Home 
Navigation
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has unveiled the Accessible Games Initiative, a groundbreaking system designed to enhance video game accessibility for consumers. Announced at the Game Developers Conference, this initiative was spearheaded by a coalition including Electronic Arts, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft, with additional support from Amazon, Riot Games, Square Enix, and WB Games. The ESA will oversee the management of this initiative.
Under the Accessible Games Initiative, participating companies will apply a set of 24 standardized "tags" to their games, which will be displayed on digital storefronts and product pages. These tags highlight various accessibility features, such as "clear text," "large and clear subtitles," "narrated menus," "stick inversion," "save anytime," "difficulty levels," and "playable without button holds," among others.
Stanley Pierre-Louis, ESA's president and CEO, emphasized the significance of this initiative, stating, "Tens of millions of Americans have a disability and often face barriers to experiencing the joy and connection that comes with playing video games. 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."
The rollout of these tags will occur gradually, on a company-by-company basis, and is not mandatory. Initially, the tags will be available only in English, with potential future expansions or modifications to the tag system.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the Accessible Games Initiative tags:
Auditory Features
Tag: Multiple Volume Controls
Description: Separate volume controls are available for different types of sounds, including music, speech, sound effects, background audio, text-to-speech audio, accessibility audio cues, and voice chat. Additionally, all game sounds can be adjusted simultaneously with a single volume control.
Tag: Mono Sound
Description: Allows gameplay with mono audio, sending the same audio to all channels, such as both left and right headphones, creating a single, combined audio channel.
Tag: Stereo Sound
Description: Enables gameplay with stereo audio, where sounds indicate their left or right origin but do not convey depth or direction from above, below, ahead, or behind.
Tag: Surround Sound
Description: Supports gameplay with surround sound, allowing sounds to communicate their origin from any direction.
Tag: Narrated Menus
Description: Provides screen readers or voice narration for menus and notifications, allowing players to navigate menus one item at a time with announced interactions and context changes.
Tag: Chat Speech-to-Text & Text-to-Speech
Description: Facilitates text-to-speech and speech-to-text for in-game chats, enabling real-time narration of text chats and transcription of voice chats. This tag encompasses both auditory and visual features.
Gameplay Features
Tag: Difficulty Levels
Description: Offers multiple difficulty options, including at least one that reduces the intensity of challenges, with clear descriptions of the differences between levels.
Tag: Save Anytime
Description: Allows manual saving of progress at any time, except during game saving or loading, or when saving could lead to game-breaking scenarios or blocked progress.
Input Features
Tag: Basic Input Remapping
Description: Permits rearrangement of button controls, such as swapping or reassigning them. The "Full Input Remapping" tag extends this to all game controls and input methods.
Tag: Full Input Remapping
Description: Enables complete remapping of all game controls across all supported input methods, including keyboard, mouse, controllers, and virtual on-screen controllers, with the ability to swap controller stick functionality.
Tag: Stick Inversion
Description: Allows adjustment of directional inputs, such as thumbsticks and flight sticks, to change how they affect game movement in up/down and left/right directions.
Tag: Playable without Button Holds
Description: Supports gameplay without the need to hold digital inputs like keys or buttons, though some analog inputs may still require holds.
Tag: Playable without Rapid Button Presses
Description: Eliminates the need for repetitive button actions, such as button mashing and quick-time events.
Tag: Playable with Keyboard Only
Description: Allows gameplay using only a keyboard, without the need for other devices.
Tag: Playable with Mouse Only
Description: Supports gameplay using only a mouse, including adaptive technology that maps to mouse inputs.
Tag: Playable with Buttons Only
Description: Enables gameplay using only digital inputs like buttons or keys, where pressure does not affect the controls.
Tag: Playable with Touch Only
Description: Facilitates gameplay using only touch controls, without requiring non-touch inputs like buttons or analog sticks.
Tag: Playable Without Motion Controls
Description: Allows gameplay without the use of motion controls.
Tag: Playable Without Touch Controls
Description: Supports gameplay without the use of touchpads or touchscreens.
Visual Features
Tag: Chat Speech-to-Text & Text-to-Speech
Description: Provides text-to-speech and speech-to-text for in-game chats, allowing real-time narration of text chats and transcription of voice chats. This tag encompasses both auditory and visual features.
Tag: Clear Text
Description: Ensures text in menus, control panels, and settings is of a reasonable size with adjustable contrast, using less stylized fonts or offering font change options.
Tag: Large Text
Description: Offers large font sizes for text in menus, control panels, and settings, relative to the device's screen resolution and typical viewing distance.
Tag: Large & Clear Subtitles
Description: Provides subtitles for all dialogue with adjustable size, background transparency, and non-overlapping placement with important game elements, using less stylized fonts.
Tag: Color Alternatives
Description: Ensures important information is not solely communicated through color, using shape, pattern, icons, or text instead, with options to adjust color settings.
Tag: Camera Comfort
Description: Eliminates or allows adjustment of camera effects that may cause discomfort or harm, such as shaking, swaying, bobbing, motion blur, camera speed, and forced narrative-based movement.
This initiative marks a significant step forward in making video games more accessible to a broader audience, ensuring that players with various needs can enjoy the gaming experience to its fullest.
Latest Articles
Latest Games
