While EA owns the patent, they’ve generously allowed other games to implement similar mechanics—so far.
It’s a rare case where a patent actually benefits the industry, ensuring that intuitive communication remains available to all developers rather than being locked away.
Need For Speed: Underground 2 (2004) has the arrow. Portal 2 (2011 IIRC?) has ping. Did Sega and EA, respectively, actually get cuts for that or…?
In the article it states that:
How does Portal 2 have ping? Isn’t this a multiplayer mechanism?
Portal 2 has a whole coop campaign.
What the other person said + community levels update