A11y Gaming: From Access to Inclusion

July 29, 2026

The most engaging video games offer intuitive interfaces, immersive environments, and impactful storytelling. But what happens when there’s an absence of equivalent access to gameplay? For many people, gaming is more than mere entertainment. It can be a powerful way to connect with others while exploring alternate worlds, an experience of particular value to players navigating potential barriers in their daily lives. Equivalent access runs much deeper than a series of settings or the option to add an accessibility overlay. For players with disabilities, access opens the door to making meaningful participation possible.

Having worked closely with the disabled community for nearly two decades, I have seen firsthand how access and seemingly small design decisions can profoundly affect a person’s ability to engage with the world around them. While accessibility is widely discussed in areas like web and software design, gaming was historically left out of the conversation, despite its growing role in social connection and daily life.

As gaming continues to evolve, so does the opportunity to make it a more inclusive experience. Recognizing how accessibility shows up in games, through both design and tools, is what turns participation into meaningful play.

Two Sides of the Coin: Adaptive Hardware & Accessible Software

Understanding what gaming accessibility (aka a11y gaming) actually means in practice requires looking at it through two key lenses: software and hardware.

Software accessibility refers to the in-game features that allow players to adjust their experience, such as captions, customizable button mapping, and visual settings like contrast or color filters. These tweaks help tailor gameplay to a player’s needs, allowing for a more flexible and personalized experience.

Hardware accessibility, often referred to as adaptive gaming, focuses on the physical tools players use to interact with a game, including adaptive controllers and alternative input devices like an Xbox Adaptive Controller, ByoWave Proteus Controller, or even the simple yet ubiquitous keyboard. These tools can be essential for players who may not be able to use standard controllers or input methods due to motor differences.

While these two areas are often discussed as distinctly separate, they work best when considered together. Even a thoughtfully designed game can remain inaccessible without the right hardware.

What’s in the Box? Accessible Features and Transparency

Since the introduction of digital gaming systems in the 1970's, players with disabilities have been predominantly left in the dark about which titles offered open doors instead of endless obstacles. This has been changing, however, as growing efforts toward transparency gain momentum across the gaming industry. In 2025, Apple introduced “Accessibility Nutrition Labels” for apps and games in their app store with plans to eventually make them mandatory. These labels provide insight for players as to what supports are available in a given game, helping players understand whether a game offers the access they need prior to making a purchase.

Outside of Apple’s ecosystem, similar efforts aim to improve transparency around game accessibility, including Microsoft’s Xbox Accessibility Feature Tags and the newer Accessible Games Initiative Feature Tags developed through the ESA (Entertainment Software Association). Websites like Can I Play That?, which publishes accessibility-focused reviews, and the Game Accessibility Guidelines, a resource aimed at developers, help both communities compare what's actually available across titles.

Accessibility in gaming is also increasingly being recognized across the industry, from the introduction of the Innovation in Accessibility category at the Game Awards in 2020 to regulatory efforts. While standards such as WCAG provide technology-agnostic accessibility guidance, the FCC notes that communication features found in online multiplayer games (such as voice chat, messaging, and party systems) may fall under requirements established under the CVAA, or Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. They further provide guidance and dispute assistance resources related to accessible in-game communication, an integral part of collaboration and connection in gaming communities.

As inclusive game design evolves, advocates continue advancing universal and human-centered approaches toward becoming the new standard. Available features focus on several core areas, with some supports overlapping across categories:

Visual Supports

  • high contrast
  • color filters
  • magnification
  • audio cues
  • screen reader support
  • text-to-speech (TTS)

Hearing Supports

  • captioning and subtitles
  • visual indicators for sound events
  • directional haptics/vibration cues

Communication and Cognitive Supports

  • simplified interfaces and control schemes
  • navigation assistance
  • journals, transcripts, and memory aids
  • adjustable difficulty or pacing

Mobility Supports

  • customizable button remapping
  • adaptive controllers
  • aim assist and toggle/hold inputs
  • voice commands and speech-to-text (STT)
  • alternative input support (e.g., mouse/keyboard)

The Evolution of Meaningful Access

Innovative advances in accessibility don’t always come from the corporate level. Some of the most meaningful improvements have emerged from grassroots efforts and player-created workarounds like mods (modifications to gameplay mechanics), which offer players with disabilities the opportunity to participate more fully in games formerly out of reach.

