Xbox lead dev talks about the future of video game accessibility

The field of accessibility in video games has seen a lot of interest over the last few years. Indie developers of any size have integrated accessibility features into their games. TunicMajor AAA publications like God of War Ragnorök. As for hardware, Xbox released its Adaptive Controller in 2018, and PlayStation more recently announced Project Leonardo, which will be the company’s effort to bring more accessible controllers to the PlayStation 5. It’s never been more important to discuss who is included in videogames and how they are played.

Accessibility advocates are behind these big-ticket releases. They consult and offer advice on games in order to make them more accessible for people with disabilities. Some companies hire specific organizations to assist with hardware development and to raise issues when they occur. Now, an awards ceremony is celebrating this kind of work and recognizing the achievements.

Participate in the Game Accessibility Conference Awards.

Game Accessibility Conference initiated the award program. It is a conference that is specifically dedicated to developers who are interested in improving their accessibility knowledge. The awards — which recognize the work of those who “raise the bar for accessibility” — cover 18 categories and celebrate work in different fields like academic research, publishers leading work in accessibility, and representation.

The year 2012 God of War RagnarökThe AAA Excellence and Best Deaf/HoH Accessibility categories received awards. Nominations are selected by a panel, with final selections made by both a jury and public vote. Polygon spoke to Tara Voelker who is co-director at The Game Accessibility Conference Awards. She also serves as senior accessibility lead for Xbox Game Studios. This interview was lightly edited to improve clarity and length.

Polygon: What is the best way to judge whether a game is accessible? (I imagine it’s hard and complicated.)

Tara:The process of determining what qualifies a game as accessible can be both easy and difficult. A game is considered accessible if disabled gamers are able to access it. But different gamers will have their own needs, and may face different obstacles that prevent them from playing. While a title might be accessible to hard-of hearing gamers, it may not be available to blind players. That’s the complicated part.

It is important to fully understand your users’ needs in order to determine if the game will be accessible. You must ensure that key information such as colorblindness is not shown in just one color and it’s supported with shapes, pattern, or text. Honestly, it’s still very rare for a game to truly be accessible for everyone simultaneously.

Image: Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

What makes an “accessible game” accessible?

Accessible games are those that have considered the potential barriers to gamers with disabilities and either removed them or avoided them altogether. Game developers know exactly what they want players to experience. The goal of a game is to provide that experience.

The challenge in a race game, for instance, is to drive your car on the track the fastest possible. The challenge isn’t supposed to be struggling to hit gas on the right trigger button on a controller because you have limited dexterity in your hands. You can remove the extra effort by having the player remap the gas button to the A. There are no more problems with the trigger button and it is easy to get back on track.

I understand that’s a nebulous idea, and how it manifests can be different per title.

Comment has the accessibility to games changed over time?

Accessibility in gaming has grown tremendously. At the time I began my gaming career, there weren’t any full-time accessibility jobs. None at all. There are now multiple levels at the publisher and studio level. When accessibility first started picking up speed, developers were rewarded and praised for things like colorblind filters, but now they are expected, and you’ll get a lot of complaints when you don’t have them.

Accessibility in games is on an exponential growth path, and the surge of accessible titles we’ve seen in the last few years has been truly amazing. It is exciting to see accessibility being considered earlier in game development. Accessibility has been retrofitted since many years. A game would be built and then devs would see how many accessibility “holes” they could patch. For reasons determined in the early stages of development, some holes couldn’t be fixed. Now we’re avoiding creating these holes altogether.

Image: Devolver Digital

What is the point of celebrating this work?

Although accessibility is growing, it’s still a largely advocate-driven space. Accessibility can be a major concern in development. This is why it takes a lot emotional effort. This is hard work. All of the people who make accessibility possible should know that they are valued and be able to take a look at their impact on players. Not only will it lift their spirits and recharge them for the next fight, it’ll be easier to win next time when they can point and say, “Well, look at this award and recognition…”

Is there anything else you’d like to share with us today?

Gaming is a part of popular culture because it has many great benefits. Gaming is a great way to get involved in the community. We should consider how disabled gamers would like our games to improve. Accessibility features aren’t just used by those who identify as disabled, they are used by gamers everywhere.

Just getting feedback from disabled gamers is the best way to guarantee that a game’s accessibility is maintained. There are plenty out there who want to play your games and will tell you why they can’t. Get in touch with them.