An Empirical Study of Issues and Barriers to Mainstream Video Game Accessibility
John R. Porter, Julie A. Kientz · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) · doi:10.1145/2513383.2513444
Summary
This paper investigates the real-world state of video game accessibility through two complementary empirical studies. The first is an online survey of 55 gamers with disabilities, exploring their gaming habits, the platforms they use, the types of games they play, and the accessibility barriers they encounter. The second consists of semi-structured interviews with six game industry professionals holding various roles, examining how accessibility fits into actual development processes. The research is motivated by a persistent gap between the academic HCI community and the game development industry, which has resulted in games not benefiting from the same accessibility advances seen in other areas of information technology. As a preliminary activity, the authors also coded the top ten grossing PC games of 2011 against the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG's guidelines, finding inconsistent adherence even to well-established recommendations like colorblind-friendly palettes and configurable controls. The survey found that PC gaming was the most popular platform across all impairment classes, likely because PCs support a wider range of assistive technologies. Motor impairments were the most commonly reported disability among respondents (69%), followed by hearing (16%), cognitive (15%), and visual (11%). Qualitative themes from the gamer survey included frequent incompatibility between games and assistive technologies, reliance on help from others to overcome barriers, and social pressures that push disabled gamers away from multiplayer modes.
Key findings
Assistive technology incompatibility emerged as the most prevalent barrier, with gamers reporting that screen readers, on-screen keyboards, voice commands, and modified controllers frequently fail to work with commercial games. Multiplayer gaming was significantly less popular among disabled gamers than single-player modes, driven by both technical barriers (inability to keep pace competitively) and social factors (stigma around atypical play behavior). Industry interviews revealed that "low-hanging fruit" accessibility features like colorblind modes and subtitles are prioritized because they are simpler to implement, while more complex needs like motor accessibility receive less attention. Having employees with disabilities in the studio was identified as one of the most effective drivers of accessibility improvements. Interview participants consistently identified middleware (game engines like Unreal, Unity) as the most promising avenue for standardizing accessibility features, arguing that building accessibility into foundational tools would eliminate the need for each studio to solve the same problems independently. Legislative pressure, such as the 21st Century Communications Act, was cited as a potentially effective motivator for industry action. Console development poses unique challenges for assistive technology due to proprietary hardware restrictions.
Relevance
This study is significant for grounding game accessibility research in the lived experiences of disabled gamers and the practical realities of game development, rather than relying solely on laboratory studies or theoretical guidelines. Its finding that middleware integration is the most promising path to widespread game accessibility has proven prescient, as major engines have since begun adding accessibility features. The identification of assistive technology incompatibility as a primary barrier highlights the importance of platform-level accessibility support, not just individual game design choices. For accessibility practitioners, the study underscores that publishing guidelines alone is insufficient — adoption requires top-down organizational pressure, in-house expertise from people with disabilities, and systemic solutions embedded in development tools. The social dimensions of multiplayer exclusion also point to accessibility challenges that extend beyond technical solutions.
Tags: game accessibility · video games · assistive technology · motor impairment · visual impairment · hearing impairment · cognitive impairment · middleware · accessibility guidelines · empirical study
Standards referenced: IGDA Game Accessibility SIG Top Ten Guidelines · 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act