Game Changer: Breakthrough Game Patching Tech Created by EA Employee

Year after year, the file sizes of video games have increased. Why? Game assets such as textures, models, sound files, text, etc. have all grown dramatically. The results are great for players: beautifully rendered, vibrant game worlds and innovative experiences filled with immersive environments, engaging characters, and the rich, authentic gameplay found in EA franchises such as EA SPORTS FC, EA SPORTS Madden NFL, Apex Legends, The Sims, and Battlefield.

But what if the game needs to be patched? A category leader like Apex Legends unveils new content frequently. Each time a game needs to be updated, it brings with it a large file to both download and install.

It’s a cumbersome and time-consuming process that costs both time and money. EA wants players and fans to play, watch, create, connect, and celebrate culture and fandom with their favorite communities as seamlessly as possible.

This is why Hans van Veenendaal of EA decided to do something about it. After a little more than six months of dedicated time and resourcing, he created a revolutionary piece of engineering that is radically reducing patch times, helping players and fans, bringing down costs, and supporting the company’s net zero commitment.

What is this groundbreaking tech?

“Known Version Patching (KVP) is a patching method that uses the knowledge of the installed version and language of the game to create a more optimal update,” says Hans.

In simple terms, KVP pre-calculates patches in advance by knowing what game files are already in place and compares that with what changes the new version contains. It then only applies that new content. This means players can download, install, and jump back into their favorite games in less than a quarter of the previous wait time. And the organization reduces the costs, stress and load on its server usage.

“Previously, game patches would only look at files with the same name to calculate the patch, so any new or moved data to a file with a different name needed to be downloaded again, inflating the patch size,” says Hans.

With KVP, this is no longer the case. The results: reduced patch sizes by as large as 80 per cent in one EA case study, with 3.6 times the speed to complete the download and installation.

It’s a win-win situation.

The road to revolution

“I had the original idea for KVP patching in 2018 when I was looking for better ways to update a game,” says Hans. “The solution I created then used predetermined hashes (like an index at the front of a cookbook, which shows you exactly what page to flip to for the recipe you're looking for) and locations for game resources stored in their game provided by the game team.”

However, this solution put an onus on the game teams to specify the asset locations—a time-consuming process. It also didn’t include executables and libraries. Ultimately, this system would have led to a slow adoption rate as there was considerable work added onto the development teams, so it was never put into production.

But Hans knew he could do better. He just needed the time and resources to make it a reality.

In comes Matthew Angeleri, Product Director at EA.

“After a new triple-A game launch, we noticed the patch sizes were extremely large,” says Matthew. “We were coming to a limit. A physical limit on what we could actually patch correctly or patch easily using the existing system. So we knew we had to take action. Coincidentally, Hans had this idea ready to go.”

Matthew helped clear the way for Hans to realize his vision. He provided Hans with a development team, and the resources he needed, and made a plan for this to be delivered within six months.

“My role here was like that of an air traffic controller,” says Matthew. “He has his team, he has the ability and the time to do this development, and then we keep other things off of Hans and his development team's plate.”

Six months later, Hans and his team delivered. Now, they just needed to get it in the hands of the developers.

“It can be challenging at times for us to be able to bring products and features to game teams,” says Matthew. “Because anything that we bring to them is work, right? And their primary job is to make the best possible game that they possibly can.”

However, once development teams across EA saw the power of Hans’ work, they knew they had to use it. KVP was supporting their and EA’s mission of improving, broadening, and deepening the player experience. Now, millions of players utilizing the EA app to play their favorite games are reaping the rewards, with the ultimate goal to expand this technology to all the platforms that players use to access our games. And the benefits of Hans and his team’s innovation extend far beyond the games themselves.

Supporting EA’s commitment to environmental sustainability

EA is working to protect and preserve a world where everyone can play by committing to address climate change's impact. And Hans’ KVP is one opportunity to see this critical work move forward.

“One of the greatest reductions in our carbon footprint through KVP was instead of millions of player devices running the pre-calculation for these patches from their local machines, this is now all being done from EA’s servers,” says Hans. “The amount of energy output is orders of magnitude different.”

That’s a major reduction in energy consumption and heat production from millions of devices each time a game is patched through the EA app. And it’s one that contributes greatly to EA’s own green initiatives.

As EA entertains, inspires, and connects more people with more content and deeper experiences than ever before, we are also living up to our ongoing commitment to support the communities where we live, work, and play. And KVP is an important part of that mission to help build a more equitable and more sustainable world.

Join EA, where our mission is to inspire the world to play, and we believe there’s nothing that we cannot accomplish, together.

KVP was developed by the following team members: Leo Teng, Bryan Chiu, Richard Hoar, Pavel Braila, Andy Yu, and David Cross of Engineers and QV. Al Sinoy, Will Livett, Theo Mascardo, and Trevor Duong of DD.