Video game accessibility problems can be grouped into three categories that correlate to a specific type of impairment:10
In the US, the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA) brought up-to-date accessibility guidelines to advanced communication services (ACS), which is considered to include video games with communication elements including text and voice chat and the user interface (UI) elements to reach the chats.11 Video game trade groups including the Entertainment Software Association have requested waivers of CVAA enforcement for video games, arguing that while there is strong interest in the video game community to provide accessibility, video games are first and foremost for entertainment and not for communication, and that because of the complexity of video game software, there are few standardized solutions compared to other ACS platforms.12
The Federal Communications Commission granted a final waiver that expired on December 31, 2018, making all video games developed and released after January 1, 2019, expected to be compliant with the CVAA; games that were partially developed after January 1, 2019, are expected to reasonably meet the CVAA compliance, as well as any game that issues major updates after that date. The FCC would hear consumer complaints about games that failed to meet the CVAA, determine how feasible the remedy would be, and then determine if they should issue fines against the publisher of the game title.13
Over the past decade, small companies and independent game developers have developed numerous games that seek to accommodate the abilities of players with the most severe impairments and which has led to the definition of the following accessible game categories:
These games are not only great examples of accessible games, but also drive innovation in game design. In recent years, game accessibility has been actively researched, for example in student projects .14 The unique limitations of the target group make such projects interesting, instructive and challenging for students.
The Last of Us Part II (2020) by Naughty Dog is known for its strong focus on accessibility. The game includes over 60 settings to help players with different disabilities. These include things like text-to-speech, high-contrast visuals, and sound cues for gameplay. The developers worked with accessibility experts and players to make sure the settings were useful. The game won the first “Innovation in Accessibility” award at The Game Awards in 2020.15
Many tabletop games require the ability to see and understand complex information. Sites like 64ozgames.com provide accessibility kits to make inaccessible tabletop games more inclusive.16
The Entertainment Software Association announced its Accessibility Games Initiative along with its partners EA, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, and Ubisoft, in March 2025. The Initiative is designed to provide 24 tags that can be used on physical or digital product labelling to indicate a game's features that address accessibility, such as have narrated menus or joystick inversion controls.17
Electronic Arts announced in August 2021 that it will offer five patents related to accessibility, including the ping system introduced in Apex Legends, for free to all developers to use without fear of litigation indefinitely, as well as plans to promote any future patents related to accessibility within video games in the same manner.18
Small companies and volunteer based groups have modded video game controllers to help make video games more accessible for those with physical impairments. Despite these innovations there is no one-size-fits-all solution for accessible controllers.
In September 2018, Microsoft released the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which is the first accessible controller created by a large game controller manufacturer. Besides featuring larger-than-normal buttons and controller inputs, the device allows numerous other devices to be connected through it and programmed for various features, allowing it to be adapted to a wide range of potential handicaps. Microsoft also worked other connectivity options to allow the Adaptive Controller to be connected to other consoles including PlayStation units and the Nintendo Switch, as well as with personal computers.27
Sony followed with its own first-party adaptive controller under the working name Project Leonardo in January 2023. The controller is split into two parts with the ability to customize the physical layout of buttons to the user's preference.28 In September 2023, Sony announced haptic feedback for menu navigation to provide additional feedback on UI inputs for players with hearing or vision impairment.29
Augmentative and Alternative Communication technologies are making their way into the gaming industry to improve the social experience for users who are deaf or mute by providing an alternative to mic based communication.30
There have been several attempts at composing a set of game accessibility guidelines similar to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The most prominent is the Game Accessibility Guidelines.34 Due to the nature of video games though, some of the guidelines are intentionally broken by developers to present a challenge. A good example of this is when Bungie recreated the Vault of Glass Raid.3536 They made several choices to make the encounters more challenging. In the first version, when players were teleported at Atheon there was an indication on the minimap as to where the players went so deaf players could see what door they had to open. In the remake, this indication is removed to encourage communication and present more of a challenge, at the cost of accessibility.
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Special Interest Group on Game Accessibility proposed 19 accessibility guidelines in 2004, which were derived from a survey of 20 accessible games.37 The majority of the games surveyed include games for the visually impaired, and several support motor or hearing impaired gamers.
The Norwegian Medialt organization published a set of 34 game accessibility guidelines on their website,38 based on the 19 IGDA game accessibility SIG guidelines as well as their own set of guidelines.
2012 saw three major launches, Best Practices in Video Games in April 2012 by CEAPAT, Game Accessibility Guidelines in September 2012 by a group of developers, specialists and academics, and Includification, also in September 2012, by AbleGamers.
In 2019, AbleGamers launched Accessible Player Experience APX, to increase the number of accessibility experts in AAA studios, as part of their new website accessible.games. APX focuses on provided an equal play experience without making designers feel restricted, and adding 'Accessibility Champions' to design teams in large studios.
A general criticism of the guidelines is that they tell a developer what to do but not why or how. An extensive literature survey39 of existing accessible games identified a game interaction design model that allows for precisely eliciting how a disability impairs the ability to play a game. Based on this interaction design model three unique types of high-level accessibility barriers can be identified. Based on existing accessible games, the following strategies are proposed to make games accessible:
Games Journalism articles advocate for accessibility in two ways, generally. First, with simple awareness. More discussion on the topic aids in "justifying the need to address these challenges in the breadth of game culture". And second, with solutions to accessibility problems benefiting players and developers alike.40
Several Media Outlets and Game Development/Production Companies participate in Global Accessibility Awareness Day campaigns to raise funds and spread awareness among the public as well as their own staff.
Stevie Wonder, while presenting at the 2009 VGA Awards, spoke out about game accessibility requesting the industry create more accessible games.41
Several advocacy organizations and groups have been formed to raise awareness within the game industry of the importance of making games accessible.
Despite these, and other initiatives, the situation is far from perfect: Many game developers are still very much unaware of game accessibility. Developers who acknowledge the importance of game accessibility and want to use it in their designs often don't know how to do so. Games developed in research projects usually consist of small demos ("proofs of concept") which lack the quality and (re)playability of mainstream games. This is usually also the case with games that have been developed by small companies and hobbyists. Knowledge about accessible game design that is gained in such projects often fails to get documented. In recent years, game accessibility has become a topic of increasing interest to the academic research community. It is recommended that collaborating with people who have disabilities can vastly improve the results of accessibility initiatives.48
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