Microsoft patents visual cues for when a player gets help in a video game

Microsoft has filed a patent for a system that tracks when a video game player receives assistance from another person or a computer program. The invention describes changing how characters or vehicles look on screen to show they are being helped, and marking achievements to indicate they were earned with outside support.

In the filing’s own words

The disclosed concepts relate to tracking and representing help sessions for video games where video game players are assisted by a helper, e.g., another video game player and/or a trained machine learning model. For instance, the disclosed implementations can graphically modify a controllable entity, such as a character or vehicle, to convey that the current video game player is being assisted by a helper. As another example, the disclosed implementations can graphically modify game achievements to indicate when a given achievement was earned with assistance from a helper.

Facts

Company

Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)

Official title

TRACKING AND REPRESENTING VIDEO GAME HELP SESSIONS

Publication number

US20260306949A1

Application number

19710836

Filed

Jun 17, 2026

Published

Oct 8, 2026

Inventors

3

Claims

21

Classified under

Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.