Gaming · Active
Dialogue wheel / conversation interface for branching NPC dialogue
The radial dialogue-choice wheel — Mass Effect's signature conversation UI — is patented and active for a few more years yet.
US8082499B2 · Electronic Arts Inc. · Estimated expiry 2029
EA's dialogue wheel — the radial menu of conversational tones and choices used across the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises — is covered by US8082499B2, estimated to run through 2029.
It's a comparatively short wait compared to most of this wing: three years out, give or take, before radial branching-dialogue UI is unambiguously free for anyone to build without asking.