Synaptics Wants Your Fingerprint For In-Game Purchases and ID Verification
Synaptics might not be a household name when it comes to gaming, but chances are if you have ever gamed on a laptop or smartphone or touch-enabeled mouse you’ve likely used a product that has Synaptics technology inside of it. At GDC 2015 Synaptics unveiled a new fingerprint-sensing solution that could change the way in-game purchases and online gaming tournaments are handled.
Synaptics is using their fingerprinting technology to enable fast and secure transactions of in-game purchases and the ability to positively ID the person that is playing the game. Synaptics believes that the biometric signature securely obtained by the sensor could potentially replace discrete authenticators for game titles like World of Warcraft. It would also allow gamers to seamlessly authenticate in-game purchases without needing to enter a password or something along those lines. There are over $1 million USD of in-game purchases for digital goods in free-to-play game titles right now, so you can see that this is a large market that will continue to grow in the years ahead.
This is all made possible by the Synaptics Natural ID module that needs to be embedded into the gaming mice and keyboards.
Privacy and personal identifiers is a major concern these days, so Synaptics ensured that Natural ID was able to meet fingerprint security requirements defined by Windows 10 and it is also FIDO 1.0 ready. Since this is a secure means of identification it opens the door to new online gaming business models.
Synaptics recognizes the widespread need and surging demand for fingerprint authentication in every computing experience, said Godfrey Cheng, vice president of marketing, Human Interface Systems Division (HISD) for Synaptics. The availability of Natural ID solutions for gaming will allow rapid implementation of biometric capabilities into the desktop market, offering consumers a wide choice of peripherals with the convenience and security of fingerprint authentication.
Synaptics has some really cool technology here, but they need peripheral makers to bite on the technology and to embed them into their gaming mice and keyboards. Synaptics said that some companies have already bought into the technology and will be bringing out products this year, but can’t disclose the name of the companies due to confidentiality agreements. Since there are no retail products to look at Synaptics showed us what the circuit board for the Natural ID sensor look like as well as a test mouse. In the image above there is a large LED light at the end of demo unit that just shows it is working and this won’t be on retail products.
In the image above you can see the sensor emedded in the side of the mouse there the thumb resides for right handed individuals. The sensor required direct contact with your skin, so the device must have a while cut in it for the sensor to be inserted. The next-generation sensor can be placed under the surface of a device, so we really see this technology taking off at that point in time as it will not impact the visual appearance of a product nor be felt but your hand.
We are hopeful that Synaptics can score some design wins with Natural ID as it looks like it could open the door to easier in-game purchases an you’ll be able to verify who you are actually playing against online. Say good bye to anonymity!