Game Accessibility: How Games Are Made for Everyone to Play
Barriers disabled players face, the Xbox Adaptive Controller, The Last of Us Part II's options, Celeste's Assist Mode, and the laws and guidelines.
To play a game, you need to see the screen, hear the sound, press buttons, and understand the rules. For most people this is taken for granted, but for people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive difficulties, if even one of these is blocked, the entire game can be shut off. "Game accessibility" refers to the design and technology that reduce these barriers so more people can enjoy games.
In this post, we look at the types of accessibility barriers, what changes the game industry has made over the past decade or so, and the basic accessibility principles that even small development teams can apply right away.
How Many People Are Affected?
Game accessibility is not a problem for just a few people. A 2010 study cited in English Wikipedia's article on game accessibility estimated that about 2% of the US population cannot play games at all because of a disability, and 9% can play but with difficulty. A survey conducted by casual game company PopCap found that roughly one in five casual gamers has a physical, mental, or developmental disability.
And it's not only permanent disabilities. There are also temporary or situational limitations, such as a period when you injured your arm and can only use one hand, declining eyesight as you age, or having to play with the sound off while holding a baby. That's why accessibility options are frequently used by players without disabilities, too. Subtitles are a prime example.
Three Types of Accessibility Barriers
Game accessibility problems are usually divided into three types.
| Type | What's difficult | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Sensory (visual and hearing) | Receiving the information the game provides | Can't hear dialogue or explosions; can't tell apart puzzle pieces distinguished only by color |
| Motor | Giving input with a standard controller | Can't do rapid button mashing or press several buttons at once; can only play with switches or eye-tracking devices |
| Cognitive | Understanding the rules or the required inputs | Fine control in complex real-time strategy games; text-heavy explanations |
For example, a puzzle game about matching different-colored gems can be a major barrier for people with color vision deficiency. On the other hand, if each gem has a different shape or pattern, people can enjoy the same game even if they can't distinguish colors. The core of accessibility design is exactly this: "don't leave information to a single sense."
The Community Moved First
Before game companies took accessibility seriously, disabled gamers and charities paved the way.
- AbleGamers: A US nonprofit founded in 2004 by Mark Barlet. It started when his best friend developed multiple sclerosis and found it hard to use a mouse. The organization looks at each disabled gamer's individual situation to find the equipment they need, and since 2017 it has run a "Player Panels" program in which disabled gamers test games together with developers.
- SpecialEffect: A UK charity where therapists and technicians work together to modify controllers and set up eye-tracking software so that people with disabilities can play games.
- Individual makers and volunteer projects: Equipment was created such as controllers modified for one-handed use and mouth-operated controllers (QuadStick) for quadriplegic players.
These efforts broke the prejudice that "disabled people don't play games" and laid the groundwork for game companies to think seriously about accessibility.
The Xbox Adaptive Controller
The major turning point came in 2018. On September 4, 2018, Microsoft released the Xbox Adaptive Controller for $99.99. It is regarded as the first accessibility controller made directly by a major controller manufacturer.
The controller is a flat board with two large buttons and a number of ports on the back. Players can plug in assistive devices suited to them, such as foot switches, sip-and-puff switches, and large buttons, and assign whatever functions they want. Instead of making one "correct" controller, it lets each person build the combination that works for them.
Organizations including Warfighter Engaged, which provides gaming equipment to wounded veterans, AbleGamers, and SpecialEffect took part in its development. Before its launch, in 2016, the "Copilot" feature came out first, which links two controllers as one so that one person can help with another's controls. Sony also unveiled its own accessibility controller under the name "Project Leonardo" in January 2023, and in September 2023 announced a feature on PlayStation 5 that lets two controllers be used together for control.
Accessibility Options Inside Games
As important as hardware are the settings within the game software itself.
The Last of Us Part II
Naughty Dog's 2020 The Last of Us Part II is often cited as a benchmark game for accessibility. It included more than 60 accessibility settings, including text-to-speech that reads menus and on-screen text, a high-contrast display that makes enemies and items stand out, and audio cues that describe the surroundings through sound. To expand the accessibility options that began with Uncharted 4, the development team consulted accessibility experts and disabled gamers. Critics said these options set a new standard for the entire medium. The game won the first-ever Innovation in Accessibility award at The Game Awards 2020.
Celeste's Assist Mode
The 2018 indie game Celeste is a difficult platformer, yet it included an "Assist Mode." You can slow down the game speed, use unlimited air dashes, or even make yourself invincible. Developer Maddy Thorson originally called the feature "Cheat Mode," but felt the name passed judgment on players and changed it to "Assist Mode." It showed that even a highly difficult game can leave open "a path that helps."
Other Trends
- Forza Horizon 5 added American Sign Language and British Sign Language interpretation videos in a small picture-in-picture window during cutscenes in a March 2022 update.
- EA in August 2021 opened up five accessibility-related patents, including the ping (location marker) system from Apex Legends, for other developers to use freely. The ping system lets players communicate with teammates without voice chat.
- Speech recognition and text conversion: Console makers added features that convert party chat voice to text and text to speech, allowing players with hearing or speech disabilities to join conversations.
Laws and Standards
Accessibility is being addressed not only through goodwill but also through regulation. In the US, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), enacted in 2010, requires accessibility for communication features such as text and voice chat. The game industry requested waivers, but when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waiver ended on December 31, 2018, chat features in games released on or after January 1, 2019 became subject to the law.
Just as the web has the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), games have the publicly available Game Accessibility Guidelines. Created collaboratively by developers, these guidelines are divided into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, so even small teams can see where to start. In March 2025, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), together with EA, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, and Ubisoft, announced 24 tags for displaying games' accessibility features in product information. The goal is to let buyers know in advance whether a game they want has features such as narrated menus or inverted controls.
Basic Principles Even Small Teams Can Follow
Accessibility doesn't require a big budget. Just checking the items below before launch can reduce inconvenience for many players.
- Subtitles and text size: Add subtitles to all dialogue and let players adjust text size and background contrast. It's also good to show who is speaking.
- Don't rely on color alone: Use shapes, patterns, or icons together with color for color-coded information. Check your screens with a color blindness simulator.
- Remappable controls: Support button remapping, holding instead of mashing, and one-handed play.
- Visualize audio information: Also signal important sound effects (footsteps, warning sounds) with on-screen indicators.
- Adjustable difficulty and time limits: Let players extend or turn off time limits, and reduce the burden of restarting after failure.
- Reduce shaking and flashing: Options that reduce screen shake and flashing effects are important for people prone to motion sickness or photosensitive seizures.
Accessibility options are not "features for a special few"; ultimately, they expand the choices of every player.
Remaining Challenges
Of course, not every problem is easy. Games are a medium that is sometimes made difficult on purpose, so how much help to give can clash with design intent. The Wikipedia article cites the case of Bungie remaking a raid in Destiny and deliberately removing markers that had been on the minimap. The intent was to make teammates talk to each other, but it created a new barrier for deaf players. Also, because equipment for motor disabilities must meet needs that differ from person to person, the lack of a single solution that fits everyone remains a difficulty.
Even so, the direction is clear. Testing with disabled players before launch and building options into the design from the start opens games to more people at far lower cost than adding them later. This principle makes an even bigger difference in genres like puzzle games, where color and shape matter.