Game patching tech from EA
Thursday, October 24, 2024
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Austin Harris |
EA recently introduced In Place Updates (IPU). The game patching tech from EA technology significantly reduces disk space requirements and patch sizes for games on the EA app. Developed by a skilled engineering team, IPU minimizes update errors, enhances user experience, and accelerates game patching, allowing players to enjoy their favorite titles seamlessly.
Video games are getting bigger. File sizes are increasing for good reason. World-class storytellers and artists are creating more incredible experiences than ever before, allowing players to dive into beautiful, rich worlds filled with immersive environments and fully realized characters while participating in beloved games from the biggest franchises.
Breakthrough game patching tech evolves
However, when a game needs to be patched, it often brings a large file that requires both download and installation. As games continue to evolve, the patch sizes increase as well, leading to a cumbersome and time-consuming process. EA aims for players and fans to play, watch, create, connect, and celebrate culture and fandom with their favorite communities as seamlessly as possible.
In March, thanks to the remarkable work of Senior Software Engineer Hans van Veenendaal and his team, EA launched a revolutionary piece of engineering called Known Version Patching. This innovation has been radically reducing patch times, helping players and fans around the globe get back to their favorite titles sooner, lowering costs, and supporting the company’s net-zero commitment.
Today, the technology has further evolved with a new update known as In Place Updates (IPU). With the help of Software Engineer Kenny Chen, along with team members Kirby Burchill and Trevor Duong, IPU has made significant advancements. It is currently running for most games on the EA app, benefiting millions of players worldwide by nearly eliminating a common frustration—the Out of Disk Space Error.
“We monitor the user experience through data, and we found that more than 60 percent of errors that occur during an update are Disk Space Errors,” states Kenny.
What does In Place updates actually do?
Game patches, which are critical for keeping games up and running while adding new content and expanding worlds, have continued to grow in size. In fact, sometimes it requires as much space as the entire game to be available on the end-user machine for a full update—over 100 GB of data.
If users lack the necessary space, they encounter a Disk Space Error, preventing game updates until more space is freed up. This often leads players to delete anything they can or uninstall games and programs, or worst case, they may choose to do nothing and move on.
This issue is becoming increasingly prevalent
“We monitor the user experience through telemetry data, and we found that more than 60 percent of errors that occur during an update are disk space errors,” says Kenny. “In fact, our data showed that if someone encountered a Disk Space Error over the course of a month, they would likely experience it two or three more times.”
“That’s really annoying for the player,” he adds.
IPU aims to address this problem by applying an algorithm that preserves unchanged content between game updates without creating temporary files, directly downloading the updated data into the target files. For example, a 100 MB patch that previously would have created a 10 GB temporary file no longer requires such a large footprint.
The goal was to reduce disk space errors by 60 percent. The results?
“We’ve smashed those targets,” says Kirby.
For games with larger patch sizes, there is now a near 100 percent reduction—an elimination—of disk space errors for players. Prior to this feature, well over half of players faced issues installing game updates due to their size.
Additionally, as patch sizes are much smaller, the time required to download and apply them has significantly decreased, resulting in a difference from hours of waiting to mere minutes.
“It’s been exciting to see this project launch to such success. I am happy to see it work and help all of our players,” says Kenny.

EA app is the only PC platform to support this tech
Kenny, Hans, Kirby, Trevor, and the rest of the engineering team are undertaking incredible work, developing innovative software engineering solutions that benefit millions of players and fans around the world.
Following the success of IPU, Kenny is now leading another project for the team. This marks a remarkable achievement for a Software Engineer whose first lead project was IPU, and the company is eager to see his future contributions.
“It’s been exciting to see this project launch to such success,” Kenny says. “I am happy to see it work and help all of our players.”
"The EA app is the only PC platform that supports this innovative technology, and because of our amazing team and technology investments, we’ve been able to roll this out to players with ease," adds Joe Traverso, Vice President of EA Experiences - Commerce, Social, and Subscription. "This is just one of many investments we are making in our mission to make the EA app the best place to purchase and play EA’s games."

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