The community shaping the future of accessibility in games.
Article by Robert Purchese, Senior Staff Writer 10 April 2021
I was really moved this week to see how a small number of people have powered a profound change in games. I m a bit embarrassed to say I often overlook accessibility in games, which isn t to say I don t benefit from it. And I assumed the range of accessibility options in modern games was simply improving because someone somewhere decided it should. But of course that s not what happened. Behind the celebrated and ground-breaking accessibility tools in a game like The Last of Us Part 2, for example, is the tireless work of a community campaigning for the opportunity to play and enjoy games too.
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There has been a notable push over the last few years to improve accessibility in game development. From behemoth studios such as Naughty Dog to indie developers such as Special Magic Games, new accessibility features are being implemented and innovated upon but there s some catching up to be done when it comes to the marketing and PR for those very same products.
Marketing takes many forms across different media online trailers, adverts in magazines, even altering London underground signs to promote a new console launch. In the games industry, social media marketing has become the quickest way to deliver promotional assets and information, and some companies have started sharing information about accessibility features prior to a game s launch, detailing what features will be available. Team17 published an accessibility-focused trailer for Overcooked! All You Can Eat, for example, and Naughty Dog presented an extensive blog post for The Last of Us Part 2.