Microsoft, Google & Sony Launch Accessible Games Initiative

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which is comprised of the leading gaming, entertainment tech and publishing giants, announced its latest venture, the Accessible Games Initiative. 

The program, cosigned by powerhouse video game studios Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Nintendo of America, Riot Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Games and Ubisoft alongside tech giants Google, Amazon Games and Microsoft, is described as a categorization tool aimed at unifying a shared industrial language to help a swath of gamers with disabilities. 

As the industry continues to climb toward developing games with accessible attributes, the initiative will not only help players identify what accessibility features are available in any given video game, but more specifically, it will hold studios to task in providing consistent terminology across platforms to describe their accessibility features. For example, if a player is looking for video games with narrated menus or to avoid something that can only be played with a keyboard, they can use the site as a navigation tool to help them find the right game available or upcoming for their needs. 

“Tens of millions of Americans have a disability and often face barriers to experiencing the joy and connection that comes with playing video games,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, ESA president and CEO, in a press release. “We are immensely proud to announce the Accessible Games Initiative in partnership with industry leaders. This initiative demonstrates how impactful we can be when we work together in our industry-wide pursuit of helping more people experience the power of play.”

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During the ESA press presentation at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Thursday in San Francisco, it was revealed that the team had prepared a list of 24 tags (and counting) on their accessible games website. These tags, which will be located on participating companies’ digital shops and product pages, were developed from the feedback of players with disabilities, accessibility advocacy groups and game development teams. 

Anna Waismeyer, the Senior Accessibility Research Lead at Microsoft/Xbox, explained the research process further: “It’s a communication tool between developers and players. So not only did we take into account the players’ needs, we also reached out to developers across all of our studios, across the world to better understand what kinds of accessibility features they would want to communicate to players. And then we tried to strike a balance between meeting the needs of as many players as possible, but also ensuring that the tags would be viable would be something that our developers could adopt and use.” 

The team also explained that the Accessible Games Initiatives also has “criteria available for developers to use the tags to help them develop their games with accessibility in mind” and that tags that already exist in the disabled gamer community will also be recognized in the marketplace.