“This was an exploratory patent filed in 2015 by an R&D team working independently from our game studios.
Naturally, this is extremely scummy and entirely unacceptable as a form of psychological manipulation- it also completely undermines all semblance of integrity for game balance.
Which is why it is a good thing that Activision has confirmed in a statement to Charlie Intel that the system, while patented, has never actually been implemented in any game so far.
It has not been implemented in-game,” Activision said.