Worldwide there is a growing awareness that playing video games should be possible for everyone, including people with visual, auditory, motor or cognitive disabilities. Large game companies such as Electronic Arts, PlayStation and Xbox are increasingly investing in accessibility, integrated at console level and within the games themselves. Take a look at some examples of how companies integrate accessibility in their products.
Accessibility as a starting point
For many players, launching a game is rather a routine job, but for people with a disability the first settings menu can already be a barrier. Game developers can remove that barrier by integrating accessibility from the moment a game starts. In Ubisoft games such as Far Cry, for example, players are guided through setup menus with options like text-to-speech enabled by default. A computerized voice reads the menus aloud so that visually impaired players can configure their game autonomously.
Today the accessibility personalization in video games goes far beyond default preset options. Additional features include a.o. color filters to assist players with color blindness; subtitles and audio description to support deaf and hard-of-hearing players and simplified controls to make video games playable for people with motor impairments. For some players, being able to hold a button instead of pressing it repeatedly, can make the difference between being able to play a video game or not.
Accessibility features in video games: Electronic Arts as a role model
Electronic Arts (EA) positions itself as a leader in the accessibility field not only by making its home-developed games more accessible, but also by sharing technology with the rest of the industry, free of charge. In games like Apex Legends an innovative system (Ping) was developed to communicate without using voice or text to lower the barrier for players with hearing or communication impairments. This technology is also used by other developers.
In addition, EA makes patents available free of charge to game developers and publishers through its “Accessibility First Patent Pledge.” These include technologies that simplify complex actions and offer advanced speech and audio generation for players with speech disorder. Tools to better adjust text size, contrast and color-blind settings are also shared openly. The underlying philosophy of EA is clear: the more developers use this technology, the more accessible games become for everyone who wants to play them.
Accessibility built into consoles: Xbox and PlayStation as a reference point
Not only the games themselves but also consoles play a crucial role in whether or not a game can be played by everyone. Xbox invested early on with their Adaptive Controller. That controller is designed for players with motor impairments and can be connected to a variety of external switches, pedals or sensors. This allows players, for example, to control a game using head or foot movements. The system is flexible enough to support both more severe and milder impairments and has become a reference point for the whole industry.
PlayStation also has a broad accessibility strategy on the PlayStation 5. Since launch the PS5 operating system has included options such as screen readers, text dictation, remapable buttons, extensive subtitles and color correction. Over the years that package has been expanded to include haptic feedback in the system interface, support for a second controller as assistance, accessibility tags in the PlayStation Store and advanced audio settings that can boost specific frequencies. With the Access Controller PlayStation targets people who want to play more comfortably regardless of physical limitations. The Access Controller is a modular, fully customizable controller kit that can be used in any orientation and to which extra buttons and switches can easily be added.
Games as founding examples: from The Last of Us to Minecraft and Fortnite
Some popular games show how far accessibility can go when it is central in the design stage. The Last of Us Part II (Link in Dutch – Link in French) is often cited as a prime example, with more than sixty accessibility options. Players can rely on extensive visual assist systems, audio cues, extra vibrations, simplified controls and numerous adjustable filters. The game was designed with attention to a range of physical and cognitive abilities, making it a milestone in inclusive game development.
For deaf and hard-of-hearing players, subtitles and visual cues are essential. Minecraft (Link in Dutch – Link in French) offers a system that converts environmental sounds into text and uses arrows to indicate the direction they come from. This preserves crucial gameplay information without making the game easier.
Fortnite (Link in Dutch – Link in French) goes a step further with clear visual signals for footsteps, gunfire and important objects, translating auditory information visually without slowing the game’s pace.
Toward an inclusive future for video games
About one in five video game players experiences some form of disability. That awareness is driving developers, publishers and game platforms to stop seeing accessibility as a niche and to treat it as a fundamental part of game design. By building accessible options into consoles, software and games, and by sharing knowledge and technology across the industry, the possibilities that everyone can fully enjoy video games in their own way are massively expanding.
