EA Files Patent for Recommending Friends with Similar Gaming Habits

​​Electronic Arts has filed a patent for technology that will make online friend recommendations to gamers based on their gaming interests.

According to the filing, EA understands how playing online with strangers may not be as enjoyable as playing with friends, and games with strangers often only last for one session.

The publisher of the “FIFA” and “Madden” franchises wants to fix that by approaching games like social media. The friend recommendation tech will find the best potential matches for each gamer using an algorithm that adheres to certain criteria:

• When players regularly get online
• Genre of games played
• Skill level for each game
• Device played on (PC, console, mobile, etc.)

EA has been growing steadily, acquiring Codemasters in February for $1.2 billion, Glu Mobile in April for $2.4 billion, and Playdemic in September for $1.4 billion. As of June, it reportedly had $2.8 billion set aside for future acquisitions.

The gaming giant recorded $1.55 billion in first-quarter revenue, surpassing the same quarter last year’s $1.46 billion, and raised its outlook for the fiscal year to $6.85 billion in revenue with $7.4 billion in net bookings.