A look at this October's Games Accessibility Conference

The latest edition of the Games Accessibility Conference took place in Redmond, Washington over the 24th and 25th October. In-person and remote viewing options (hosted primarily on Zoom and YouTube) were available for the conference devoted entirely to accessibility in video games. These also included live captioning and ASL interpreters throughout.

As is tradition with GAconf, this iteration kicked off with an update on accessibility news from the last six months by accessibility specialist, Ian Hamilton. First he focused on spotlighting new accessible hardware and how rapidly it’s becoming affordable where, in the past, there had been a disconnect between accessible solutions and the means of much of its target market.

There was more praise for Xbox’s continuing commitment to disabled gamers, plus a note on how remakes have shaped the benchmark of accessibility in 2022. There was special mention for The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Edition and The Last of Us Part I. These are remakes which demonstrate, Hamilton said, that “while it is never too early to consider accessibility, it is also never too late to begin.”

After his introduction, Hamilton handed off to co-director, and Xbox accessibility lead, Tara Voelker, who presented the rest of the conference – at one point, in a Kirby costume.

Talks commenced with Enid Brown, head of product accessibility at Riot Games, laying out the “seven pillars of strategic accessibility” and pushing the idea of taking accessibility away from standards and checklists and proposing a more holistic approach. Next, indie developer Brian Fairbanks demonstrated how his game, Lost and Hound, weaves accessibility into the fundamentals of its design. This was followed by a panel discussion led by Kyle Abatte about experiences of accessibility in mobile gaming and how to better implement accessibility in the mobile space.