More and more games for people with disabilities
Where you used to have parents who called all electronic toys ‘Nintendos’, today almost everyone is a gamer. Whether you play a game on the phone or the old-fashioned way on the computer: the vast majority of Dutch people play games sometimes. For example, more than half of 18-35 year olds have at least one game console at home, according to research by Telecompaper. It makes sense that all those gamers are not all the same kind of people.
However, do you ever stop to think that what most games ask of their audience, two working hands, good eyes (with or without aid) and a reasonable responsiveness, is not available to everyone. The Netherlands is full of wheelchair ramps and banisters because we also allow people with disabilities as much freedom of movement as possible. How about games? You can read it in this article.
A growing market
It is a new development: increasing the accessibility of games for everyone. Not surprising in itself, since the game industry itself has not been around that long. Yet the theme is already part of the industry to such an extent that it is even awarded prizes, for example at the Game Awards. The award was first presented in 2020 and then went to The Last of Us 2. In 2021 this award went to the game Forza Horizon 5, and last year to God of War Ragnarök. The latest game, developed by Sony Santa Monica, has options to customize the controls and visuals, as well as options to increase the time you get for solving puzzles. For example, the complete list of ‘accessibility features’ can be found on the website Can I Play That.
Can I Play That is a good example of the developments in this area. The site started in 2018 as a fan project to help gamers with disabilities find out if they can play a certain game. There is now a complete professional team behind it and they even offer workshops. Sales websites are also increasingly offering similar help. For example, Sony will display ‘accessibility’ information by default on their webshop, the Playstation Store.
Homegrown developments
Fortunately, the innovation does not only come from large companies and industry events. There are more and more small companies specializing in the field. In the Netherlands too! The Brabant Abstraction, for example. Fortunately, we live in a world where, as a colorblind person, you no longer have to rely on others to spot the tiger in the long grass. But if you want to game in a group, you will soon be left behind when you have trouble distinguishing certain colors from each other.
Abstraction develops color palettes that help with this. For example, by amending the contract. These developments are then applied by game developers. And that is increasingly happening from the start stage. In the past, these kinds of settings were often an afterthought. Dutch developer Guerilla Games has paid extra attention to ‘accessibility’ for its latest release, Horizon Forbidden West, and has put the list of features online itself.
A new standard
That a developer pays attention to the theme is now even expected. For example, Bandai Namco, the developer of Elden Ring, was criticized for the lack of ‘accessibility features’. Then we are not talking about the first or the least game. Elden Ring was extremely popular after its release last year. The PC version scores 94 out of 100 points on Metacritic, which the website says amounts to universal praise. Fantasy great George RR Martin contributed to the story. And yet, the game’s large profile only makes the lack of accessibility features all the more noticeable.
Fortunately, the overall trend is positive for gamers with disabilities. For more and more people, the barriers to participating in gaming are falling away. That is as gaming becomes more and more a universal phenomenon, a great thing. Yet there is still plenty to achieve. The Last of Us has made waves for the resources the game provides for blind players, but such resources are rare. Even people who, for whatever reason, only have one hand, are often judged. But the future is promising!
