Arts is apparently working on a patent for a new kind of battle pass which will let users choose what kind of rewards they want, rather than being stuck to a single line of progression. So in the future, when you get an EA battle pass, you may be choosing your own path — though we don’t yet know what games we’ll see it in.

The patent reads: “The seasonal reward system can provide users with a non-linear map that allows the users to choose how to progress through the reward map when advancing or leveling up a virtual character or user account within the video game.” What that means is that gamers will be able to choose how they level up on a battle pass. The patent also says: “The reward map provides a series of reward nodes connected by links, resulting in a plurality of pathways or tracks that a user can select during advancement within the video game. The user can select individual reward nodes when the virtual character levels up and progress along a pathway on the virtual map.”

It’s a cool idea, though part of me wonders how different each of the paths would really be in this hypothetical reward map. After all, battle passes that are pay-to-win are generally frowned upon, so it’s not like it’s a tangible upgrade system — though, given that this is EA we’re talking about, I’m not completely ruling it out just yet.

As for what games EA could use this non-linear system with, the most obvious candidate in the near future is the upcoming Battlefield 6. We don’t know too much about the upcoming FPS, but it’d just make the most sense. We’ll probably find out more about what other games this could work with at the upcoming EA Play event.

Source: VG247