ESA Announces Accessible Games Initiative to Provide Product Accessibility Feature Information

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has unveiled the Accessible Games Initiative, a groundbreaking "tag" system designed to provide crucial accessibility feature information to video game consumers. This initiative, announced at the Game Developers Conference, is the result of collaboration among industry giants such as Electronic Arts, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft. Additional companies like Amazon, Riot Games, Square Enix, and WB Games have also joined this effort, which will be overseen by the ESA.

Under this initiative, participating video game companies will categorize their games with specific "tags" chosen from a standardized set of 24. These tags will be prominently displayed alongside the game's details on digital storefronts and product pages, making it easier for consumers to find games that meet their accessibility needs.

These tags cover a wide range of accessibility features, including "clear text," "large and clear subtitles," "narrated menus," "stick inversion," "save anytime," "difficulty levels," "playable without button holds," and many others. This comprehensive tagging system aims to ensure that gamers with disabilities can find games that cater to their specific needs, enhancing their gaming experience.

Stanley Pierre-Louis, ESA president and CEO, emphasized the importance 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 be gradual, implemented on a company-by-company basis, and is not mandatory. Initially, the tags will be available in English only, but there is potential for expansion and refinement over time, including the addition of new tags or adjustments to existing ones.

Accessible Games Initiative Tags:

Auditory Features

Tag: Multiple Volume Controls

Description: Separate volume controls are available for different types of sounds. You can adjust the volume for music, speech, sound effects, background audio, text-to-speech audio, accessibility audio cues, and voice chat individually, or change all game sounds at once using a single volume control.

Tag: Mono Sound

Description: This feature allows you to play with mono audio, where the same audio is sent to all channels, effectively providing a single, combined audio channel.

Tag: Stereo Sound

Description: With this option, you can play with stereo audio, where sounds indicate their left or right origin but not their vertical or depth position.

Tag: Surround Sound

Description: This tag indicates that the game supports surround sound, allowing sounds to convey their directional origin, including any direction.

Tag: Narrated Menus

Description: This feature enables the use of screen readers or voice narration for menus and notifications. You can navigate through menus one item at a time, with all interactions and context changes announced through narration.

Tag: Chat Speech-to-Text & Text-to-Speech

Description: This tag covers both auditory and visual features, allowing for real-time narration of text chats and real-time text transcripts of voice chats.

Gameplay Features

Tag: Difficulty Levels

Description: This feature lets you choose from multiple difficulty options, including at least one that reduces the intensity of challenges. The differences between difficulty levels are clearly described.

Tag: Save Anytime

Description: You can manually save your progress at any time, except during game saving/loading or when saving could result in game-breaking scenarios.

Input Features

Tag: Basic Input Remapping

Description: This allows you to rearrange button controls, either by swapping or another method. The "Full Input Remapping" tag extends this to all game controls and input methods.

Tag: Full Input Remapping

Description: You can assign any game action to any control, remapping all game controls for supported input methods like keyboard, mouse, controllers, and virtual on-screen controllers.

Tag: Stick Inversion

Description: You can change how directional inputs like thumbsticks affect game movement in up/down and left/right directions.

Tag: Playable without Button Holds

Description: This feature allows gameplay without the need to hold digital inputs, though some analog inputs may still require holds.

Tag: Playable without Rapid Button Presses

Description: This enables you to avoid repetitive button actions like button mashing and quick-time events.

Tag: Playable with Keyboard Only

Description: You can play the game using only your keyboard, without any other devices.

Tag: Playable with Mouse Only

Description: This feature lets you play using only your mouse or adaptive technology that maps to mouse inputs.

Tag: Playable with Buttons Only

Description: You can control the game and menus using only digital inputs like buttons or keys, where pressure does not affect the controls.

Tag: Playable with Touch Only

Description: This allows gameplay using only touch controls, without requiring non-touch controls like buttons or analog sticks.

Tag: Playable Without Motion Controls

Description: You can play the game without using motion controls.

Tag: Playable Without Touch Controls

Description: This feature enables gameplay without the use of touchpads or touchscreens.

Visual Features

Tag: Clear Text

Description: Text in menus, control panels, and settings is at a reasonable size and can have adjustable contrast. The font is less stylized or can be changed to a less stylized option.

Tag: Large Text

Description: This feature provides a large font size for text in menus, control panels, and settings, relative to the device's screen resolution and typical viewing distance.

Tag: Large & Clear Subtitles

Description: Subtitles for all dialogue are available, at a reasonable size with adjustable background transparency, and they do not overlap with important game elements. The font is less stylized or can be changed to a less stylized option.

Tag: Color Alternatives

Description: This feature ensures that color is not the sole means of communicating important information, or that it can be adjusted. Instead, shape, pattern, icons, or text are used.

Tag: Camera Comfort

Description: This tag indicates that there are no camera effects that may cause discomfort or harm, such as shaking, swaying, bobbing, motion blur, camera speed, or forced narrative-based movement, or that these effects can be turned off or adjusted.

By implementing these tags, the Accessible Games Initiative aims to make gaming more inclusive, ensuring that players with disabilities can easily identify games that are tailored to their needs, thus enhancing their overall gaming experience.