At this year’s GAConf Europe 2026, blind players demonstrated how they were able to navigate a fast-paced, action-packed game called Hades with the help of mods written using Claude Code. One of the mod developers, or modders, explained that Hades already contained “a lot of unintentional accessibility features baked in” because of its rich and highly nuanced environmental audio cues. Since nearly every action in Hades produces distinct sound feedback, modders built on that by reducing damage from environmental hazards more easily avoided by sighted players, such as magma pools and floor traps. These grassroots modifications to an established title helped expand access to both the combat and immersive, story-driven experience that is Hades.

One speaker further reflected on how accessibility expectations have evolved alongside advances in AI-assisted modding tools, explaining that many disabled players once considered a game “accessible” if they “could get any enjoyment from it at all.” Now, mods and other creative solutions allow players to move beyond the scraps of partial access toward an experience others may take for granted—including titles “previously considered off-limits.”

The impact of these advances extends beyond modding communities. Sometimes access emerges through creative workarounds, while other opportunities arise through thoughtful design choices already present in a game. Games like Animal Crossing have demonstrated how environmental audio cues and other features can expand access for blind and low-vision players even when equivalent access is not available. Ross Minor, a YouTuber known for playing games like Animal Crossing without sight, noted that while his approach looked “tedious,” when New Horizons was introduced six years ago, it allowed him to experience a newly released game alongside everyone else for the first time.

While gaming accessibility has come a long way in the past few years, with titles such as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, an Innovation in Accessibility award winner, alongside other accessible standouts like The Last of Us Part II and Forza Motorsport, advocates and creators continue to push for broader inclusion across the gaming industry, advocating for representation from the outset of the design process.

Long before a game reaches players, broader inclusion can take shape behind the scenes through usability testing incorporated throughout the development process. Including people with lived experience early in development often inspires more thoughtful and effective solutions for players with a wide range of sensory, cognitive, communication, and motor differences. It also reduces the burden placed on players to build workarounds like mods prior to play. When accessibility is approached proactively rather than reactively, it stops being a band-aid placed over barriers and becomes a meaningful part of the experience itself.

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, accessible gaming isn’t only about a handful of settings or features nor is it about removing challenges altogether. It’s about access and the ways in which players interact with an entire experience. When prioritized, it does more than improve gameplay. It can open doors for those who might otherwise feel isolated, supporting a sense of belonging. When approached with care, a11y gaming cultivates inclusion and community, expanding the ways in which disabled players are able to engage with expansive landscapes, interactive stories, and those in the world around them.

Further Tools and Resources

For developers looking to build more inclusive experiences and disabled gamers seeking more immersive access, there are already some strong starting points.

Adaptive and alternative controllers:

For disabled gamers:

Free educational offerings:

Further resources for developers:

About the Author

Kristen Reed is a late-diagnosed Autist and psychology student at Western Governors University. With a foundation in digital design and web development best practices, Kristen aspires to embed accessibility into the early phases of design and development through inclusive user research. They’re passionate about advocacy and building digital and real-world spaces that work for everyone.

About AFB Talent Lab

The AFB Talent Lab ​​aims to meet the accessibility needs of the tech industry – and millions of people living with disabilities – through a unique combination of hands-on training, mentorship, and consulting services, created and developed by our own digital inclusion experts. To learn more about our internship and apprenticeship programs or our client services, please visit our website at www.afb.org/talentlab.

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Kristen Reed
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